I'm even more precise as a nerd.
Every morning and every evening, I bike 7.11 miles to school. 85% of that trek is on a street called, "Ponce."
It's very safe. I know. After a month in the great state of Georgia, I was in my fist wreck last Friday. All things considered, a month of accident freeness is pretty good, and seeing that I'm sitting at my computer to tell the story, I'm obviously not dead.
The wreck was not on Ponce going 30 in 50 mph traffic as one might expect. Instead it occurred at 0.3 mph on campus in an area void of vehicles and even pedestrians for well over 20 feet. I'm just that good.
Apparently, rain gratings are out to get me. This particular rain grating happened to have channels parallel to my direction of motion. All I remember is coming almost to a stop as I looked around for a docking point, feeling my bike drop about 8" for no reason at all, and seeing the ground come flying at my face from out of nowhere. As I lay sprawled out on the sidewalk, running an OS diagnostic before deciding to move, a couple guys came over to help me up.
"Dude! Are you okay!?"
I slowly stood up, blood streaming down my leg and elbow.
Never better. I just hope my bike is okay. That thing is much more expensive to repair.
Coming to an stop when clipped in is the worst.
Actually, I wasn't clipped in. I'm just a moron. That was hilarious though. I wish I could have seen it happen.
It was kind of funny...
Cool. See you later.
Luckily, the tires having run perfectly parallel to the rain channel and my elbow took most of the shock, so the bike was fine beyond a few scrapes. I'd say hitting the grating straight on was fortuitous, but had I hit it at any other angle, I wouldn't have wrecked at all. Oh well. Luck and I never were good friends.
It's very safe. I know. After a month in the great state of Georgia, I was in my fist wreck last Friday. All things considered, a month of accident freeness is pretty good, and seeing that I'm sitting at my computer to tell the story, I'm obviously not dead. The wreck was not on Ponce going 30 in 50 mph traffic as one might expect. Instead it occurred at 0.3 mph on campus in an area void of vehicles and even pedestrians for well over 20 feet. I'm just that good.
Apparently, rain gratings are out to get me. This particular rain grating happened to have channels parallel to my direction of motion. All I remember is coming almost to a stop as I looked around for a docking point, feeling my bike drop about 8" for no reason at all, and seeing the ground come flying at my face from out of nowhere. As I lay sprawled out on the sidewalk, running an OS diagnostic before deciding to move, a couple guys came over to help me up.
"Dude! Are you okay!?"
I slowly stood up, blood streaming down my leg and elbow.
Never better. I just hope my bike is okay. That thing is much more expensive to repair.
Coming to an stop when clipped in is the worst.
Actually, I wasn't clipped in. I'm just a moron. That was hilarious though. I wish I could have seen it happen.
It was kind of funny...
Cool. See you later.
Luckily, the tires having run perfectly parallel to the rain channel and my elbow took most of the shock, so the bike was fine beyond a few scrapes. I'd say hitting the grating straight on was fortuitous, but had I hit it at any other angle, I wouldn't have wrecked at all. Oh well. Luck and I never were good friends.
Hardly a scar worthy of my blog...
posted by Saule Cogneur at 5:26 AM
3 Comments:
That was a good story. Kinda like the time I caught my tire on the lip of a sidewalk. Glad you survived.
The only thing better than coming to an abrupt stop while clipped in is trying not to come to a complete stop at a red light while clipped in and playing that awesome balancing-act game of, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I've got this, I'm fine, come on you stupid light turn green, I've still got this, crap."
For anybody reading this who has not had this experience, "crap" is the exact moment that you realize that you have lost a battle with inertia, freak out and are unable to unclip your foot and you do the oh-so-graceful (and hilarious to all witnesses) slow sideways tip over. Comic gold.
It's not just you. Those are so dangerous for cyclists.
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