I was daft enough to fall in the canal a couple of winters back when my wheel went in a rut and locked the steering. It's bracing alright, but not the end of the world. If the Leeds-Liverpool Canal is anything like the Grand Union, it's about 4ft deep.
Mmmm... I had not planned to share this with the cycling world yet, but your confession makes me feel this is now the time.
Lat summer I had the pleasure of plummeting into the Canal du Midi in France. The week after our holiday there I was taking part in the London to Brighton, and we had hire bikes on board so I could get a good hour's ride in each day just to keep the legs and lungs in trim.
On morning of day two my route along the towpath took me down a small dip to cross a culvert. I dabbed the brakes and found myself in a slow somersault into the water. The bike did a somersault too and landed on top of me.
Luckily, like most canals, it's pretty shallow so I surfaced with my chin at water level and my backside nestling in the ooze. The bike had clouted me on the forehead causing quite a gash. An interesting fact about the canal came to mind as I watched my purchase of the breakfast baguette and pains au chocolat floating away. Unlike canals in the UK most boats on the French canals pump their sewage straight into the water - mostly macerated first but you do see the occasional Richard The Third. My first action was, therfore, some vigorous spitting.
Anyway, I managed to get me and the bike out of the water and rode the 100 yds or so back to the boat where I got myself cleaned up and butterfly-plastered.
I hadn't really appreciated until this incident the potential dangers of cycling along a canal on your own, so the comment about making one of the layers a buoyancy aid is moot indeed. I was lucky that the knock on the head wasn't enough to knock me out. If it had been I probably wouldn't be typing this. Also, I had not realised when I used that particular bike on that morning (we had 6 on board) that it had been set up so that the front brake lever was on the left. My dab of the 'back brake' locked the front wheel. So if I ever use a hired bike again I will be checking it carefully before setting off.
