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darkemeraldsI had my first negative cycling experience this morning. There's a bicycle bottleneck on my route to work, where all downtown-bound bike traffic in a certain radius has to converge on a bridge ramp.
There's a steepish downhill approach with a switchback in it, and a bit of a turn at the end of the ramp. So I'm going along pretty slowly, trying to stay out of the way of more intrepid cyclists who can take the switchback faster than I can.
I got to the bridge itself, where the bottleneck gets really narrow, and a guy behind me, trying to get around me on my right, misjudged the distance and wiped out.
I stopped, of course. He was okay (thank you helmet), but his bike probably wasn't. I think it was pretty clear to both of us that the error of judgment was his, and I also think it was pretty clear to both of us that he would have LOVED to be angry at me for being slow, or unfit, or otherwise annoying and in his way and "causing" his mistake.
It was very uncomfortable. Knowing you're right doesn't always pencil out to "feeling fine." I got to the office and had all kinds of trouble getting Clyde into the rack and locked up--it wasn't that my hands were shaking, but I was shaken, you know?
It's a case of "get back in the saddle and ride" (literally!), I guess, because I'm not giving up cycling, no matter what my stupid nerves say.
There's a steepish downhill approach with a switchback in it, and a bit of a turn at the end of the ramp. So I'm going along pretty slowly, trying to stay out of the way of more intrepid cyclists who can take the switchback faster than I can.
I got to the bridge itself, where the bottleneck gets really narrow, and a guy behind me, trying to get around me on my right, misjudged the distance and wiped out.
I stopped, of course. He was okay (thank you helmet), but his bike probably wasn't. I think it was pretty clear to both of us that the error of judgment was his, and I also think it was pretty clear to both of us that he would have LOVED to be angry at me for being slow, or unfit, or otherwise annoying and in his way and "causing" his mistake.
It was very uncomfortable. Knowing you're right doesn't always pencil out to "feeling fine." I got to the office and had all kinds of trouble getting Clyde into the rack and locked up--it wasn't that my hands were shaking, but I was shaken, you know?
It's a case of "get back in the saddle and ride" (literally!), I guess, because I'm not giving up cycling, no matter what my stupid nerves say.
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(no subject)
15/9/09 21:46 (UTC)In fact last night, got a call around 9:30 to pick up Sal; he'd gotten off the Broadway Bridge and there was a lot of traffic from a concert letting out at the Rose Quarter and in trying to navigate across the street, some guy in a truck accidentally(!) drove over his front wheel. I'm still not clear on the physics of how that whole thing happened, but anyway. Sal's okay, and the guy wasn't going fast, just crept forward more than he realized, but entirely too close to comfort as far as I'm concerned. Between this and the wipeout at the beginning of summer, I'm a little less gung-ho with his whole "bike commuting yay!" thing than I used to be.
But, you know, getting back in the saddle seems to be the best answer, regardless.
(no subject)
15/9/09 22:14 (UTC)The only way I can contemplate a continued cycle commute is by avoiding every possible traffic bottleneck. So far, there isn't enough boldness in me to make me choose to ride through the Rose Quarter transit center, but in Sal's case, it's hard to visualize an alternate route home. I'm a complete wuss, and my commute is much, much shorter than Sal's, so I can afford to make wussy choices.
Which, you may be sure, I'm going to continue to do. Hope the bike damage was reparable.
.