I went for a nice 34 km ride on the bike yesterday, out on some country
roads. Weather was nice. Sunny, plus 4 degrees C.
On the return leg, about 8 km from home, I get passed by a driver who is
over cautious about the pass and gives me a more than wide enough buffer
to get around. The white Echo is off ahead of me and crests a small hill
that's about Km ahead and then is out of sight. Well at 30 km per hour
it takes me about two minutes to crest that hill. And what do I see?
There is that white Echo pointing right at me, in the ditch on my side
of the road. The ditch is full of snow so it was a soft landing. There
are skid marks from the left shoulder right across the road, that
clearly show the car was on the other shoulder before it crossed the
road and ended up in the ditch. How the heck did that happen I wonder.
There's a big white pickup that comes up behind me and then passes only
to stop and give assistance. I think it passed me going in the other
direction just as I crested the hill. If so, the driver must have seen
it happen in his rear view mirror.
The woman driver is out of the Echo in a flash and is on her cell phone
screaming at some one, asking why they called her. There's an obvious
Down's girl wandering out around the passenger area of the car looking a
bit confused and distressed and babbling something I can't make out. I
know a few kids like that and I feel sad for her because I just know it
will take her a long time to get over this.
Other than that, no one looks hurt so I just bike on. I can't be of much
help in clip-in shoes in deep snow anyway and the guy in the pick up is
out and ready to get into it.
A bit later, further on up the road I get to thinking. Two minutes. That
was the difference. I had made those two minutes by doing an extra Km on
the out bound leg to make it 34 km rather than 32 km on my out and back
trip. Two minutes.