Elderly rider rescued from canal

[glasgowcyclist]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43881549?

The 81yr old rider, known to his friends as @Marmion , was lucky to be rescued after he fell into the Forth & Clyde canal, along with his bike, on Easter Sunday. Fortunately a passing jogger (MSP for the area of Provan) heard his shouts and fished him out.

In the road.cc report there's the cracking quote from the MSP: "I pulled the bike out first..."
Glad to see he's got his priorities right!

 

[I like Skol]

Could it be our very own @Pro Tour Punditry (formerly known as.......)

 

[Drago]

A yellow MSP? Is he sure it wasn't Ned Flanders?

 

[pjd57]

The police have been out on the canal path at Kelvindale recently.
Asking about the 19/20th March and if you spotted anything unusual.

A woman's body was recovered from the canal on the 21st.

 

[Sixmile]

That's one heck of a long pump.

 

[I like Skol]

That's one heck of a long pump.

That was all you could get, back in the day. I had one.....

 

[Profpointy]

That was all you could get, back in the day. I had one.....

And more to the point, a smaller one wouldn't stay in place on the frame

 

[bigjim]

And more to the point, a smaller one wouldn't stay in place on the frame

I've got about three of them. All on 25" frames. When someone punctures on a club run they always borrow my pump.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

In an emergency the long pumps can be used to pump the water out of the canal.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Bit creepy the MSP got the guys address even if he did pull him out. Some data protection issues there potentially?

 

[snorri]

“It was only when I was really close that I could see he was in the water,” he said. “He was holding on to the side and still had a hold of the bike."

Makes you wonder, would he have survived if he had been riding an ebike?
The extra weight could have taken him to the bottom.

 

[ColinJ]

Only if he were very, very short (a @potsy). The average depth of a canal is a little over 3.5’

He could have been in trouble with a heavy e-bike on top of him under water though!

I was swimming around at the bottom of the shallow end at Coventry swimming baths once when an obese teenager jumped on top of me and pinned me under water. That was a very unpleasant experience and I imagine having a 60 pound bike on top of you would feel pretty similar.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Some of the canal bits around Maryhill are treacherous, cobbled narrow under bridge passages, with no safety rail.
There is one where I always dismount, if there was an incoming cyclist one of us would end in the water!

 

[ColinJ]

Some of the canal bits around Maryhill are treacherous, cobbled narrow under bridge passages, with no safety rail.
There is one where I always dismount, if there was an incoming cyclist one of us would end in the water!

There are several of those on the local stretch of the Rochdale canal towpath. I always start whistling a tune before I reach them but also slow down, assuming that any cyclist coming the other way is some combination of deaf, stupid, or listening to loud music on headphones!

 

[pjd57]

Some of the canal bits around Maryhill are treacherous, cobbled narrow under bridge passages, with no safety rail.
There is one where I always dismount, if there was an incoming cyclist one of us would end in the water!

The worst bit on the entire length , from Bowling to the Kelpies.