Mountain biking has of course resulted in more crashes than I could count, luckily none with anything more lasting some minor scarring. One memorable one was on Maui, riding in the Poli-Poli area on the slopes of Haleakala. I fell off the downslope side of the trail and landed in the dense tropical vegetation, suspended about 5 feet above the actual ground. My friends said it was striking to watch, I just disappeared into the vegetation. I was unharmed, but it was quite a struggle to get back up to the trail without being able to reach the ground!
One that was a bit more of a teachable moment for me happened when I was 16. I was riding down the only hill in my town, on the sidewalk on the left side of the street, building speed for a jump that was on the next block. It was a ridge in the pavement where two driveways were right next to each other. Not much of a jump, but it was fun for me. A car pulled out across the crosswalk I had been planning on riding through at top speed, and I hit the right front fender. I did a full front flip, with my hands still on the bars and my bike above me, over the hood of the car. I swear I remember looking in the windshield of the car, at the family of four, their mouths open in horror. I landed approximately on my back, with my feet hitting first, then my butt, then my back. Generally unharmed, I don't think I even got scratched up (no helmet of course, this was 1986). The fork of my bike collapsed, and the front wheel was toast, but otherwise it was OK. The driver was very apologetic, and loaded my bike in his car and drove me home. My takeaway from this: only ride on the sidewalk if you must, and be careful at intersections! Cheers, Keith On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 10:02 AM Patrick Moore <[email protected]> wrote: > One more only, I promise, but it's very on-topic. The most violent bike > accident I've seen, fortunately not mine. I was walking home after > hitchhiking at the blind-spot bottom of a long, steep hill curving left > toward our house 3/4-mile along near top; narrow, curving, 2-lane blacktop > -- in US, width of neighborhood street -- from Town and major artery. Brit > coming up fast behind me in Jag or Merc or Rover, speeding as all did -- 60 > was common; he must have been doing 70 -- swung wide right on blind corner > to pass a small road roller chugging along near me at 6 mph with nothing at > all to warn oncomers of slow vehicle ahead -- and ran smack head on into 2 > black Africans coasting downhill at 35 mph on a rodbraked roadster, > passenger on rear rack (I add the race information because it is part of > the story. Brit was rich white African with nice car whose criminal > stupidity is part of the narrative, though criminal -- jail time in US -- > driving stupidity then and there was the habit of all races and classes > except perhaps South Asians). Rider and passenger went literally > cartwheeling 10 feet into the air. The driver did stop and I saw him and > passers by carrying rider to car, with large hole gouged out of his calf; > passenger was standing, shaken, as you might expect. My father often left > Sunday dinner upon hearing crash noises to take victims to hospital; Kenya > had one of world's highest accident rates at the time, and the old Limuru > road was one of the worst for them. Yet, yet, yet -- I rode all over the > countryside and downtown on various bikes, including my first build with > freewheel and no brake except foot on front tire, with no accidents, and > most close calls due to my own agression (against cars and buses behaving > badly). Despite the criminal driving, Kenya's vehicles and infrastructure > were far more sophisticated than India's, where I also rode, and especially > Pakistan's, where traffic was just truly and bizarrely ungoverned by any > principle besides rule of biggest -- damned hellhole of a country; yet in > no place did bike accidents seem horribly numerous, the latter 2 places > being saved doubtless because crowding prevented speeding. Bismark again > ...? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgtPOKcwxGDnj0gnWpbY6Jj1FkJcbeBD1-HdyPOM6jugcw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgtPOKcwxGDnj0gnWpbY6Jj1FkJcbeBD1-HdyPOM6jugcw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAP588ZZZicn9AZVs047-zh1mcdj7yLB7jwTPH2OBLr5kQwfPVw%40mail.gmail.com.
