I nearly figured out today how that guy managed to fall off of his bike and
onto a snake at Viewbank the other week. I was on the Yarra Trail near the
Heidelberg Football Club (about 1.5km from Viewbank) and I had just passed
through a narrow gate and was making a right hand turn on the track as it
goes over a bridge between the tennis courts and football oval. As I was
halfway around I realised that one of the sticks on the road just in front
of me was moving (there were sticks all over the trail due to strong winds
when the cool change came through yesterday).
I was turning pretty hard and the front wheel was almost breaking traction
(good fun when it stays at "almost"😉 and by the time I realised it was a
snake, I reckon it was about 1.5metres or so in front of me. Everything
sorta went slow motion and I took in that it was a tiger snake and that
there was no way I could bunny hop due to the angle that I was leaned over
at. I had to go to the left to miss it (it was going right to left) and it
also went through my head that if I was going to hit it, I would aim for the
head with the front wheel. I managed to change my line and go a little
wider and went about 3 inches or so to the left of its head. As there was a
bit of loose gravel off of the line that I was originally on, I had a bit of
a "heart in my mouth" moment as the front wheel broke traction for a bit
before it hooked up again (running Continental Town and Country tyres that
are basically semi-slicks). Had it decided to fully break traction, I would
have landed on the snake (wonder if that is how the other guy managed to do
it???).
Once past it, I stopped and turned around to warn the female walker who I
had passed about 20m before the snake and we watched the snake slide off
into the bushes near the river (he wasn't in any hurrry). Of course, for
the 1.5km or so of Yarra Trail that I had left before I turned off at
Viewbank, every stick (of which there were hundreds) looked like a snake!!!!
Looking forward to the cooler weather.
Gags