It finally happened - I've finally had an accident on my bike. Riding home tonight I was charging along the bike lane in the middle of the city with a good easterly behind me. Traffic was at a stand-still and I was going along the inside of a bus, when suddenly....
Some guy steps out from in front of the bus (he must have been crossing the road through the traffic). Traveling at 35-40kph and with about 3 metres to react, reactions kicked in and I hit the brakes and took my foot out of the pedal and pushed it into the road. I even managed to swerve around him. But he was also swinging a bag as he walked and I took that bag right in the dial. From there my balance was gone as I careered into the gutter where at some stage I fell over and finally stopped when my bike struck a pole.
Admittedly, my first thought as I was sitting there was - "I hope my bike is alright". The guy who had stepped out came up asking me if I was OK and was very apologetic. There was no point having a go at him as we all cross the road like that from time to time, so I let him know I was OK and told him not to worry. I certainly didn't feel like I had been hurt and a quick once over of the bike told me that miraculously it also seemed it had escaped unscathed. He then told me I had blood coming out from a cut on my nose, which I later worked out was when his bag had hit my glasses, which had then punctured my nose. Dusting myself off and settling the nerves, I had no other choice but to get back on the bike and ride the remaining 12kms or so home. Patting each other on the back and shaking hands, I left my recently made acquaintance and took off again on the bike, although a little more slowly and with one hand pressing a dirty bike rag against my bleeding snoze.
Amazingly, I cannot detect any damage to my bike, except for a few scratches on the tyre rims, and apart from the cut on my nose, I don't seem to have any other scrap on my body. All I can suppose is that I was able to keep my bike and body from scrapping along the ground with my foot and had slowed down enough before I hit that pole. So I am considering myself pretty lucky. Though it is quite ironic that for all my running of red lights and swerving through traffic, the first fall off my bike was not my fault. Lets hope it is a long time until my next one!
3 comments:
You're going 40kph on your bike and a guy steps out in front of you - whaddaya do?!
I still remember my first real crash on a training ride (damned if I know what I was training for) - way back in form three when I chewed up a lot of skin sliding along the road in Whitemans Valley. Theres something about searing pain that means you remember I find. To avoid a parental commission of enquiry Simon and I fabricated some story about me falling down the steps - which unfortunately, I guess, was actually believable..
Glad it was nothing too serious
count yourself lucky. when I was a lad we never had crashes like that, ours always ended in stiches.
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