Tuesday, November 28, 2006
And, I crushed my orange
Do you remember that scene in Wayne's world when Stacy drives by and she's like, "h-i-i-i-i-i wayne". Then she slams into the parked car? If you're like me, you probably thought that was pretty funny. Well, today I left my place on my bicycle for my daily commute and I pedaled for about 100 metres and then my bike stopped immediately and I kept going, as if my bike had hit the parked car that Stacy went face first into. I thought that my u-lock was firmly affixed to my rack, but it turns out I didn't have it in the proper locked position. It dropped down into my drive train or spokes - I still don't know, and that sent me flying. Some lady who was passing by with her kid had her jaw on the ground and her eyes wide open as she yelled out, "are you okay!" Luckily for me, I was wearing my helmet and gloves, so I was no worse for the wear. Just surprised and embarrassed.
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5 comments:
Hey Chris, sorry to hear about the orange. I've actually done the "hit a parked car" thing. It was my first bike with gears, and I was looking down at the chain magically hopping from one cog to the next, when suddenly, "WHAM!" Dead stop. I didn't go over the bars, but I did slam into the stem pretty hard. The bike actually stayed up, because the tire was wedged firmly under the rear bumper of the car. I wasn't seriously hurt either, but my pride was severely wounded.
Anyway, glad you're okay.
All I can think about, besides how happy I am you are not seriously injured, is how much I wish our car would do that~ stop dead in it's tracks. We have the WORST tires on our car right now and I'm sure we're going to slide right into something, maybe someone on a bike. I sure hope not.
I highly recommend good tires. You've got to just suck it up and pay the tab. Why risk it?
That's got to happen to every cyclist at least once in their lifetime.
It was the summer of 1985. I had just spent the afternoon with my good friend Trevor, going over some detailed plans for the coming Boy Scout season, and was riding home beside him through the quiet streets of Coalhurst.
It wasn't long before I bid farewell to Trevor, as he rolled up the lawn of his duplex, and I looked over giving the old seeya salute. SMACK!!!
That's the sound of my bike plus myself hitting the front of a car driving down the road. Too bad I was riding down the left side of the street, and too bad this lady didn't see me.
My bike flew onto somebody's grass while I flew up and over the car onto the pavement. When I looked up, people were running out of their houses calling for an ambulance, the lady that tried to run me over was galloping back to me, and that same lady's car was driving down the street.
There wasn't anyone in her car.
seeing as how we are sharing bike crash stories i will repeat one i just put up on shelley's blog
when we lived in edmonton i commuted on my bike across town all winter. i was prepared though... studded tires, balaclava, lobster gloves. the works.
one day i came upon a line of about 15 cars waiting at a 4 way stop. i thought "aha, here is where i will pull ahead of you silly warm vehicles using my 2 wheeled prowess!" i cut across the road and hopped up onto the sidewalk to bypass the slowdown. bad idea. as soon as my tires hit the icy sidewalk my bike slipped straight out from under me and i slid down the sidewalk past all the stopped cars almost to the next road. all the drivers and passengers i could see were laughing uproariously. at least i didnt get run over. i also found it amazing that the vector of my momentum pointed directly down the sidewalk in order to maximize my slide length, despite the fact that i had entered the sidewalk at an oblique angle.
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