Nervous after a fall on the ice

[threebikesmcginty]

Cycled to the gym this morning, a quick 6 mile round trip - swimming on a Friday, I like to get a length in!!!

This was my first trip out on the bike in two weeks after I fell off on the ice....twice. Thought I'd give it a miss until it thaws out a bit. Mrs 3BM didn't want me out on the ice again either.

Checked the temp, not too bad, so off we go. Mile up the road I saw someone scraping ice off their windscreen...my heart sank.

I normally belt along but this morning rode like my grandpa and he's been dead for about 30 years! I was twitchy with every turn of the handlebars and felt very clumsy and awkward.

To be fair I'm not used to falling off, in fact the last time as I recall was going over the handlebars of a mates Raleigh Chopper in 1970 something.

I'm not too old to ride a bike but I'm too bloody old to fall off!

Maybe I need therapy..........sigh

 

[shunter]

If its any consolation;

Got back into motorcycling about 3 years ago after a 20 year break and back into some commuting by bicycle in the last two months. Came off on ice three times in the last 2 weeks and had just healed nicely until Wednesday night when I hit an old tram line still embedded in the road. I hadn't fallen off a bike for a long time bofore all this but you are right you do start to feel as if your too old for this malarky.

As far as I am concerned cycling is much more dangerous than motorcycling so when I'm out on my motorcycle now - commuting between bicycle falls - I do all that I can to protect cyclists from cars.

 

[Riding in Circles]

This is another reason I enjoy three wheels, a lot of the winter blues simply don't exist.

 

[goo_mason]

The fear will pass - I came off five times on ice on the way to work last December, giving myself a good bruising and damaging the bike enough to put it out of action until spares arrived.

When I got back on after the Xmas hols, I was pretty petrified on cold days if I saw any frost or icy patches on the road and cycled slower than a hearse. I was almost quaking at the thought of coming off again. But after a few days of NOT falling off, the memories faded and I found myself getting back to my usual riding speed.

It's like have a hairy moment in the wet, when you almost slide off. You suddenly become very cautious for a while, before imperceptibly reverting back to the way you rode before the scare.