What Low Level Risks Should be Considered Whilst Cycling - Advice for Others Please!

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geocycle

Legendary Member
Nearly offed by a determined badger one night in Richmond Park. There was absolutely no change in speed or direction as he trundled out of the darkness.

I find squirrels the worse. I had one run down a path in front of me like Phil Bennett against the All Blacks in 73, I went left, him right etc. Unfortunately, ended up running over his tail But he seemed to be ok.
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
I find squirrels the worse. I had one run down a path in front of me like Phil Bennett against the All Blacks in 73, I went left, him right etc. Unfortunately, ended up running over his tail But he seemed to be ok.
Squirrels are just plain daft. They dart out of the way and then run back into your path. My badger friend just stayed right on course and passed about two feet ahead of my front wheel. He was a big chap.
 

lane

Veteran
Come off on ice, on leaves, on oil, on uneven roadworks. That's not a good record is it?

Lost my car keys on an audax, needed the car to get home.
 
Ice but not what you'd think (this was last Saturday).

Trundling along in a big gear, slight tail wind so some where around 50kmh when i was aware of a vehicle coming up behind me, focused on pedalling and made sure i kept well in = ALL OK. Pick up truck passes by and as he does a flat chunk of ice about the size of a dustbin lid fell off it and just slid along the road A) going faster than me and B) coming in at an angle that meant my front wheel and it were going to meet (all this happening pretty quickly). Must have used up some luck last Saturday as the chunk of ice passed just in front of me, a few cm's only:eek: it nearly got me..... so dangerous ice but not as we know it.

Beyond that a bank stick jammed in my rear wheel once when cycling of to go fishing, came to a quick stop early in the morning many many years ago.
 
Squirrels bouncing off spokes.
Acorns bouncing off road into specs.
Bee sting in neck
Muck spreaders
Portaloo tanker with leaky tap.
Wolf
Snake
Tree in road.
Siezed valve retaining ring.
Black ice
Freezing rain
Barbed wire in spokes. ( thanks SKS qr safety system)
Running out of road
Running out of summer
Gravity


And horses. How could I forget the big lumbeing stupid skittish idiots of the quadraped world.
 
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Oldhippy

Cynical idealist
A wolf!
 
I shuddered a bit at the 'portaloo with leaky tap' one

yuk



as an aside - I was an Uni witha bloke who grew up in a smallish Welsh village
he came back after one holiday - apparently he had been walking down the main (and only) street with his mates when they saw a tractor approaching
with a trailer behind
a liquid manure spreader type trailer

as it came closer it became clear that the 'on; switch for spreading has somehow been knocked ON

all the way through the village - decent church going running in all directions

my friend and his mates ducked into a handy shop and closed the door - then had to lie down while they laughed - for a long time

anyway - back on topic
 

Aravis

Putrid Donut
Location
Gloucester
A couple of bits of advice from personal experience:

If you're being dropped off from a car to begin a ride and the car is continuing its journey, spend a few moments double checking that you really have extracted everything you need from the car before it's too late. Especially water bottles...

And when you pass one of these

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don't automatically assume that it won't happen.
 

wajc

Veteran
1. Assault by ninja hare - whilst out cycling with some friends, one of whom had disappeared round a bend up the road. We rounded the bend ourselves to see our friend standing by his bike, coughing and spluttering and clutching his chest. Apparently he had 'chased' a hare along the side of the road for a short while, only for it to momentarily disappear in to the hedge bottom before re-emerging and launching a flying kick Kung Fu style straight at his chest.

Advice - don't upset hares

2. Tractor Drafting - always a little dodgy but even more so if you find yourself behind one that has just come out of a muddy field. Brick sized lumps of mud flying towards your head is something that quickly makes you back off.

Advice - don't draft tractors carefully choose your tractor.
 

Threevok

Growing old disgracefully
Location
South Wales
I hit (and killed) a large seagull, back in the summer.

I live nowhere near the sea, so it's the last thing I ever expected to run over with a bike, let alone kill !

It just jumped out from the barrier at the side of the main road and, before it could take off (or I could safely brake) I ran over it, to the noise of a very large crunch

I can still picture the image of it in my mirror - lying there motionless, on it's back, with his legs in the air

I try to find solace in the fact, that it may have been the same gull that stole my chips in Tenby in 2009, and thus deserved it.

Moral of the story - be prepared for ANYTHING
 
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