goo_mason
Champion barbed-wire hurdler
- Location
- Leith, Edinburgh
Ooops. On the way home tonight along Ferry Road, at the traffic lights at the Craighall Road junction, I had a close encounter with the back window of a car... 
I was slowing down as I could see that the cars going through the lights were stopping on green to let people out of Craighall Road. The car ahead of me was braking, as was I. He then accelerated and I lessened my braking. Unfortunately, he then slammed on the anchors a second later when someone tried to cut out in front of him, and I wasn't able to stop in time.
I went over the bars and hit his back window with my right side, then slid off and ended up lying along the left side of his car. Fortunately, I reckon I can't have been doing any more than 10mph at a push, and the noise my 15.5 stone hitting his car made was probably more frightening than the actual crash was.
I got up, slowly, to make sure I was OK - and thankfully I was. No ripped clothes. The bike - amazingly, no damage other than the bars having been turned down a bit (no surprise with my weight on them). Not even the slightest sign of the wheel being out of true, and not a scrape or a scuff anywhere (because my legs cushioned its fall). The guy in the car didn't move, and neither did anyone behind. After about 2 or 3 seconds of me peering in his passenger-side window, he turned (looking a bit shocked), wound down the window and asked me if I was OK. I said I was, and that the back of his car looked undamaged. At that point, the cars behind him started honking their horns as the lights were green - some concern for their fellow man, I must say !
He set off, pulling into a bus stop further down the road to inspect the car for damage and I wandered back to pick up my bottle which had fallen out. By the time I got the bottle and got back on the road, he'd decided his car was fine and had gone before I could get to him. Luckily the bike was fine to ride, and I felt surprisingly undamaged and got back into my flow for the rest of the journey.
The only evidence now is a small scrape on my left elbow, and a slight ache where I walloped my upper arm off the car. Then again, I used to get hit that hard every Saturday when I played rugby as a teen and not feel too sore afterwards until Sunday morning !
I think we were both at fault (as well as the idiot who cut out on him and forced him to emergency-stop), but there's a big lesson in there for me. Even if I am in the main traffic flow and matching speeds, I've got to start leaving a much bigger gap between me and the car in front as I obviously didn't do it tonight and I paid for it with a bang. Even Koolstop Salmons can't stop me as quickly in the dry as car brakes can stop a car...
I was slowing down as I could see that the cars going through the lights were stopping on green to let people out of Craighall Road. The car ahead of me was braking, as was I. He then accelerated and I lessened my braking. Unfortunately, he then slammed on the anchors a second later when someone tried to cut out in front of him, and I wasn't able to stop in time.
I went over the bars and hit his back window with my right side, then slid off and ended up lying along the left side of his car. Fortunately, I reckon I can't have been doing any more than 10mph at a push, and the noise my 15.5 stone hitting his car made was probably more frightening than the actual crash was.
I got up, slowly, to make sure I was OK - and thankfully I was. No ripped clothes. The bike - amazingly, no damage other than the bars having been turned down a bit (no surprise with my weight on them). Not even the slightest sign of the wheel being out of true, and not a scrape or a scuff anywhere (because my legs cushioned its fall). The guy in the car didn't move, and neither did anyone behind. After about 2 or 3 seconds of me peering in his passenger-side window, he turned (looking a bit shocked), wound down the window and asked me if I was OK. I said I was, and that the back of his car looked undamaged. At that point, the cars behind him started honking their horns as the lights were green - some concern for their fellow man, I must say !
He set off, pulling into a bus stop further down the road to inspect the car for damage and I wandered back to pick up my bottle which had fallen out. By the time I got the bottle and got back on the road, he'd decided his car was fine and had gone before I could get to him. Luckily the bike was fine to ride, and I felt surprisingly undamaged and got back into my flow for the rest of the journey.
The only evidence now is a small scrape on my left elbow, and a slight ache where I walloped my upper arm off the car. Then again, I used to get hit that hard every Saturday when I played rugby as a teen and not feel too sore afterwards until Sunday morning !
I think we were both at fault (as well as the idiot who cut out on him and forced him to emergency-stop), but there's a big lesson in there for me. Even if I am in the main traffic flow and matching speeds, I've got to start leaving a much bigger gap between me and the car in front as I obviously didn't do it tonight and I paid for it with a bang. Even Koolstop Salmons can't stop me as quickly in the dry as car brakes can stop a car...
