Motorcycle Blue Orb Syndrome

May 7, 2005 1:57 PM

I am an experienced motorcycle rider, but I occasionally, when riding on long straightaways, experience a kind of spatial disorientation that lasts for a moment or two, but goes away after some taking some deep breaths and varying speeds on the motorcycle. What is this and how can it be avoided?

In my research on the web, the closest thing I can compare it to is when divers experience "blue orb syndrome", or kind of a mild panic attack. This situation is never dangerous if it is unpleasant, but I am wondering if anyone else out there has experienced something similar, and if so, what causes it and how can this be avoided? Thanks for your help. Going to the riders groups with this question has been fairly unhelpful, so I'd appreciate whatever input can be offered.

posted by Tommy Gnosis to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

I'm a SoCal biker and I ride quite a bit, but all my "weird" episodes have been in cars, and early in the morning. Once, I came up on a plastic supermarket bag blowing around in front of me and couldn't properly focus on it to figure out what it was until I was almost past it. Also, just recently, a car transporter big rig was parked on the shoulder with, it seemed, all the cars' running lights turned on. The damn thing looked like a carnival. I couldn't get it to resolve until I was fairly close; I kept thinking it was was one of those elliptical, shiny gas tankers, reflecting light from somewhere else.
I don't know what causes it, other than a slightly unusual motion or play of light coupled with insufficient ambient light to provide additional discriminating factors.
posted by spacewrench at 2:16 PM on May 7, 2005

I used to experience something similar, occasionally, when riding a sportbike. I figured it was a kind of mild hypnosis brought on by my lowered level of alertness on long straightaways. Eventually I discovered that it was the high collar of my jacket combining with my helmet strap to pinch a vein in my neck and lower the blood flow to my head when I'd ride in the same position for extended periods of time. Since I've replaced that jacket it's never happened again.
posted by Buzz at 3:42 PM on May 7, 2005

Sounds like mild oxygen starvation to me. I suspect you're either suffering as Buzz did (check that your vents are open!) or holding your breath too long (I do that all the time when I'm concentrating on something.)
posted by five fresh fish at 3:58 PM on May 7, 2005

What you are experiencing is a form of highway hypnosis , which is common on long road trips and something most people I know experience time to time. On a motorcycle, the effects are quicker to appear than when you drive a car, prolly a result of the numbing effects of constant and strong motor vibrations.
posted by ch3ch2oh at 8:06 PM on May 7, 2005

Response by poster: All excellent answers, thanks so much. I think that spacewrench is onto something as it regards insufficient ambient light as it seems to happen more frequently on overcast days than during any other time, and hardly ever at night. Thanks all for your help!
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 6:40 AM on May 8, 2005