Alibi up front: I do realize I am preaching to the choir on this article, just relaying a thought...
I ride the same 17 miles to and from work primarily on the Express Lanes of a super slab, I-95. I chew gum when I ride and when wearing an open face helmet, I know what part of the road to shut my mouth when there is a car in front of me. The left shoulder goes away and more road debris is present; mainly sand. And well, I don't like mixing sand with my gum.
I know what part of each lane to be in when crossing a bridge. Each crossing has smoother areas and I cross at those. Some of the transitions are quite painful if you hit them wrong.
I know where the rough areas and potholes are and set up to avoid those along the way.
I can predict the areas most likely for lane incursions due to the curve ahead or some other engineering flaw. I am expect the other guy to violate and am ready to enact some maneuver to avoid the collision.
I suspect that you do the same on your normal rides. Many of these ideas or actions are automatic to us who ride often. It is the unexpected things that I want to remind us about. Like the photo above; a Texas Meadow Lark impacted the light shown and more or less exploded. The burst of feathers came inside of the windscreen and out. I was wearing a full face helmet which collected some bird blood and guts on the visor. More goo was left on my vest. While the incident was startling, I was not hurt nor was the bike. I did need to realign the light on the next stop; but that was it. I have read stories though that something like this has caused an rider to go down because of their actions that disrupt the bike's safe operation. My general thought when confronting an animal is to blow through. Sudden plane changes at high speeds do not usually bode well.
This morning, after 40+ years of riding, something new happen to me. The sun had not yet revealed itself thus it was somewhat dark outside. I had the bike pointed eastward into the dawn sky and was admiring the beauty I beheld. My speed was 85mph indicated and the temperature felt perfect. I was in the Express lane with moderate traffic for the northern Virginia area. With my gaze slightly skyward when my lower vision caught an object moving towards me. My first thought was it must be a bird. I was wearing a half helmet and expected to catch the object in the face. In that split second before impact, I was able to zero in on the object and saw that it was a tennis ball. The ball came right over my windscreen as I slightly nodded my head down. The ball ricocheted off the top of my helmet with hardly a notice.
I suspect that a vehicle going the opposite way tossed the ball out of their window. The ball bounced a single time as far as I know as it was coming up from the road. It had been thrown perfectly to impact me. I am amazed at the luck/skill of the tosser in doing that actually. Had the ball impacted my face though, I believe it could have caused enough damage/pain that I may not have been able to continue or worse, go down. Obviously, had I been wearing the full face helmet, an impact squarely in the face would be mitigated by the face shield. A ball could have cracked it I suppose but I doubt the tennis ball would have penetrated it.
The point of this is simply to remind us to be ready to act/react to unknown things along our routes each ride. What is your take?