coffeejo
Ælfrēd
- Location
- West Somerset
Yesterday afternoon I was gratefully heading for home after a very long and hilly ride. It was rush hour so I stuck to the country lanes to avoid the fumes and noise and, like most country roads round here, this one was more pothole and loose gravel than tarmac. It's not exactly hilly - well, I used to think so, when I started cycling, but not any more. Still, after a long day in the saddle, I was grateful for any excuse to free wheel and thoroughly enjoyed the modest downwards pointing gradient on one stretch. It came to an end with a blind corner and even more loose gravel, and I was just reaching for my brakes to check my speed when a big van came round the corner, much too fast.
We both hit the brakes at the same time. I could hear the gravel bouncing off in all directions from his wheels but was more concerned with the fact that my rear wheel seemed to be level with my right foot, which is never a pleasant sensation. I promptly removed my hands from the brakes and the bike somehow sorted itself out, leaving me with only one course of action: to aim it for the horrible narrow gap between the van and the hedge and worry about boring things like accuracy afterwards.
We squeezed through, I remembered to negotiate the corner and only then did I realise I was holding my breath. What struck me, other than the need for a clean pair of bibs, was that, never mind @vernon's chances of exiting, pursued by bear, it could have been curtains for me. And that brings me to the thread title. If it had turned out differently (ok, very differently but you'll see my point in a moment) then my final thoughts wouldn't have been about the dog or my friends - not even cake.
No, what went through my head were all the reasons cited in @slowmotion's thread explaining why the rear wheel sometimes decides to high five the front one.
I'm not a geek. I just ride my bike and occasionally do it well enough to be mistaken for a cyclist. But you lot seemed to have arranged things so that my final thoughts could have been scientific, geeky ones.
You've broken me.
We both hit the brakes at the same time. I could hear the gravel bouncing off in all directions from his wheels but was more concerned with the fact that my rear wheel seemed to be level with my right foot, which is never a pleasant sensation. I promptly removed my hands from the brakes and the bike somehow sorted itself out, leaving me with only one course of action: to aim it for the horrible narrow gap between the van and the hedge and worry about boring things like accuracy afterwards.
We squeezed through, I remembered to negotiate the corner and only then did I realise I was holding my breath. What struck me, other than the need for a clean pair of bibs, was that, never mind @vernon's chances of exiting, pursued by bear, it could have been curtains for me. And that brings me to the thread title. If it had turned out differently (ok, very differently but you'll see my point in a moment) then my final thoughts wouldn't have been about the dog or my friends - not even cake.
No, what went through my head were all the reasons cited in @slowmotion's thread explaining why the rear wheel sometimes decides to high five the front one.
I'm not a geek. I just ride my bike and occasionally do it well enough to be mistaken for a cyclist. But you lot seemed to have arranged things so that my final thoughts could have been scientific, geeky ones.
You've broken me.
This was just a wee warning 
