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About an hour ago I had probably the most frightening experience I've had riding so far other than actually being hit. I was riding home from physical therapy (from having been hit in February by an oblivious oncoming driver making a left turn into me). Traffic was a little crowded but running smoothly. I'd been riding beside this humongous beat-up Buick for several miles on a four lane street. I accelerate to get in front of him to make a left turn a few blocks ahead. We come to a stop at a red light that then turned green and we all continue on, no problems. Several blocks later, I put my left turn signal on, look in the rear view mirror to see that I'm far ahead of the rest of traffic, including the Buick, decelerate slowly from about 35mph to a stop and wait for an opening in oncoming traffic to make a left turn. 8-10 seconds later I hear the terrifying squeals of locked up brakes, look in the mirror to see the tremendous Buick careening towards me. All I had time to do was transfer to the rear brake instead of the front brake; there wasn't time to hit the throttle to get out of its way. Fortunately, his skid took him into the right lane just beside me inches away. All I could was throw my hands up and scream "what the gently caress" into his his completely unconcerned face before he just drove away. I made my turn, pulled over, and sat down to stop the adrenaline shakes. Being rear-ended is one of my biggest riding fears, because I feel like by the time you see it coming, there isn't time to do much about it. Granted, if he'd hit me in the skid, I probably wouldn't have taken too much damage, really. I guess I'm still a little shaky from the accident in February.
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Apr 4, 2011 22:16
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 00:08 |
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Here4DaGangBang posted:Sounds like you would have seen this coming had you done something similar, and in your case you had an easy escape route, i.e. gas it straight ahead. Glad to hear the guy was able to miss you though! GnarlyCharlie4u posted:Next thing I know the guy just completely let off the brakes and the car bumper rolled up and over my rear tire and didn't stop till I reached back and punched his hood. (he was looking at cross traffic and apparently never saw me.) I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it never ceases to amazing me how invisible you can be to drivers, even when right in front of their faces. Not really a near crash, but I was dangerously cut off today by a tiny woman in a huge pickup with a "WATCH FOR MOTORCYCLES" sticker on the back windshield. I always love when that happens.
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Apr 6, 2011 23:01
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Yesterday, I was riding with a few friends when we got caught in some bad rain. When we decided to pull off at a DIY car wash to get some shelter, I had limited visibility (so the turn off was closer than I'd thought), didn't slow down soon enough, and as I started turning, I stupidly applied too much rear brake on a smooth, newly paved, wet road. I knew even before I lost traction that I'd hosed up. Started to low side, got traction again, started to high side (pointing me towards a very deep ravine with no barrier) and then somehow managed to snap it back into a straight line almost like nothing happened. Stupid, stupid, stupid. A friend riding behind me swore that he thought I was heading right down that ravine before I got it upright and back on a straight line. That was luck, and not any skill on my part, which makes me feel even more like an idiot. I didn't crash, but I'm certainly still a dummy. It was definitely a learning experience.
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Sep 9, 2013 23:51
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