This is how you go down the Cabbage!

Cabbage can get you if you're not paying attention. Especially in wintertime. I live in northern idaho and I hit that quite a bit. As a matter of fact, there is quite a bit of big hills up here! Lol. But you hit on the keyword: RESPECT. You have to respect these roads out here.

 

Sad that there are so many out there like Tangerine & his trainer who feel compelled to drive faster than their stopping abilities for fear of being run over by drivers just like them. I was going down the grapevine last night, grossing 78,000, going 20mph at 2000rpm with steady 5psi brake application (flashers on, no engine brake equipped). 15 years ago that wouldn't seem out of place, but folks today seem to think that 35 mph sign is the minimum.

Anyway, I #### near got a prostate exam from a PAM truck who had to be doing 60. Saw him in the mirrors flying around the corner, then try to force his way into traffic rather than slow. The 4-wheelers wouldn't let him over so I see his headlights dive followed shortly thereafter by brake smoke. I'm about to go onto the shoulder when I see him head that way, clouds of smoke trailing. He was still doing more than 35 as he passed by on the right.

And I was still moving forward -- what if there had been an accident or a backup? Just because your jakes might be able to hold you at 55 doesn't mean you'll be able to stop like you're on flat ground. And when you see a litany of signs saying "steep downgrade ahead" "slow trucks" "trucks use lower gear" -- it shouldn't surprise you to come across a slow moving truck in the right lane...

 

PackRat, you and Striker have the "proper" way to head down Cabbage or any grade- to your own ability and comfort level. That's the right way. Situations change, loads are different, conditions are ever changing. The best way to roll is YOUR WAY.

 

i seen one, 2 weeks ago, going down southbound. trailer smoking all the way. doing about 60. i was empty so i was 55 and he just passed me and everyone else. trailer smoking, everytime his brake lights lit up.

musta been one of them super o/o's too cheap to use his own brakes.

 

I've seen billybob big rigger sper truckers smoking their brakes on Fancy Gap, fer tha luv o' pete! And I have fond memories of Cabbage, Donner, Vail, and the rest out there.
Grades are like freight. Respect them, and enjoy the ride. Don't respect'em....best make sure your life insurance is paid up.

 

You're no fun!!!!! I'm taking my ball home. The other one too.....

 

Who likes brake smoke? To get out of it, you must cease the moment and either pass or exit the interstate.

 

So, if I'm comfortable cruising down Cabbage at 80mph it's all good? I don't think that's what you meant to say but, it does seem to leave open the 'anything goes' theory. I don't agree. PacRat started the thread with the idea that there's a right way and a wrong way to do things. I'm with him all the way even though sometimes there's room for variables such as weight and weather.
I think most old timers have seen, or possibly experienced, the 'oh ####' incidents and the brake shoes go up in smoke. A long 6% grade and high speed is the perfect setup for disaster.
There is a reason they post suggested speeds and build those runaway ramps and it's not because they have excess funds on hand. It's because things happen, people do dumb things and sometimes they end up parked in three feet of pea gravel halfway up the ramp.