Close calls and telling your nearest and dearest

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fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Well, I certainly don't tell my other half about close calls.....will just worry her as it's all part of the fun ? Had two near misses this week....
One crossing a junction, two lanes, outer lane standstill, inner clear, cycling in primary on inner as I apoach junction. Check for gaps in outer lane that might allow a car to turn across my path, no not big enough....then comes flying through a rather large MPV right in front of me. I shout 'wowa' and he slams on as I do too. Just wave him out of my way.....
Next day or so, riding home at a fair lick on the edge of a cycle lane / gravel track, so a good secondary.....hear a van giving some revs, he pulls past me and just as the rear end comes level, he indicates to turn left across me..... I shout "Oi you've gotta be kidding' as I slam on and look to trying to left turn as he does. Fortunately the idiot heard me and slammed on locking up his front wheels......just missed me....little voice comes from cab 'ello' as I am now level with the cab..... I mumble 'f-ing ell' and carry on....well limp on as I'm in a bloody big gear....

Just best not telling your loved ones.......
 

biking_fox

Guru
Location
Manchester
Generally you are right.

If it's just run of the mill stuff, and I can make light of it in a hearty "oh aren't I having fun" kind of way then I will do so. If my life was seriously at risk, but no actual harm I won't bother. I will vent if I haven't worked it out of my system by the time I get home though.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
no logic in ths but I tell her about the near misses that I avoid or anticipate with skill, most of them

not the ones that really do scare me, I'm not a good enough liar to pretend they were fun

bloke twenty feet in font of me this morning nearly got totalled by a transit turning right at speed through stopped traffic, saw him swerve 90 degrees to the right to avoid, asked him as I caught up how close it was

'oh man', he was some sort of American or Canadian

they're the ones that worry me the turn through traffic, it's hard to anticipate especially when the other party does it at speed, as they seem to think is called for for some reason, everyone nosing through carefully gets the wave and nod from me, yeah it's hard to see what's coming down the bus lane but all the more reason to take care

it's the only accident that worries me, impossible to defend against it completely seems to me, especially moving fast along an empty bus lane with stopped traffic to the right
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
Don't tell them. The less they know the less they have to worry about.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
Hmm I always know I shouldn't but I'm usually so het up about it that it sort of slips out.... he then looks worried... and I think ... why didn't I keep my big mouth shut.
 
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
I don't as I had a nasty transit incident like said in my op - very similar but I was in inner lane, van outer lane and I was doing 25 plus on my road bike....van decides he wants off to the left and completely cuts across me - me and the bike do superman impressions as my shoulder ripped of the wing mirror.....I landed some 30 feet down the road, on my back between scaffolding outside a shop....bike wasn't so lucky, it was written off on the scaffolding. Van driver legged it. One driver stopped who had been 3 lanes away as she had seen my flight.... I got away with bruising and a broken hand, but the wife stopped me commuting into Manchester...... But I obviously couldnt hide a broken hand, torn clothing and a smashed bike...
 

Maz

Guru
sht that sounds really bad, fossyant. You must've got the vans reg, right? What happens next? Have you been for a checkup?

I rarely have off's (thankfully) but tend not to mention any of them to my wife. She would just go mental.
 
Due to my videos it is impossible for my wife not to know about my near misses. She says she does worry about me, but she seems to trust me out on the bike.
I'm lucky in that I don't think she would ever stop me doing anything I really wanted to do. I keep telling her if I win the lottery I will be booking a place on Virgin Galactic! Her normal response is :biggrin:

:smile:
 
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
No...se my original post......The hurty off was a few years back....got partial reg and hire company but couldn't get anywhere...fortunately the house insurance paid up for bike repairs...... the other two in my op were just very near misses but both happened within days..just seeing who else doesn't mention these rather too close for comfort near misses......
 

yorkshiregoth

Master of all he surveys
Location
Heathrow
I never tell Mrs Goth about all the near misses, I even tried to hide my road rash when I came off last year (unsuccessfully).
 
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
You can't hide road rash.....it's the weaping sore and the screams from the shower....... I took off a good 6 inch patch off my ass some years back, not commuting though. Wife was out gardening...'had a nice ride'........ No.....just ridden 15 miles home bearing my arse to the world...bless her upon seeing the wound and my howls in the shower, she went out and bought a load of stuff to patch me up.....
 

Pete

Guest
User said:
"Hi Mum/[insert other half's name]. I'm in [Name of Hospital] A&E - can you come and pick me up?"
I had to do just that when I face planted and got taken to A&E - at least it was I that called my missus, not some stranger, nor - worse - police, hospital or ambulance guy. She came along, called a taxi to get us home, arranged the dentist (my most pressing need), all very calm and professional like.

On another occasion I got the jitters when our son announced he'd had a near left-hook with a bus on a roundabout - the most deadly of all near-misses as we all know: he managed to leap out of harm's way in time. But the plus side is, he's learnt from that experience. He'll be on guard in future.
 

Bollo

Failed Tech Bro
Location
Winch
Eeek! I've only had the one big off but I generally keep my trap shut or give an 'edited highlights' of near misses and other incidents. I do tend to show her the footage of some of the school-run lunacy I deal with most mornings, just to angry-up her blood.

If I worried her too much, she'd probably pull the plug on my tandem ride with bolletta, which I really don't want to happen.
 
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