woe is me

jetsan said:

Yo all.

Well after being hit by a car back in jan im finally getting back on it, not for the fact that i was hurt that bad just because it took so dam long for the insurance to pay out that by the time they did it was winter....... and i was all "heck no im not going out there".

BUT! hopped on the steed on tuesday to ride to work, a 30k spin and well blow me down it was a hoot...... until......... dark, reflectors, light, so many things flashing on the bike i look like a moving rave, no street lights 80k zone, head check right no cars, head check right no cars, just about to turn, head check right no cars, turn and a car with no lights on cruises past at what i would estimate 100k. i saw, i missed, i thought fark me.

um, thats all. just another story about how stupid the majority of car drivers seem to be.

jet

good to hear you are back on it 🙂 must feel good to be riding again after such a [censored] long break.

as for the stealth speeder... everyone knows that for most motorists, it goes like this:
1) pick up your keys (if you can find them)
2) once you have your keys, remove your brain, either by blowing it out through your nose on a tissue, or by unlatching your skull and scooping it out with your hands. make sure you do not lose your keys in there.
3) if you want to be extra thorough, remove your spine. that way, when you make a spineless comment to a broken cyclist that you didnt see them, it will actually be true! This is not recommended if you are going to visit the in-laws though.
4) go out to the car, make sure that you have the instructions to drive written on a small piece of paper on the steering wheel, or write it on your arm in pen, because you cant remember how to drive now that you have removed your brain. make sure you have lots of things to distract you in the car, that way you get to pay even less attention to the road.
5) press the pedal, close your eyes and you will magically appear at your destination several minutes later without having any recollection of how you got there, or what that big red streak with bits of carbon fibre sticking out of it is on your bonnet.
6) repeat step 5 for the return journey.

There were five kids riding their bikes in my street today, just after lunch. I had just come home from my regular sunday ride. I had to slow right down cause they had not seen me. After I took my bike off the car and had a shower I went out to the 5 kids and said, "just be really careful here guy's there are to many people who drive way to fast in this street I would hate to see any of you get hurt". Not ten seconds after I uttered those words, guess what? A car travelling at much more than the 50kph speed limit came racing over the crest and almost into one of the ten year olds.

Now I am not a fan of letting kids ride unsupervised, they often have far less concentration than the average motorist, but this was just way to spooky. Had I not caught their attention, one of or all of these kids would have been hit. It was a Toyota Kluga, so probably death would have resulted. There just seems to be no way to get through the thick skulls of Brissy drivers that enough is enough. I am just glad the kids went off to a much safer place to ride after that.

I love to see kids playing and having fun, but for heavens sake watch your kids they are to precious to let them be killed by a rampaging Kluger doing 80k in a 50 zone.😠 😠 😠

Good to see you back on the bike. We've got nearby kids who ride the footpath ans street unsupervised and have often seen cars come up on them quite quickly. Have called out in time for them to be seen/stroke get of he road.

had a close encounter with a large truck last week. I was coming up to a T junction (I was riding the top of the the T going straight ahead), something made when slow for the tuck coming up to the junction on my left, he seemed to stop and then took his foot off the brakes and his load pushed him into the street as i came up quite close. I chose to cut inside instead of ducking in front but it was a close run thing. I find these T juctions (many with stops signs) quite a challenge at times because drivers often stop way past the white line just about where your bike line is - drivers usually see you and pull up in time, but trucks.....