My Close Call 2007 (1) - Page 2 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

01-06-2007, 05:09 AM

Bill Baka wrote:
> what does THIS button do? wrote:
> > I propose an omnibus thread to gather all the missed-me-by->that<-much
> > posts and offer the following to start
> >
> > when/where:
> > today about 15:35, on Prairie north of Wilson in Batavia (IL) , going
> > to work.
> >
> >
> > Me:
> > ultraflourescent hit-me-orange with retroflective stripes, made for
> > autobahn workers, high vis vest, blaze-clip-me-orange hunting gloves,
> > flashy spandex speedo tights. MTB, riding right wheel rut, 18 in a 25.
> > Sunny.
> >
> > what:
> > Giant ,*shiny* jacked-up black 4 door chevy pickup, Daddy driving, wife
> > and daughter onboard, passes so close that his mirror missed my head by
> > about 4 inches. speeding. Guy laughs at me when i inform him of his
> > near whacking experience. Fortunately, wife and little girl look
> > mortified.
> >
> > oh well. beats getting stuck in a fenderwell.
> >
> > .max
> >
> If you had time to inform him, you didn't have time to drag him out of
> the truck and teach him some manners? Face to face is a great equalizer.
> Many of the pickup yahoos I have run ins with will just not get out of
> their protective box, now thinking they have pissed off a lunatic.
> Maybe in my case.
> Bill Baka

Gent in Denver had this sort of thing happen. Got a cross bow arrow in
the chest, died..Altho I am one that is very militent on my bicycle and
will shout and gesture, ya gotta be careful.

01-06-2007, 12:14 PM

When/where: Today, about 13:15, Willow Ln just east of IL 31 in West Dundee,
IL, heading eastbound (42.091121N, 88.290532W).

Me: Street clothes, red Champion lightweight shell jacket. 22 in a 25, middle
of the lane. Sunny.

What: Small, silver sedan coming out of a side street (new, so not in Google
Maps yet), makes eye contact with me, then proceeds to roll right through his
stop sign anyway, coming to within a foot or so of me (remember, I'm in the
/middle/ of my lane). He didn't fully stop until I threw my right arm out at
him, giving him the "stop right there" sign. I don't know if he was just out of
it, or if he massively misjudged my speed.

I also had a close encounter with a dog today, involving a possibly autistic
pedestrian, but that's another thread.

--

__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
(_)/ (_)

01-06-2007, 02:14 PM

Kristian M Zoerhoff wrote:
> When/where: Today, about 13:15, Willow Ln just east of IL 31 in West Dundee,
> IL, heading eastbound (42.091121N, 88.290532W).
>
> Me: Street clothes, red Champion lightweight shell jacket. 22 in a 25, middle
> of the lane. Sunny.
>
> What: Small, silver sedan coming out of a side street (new, so not in Google
> Maps yet), makes eye contact with me, then proceeds to roll right through his
> stop sign anyway, coming to within a foot or so of me (remember, I'm in the
> /middle/ of my lane). He didn't fully stop until I threw my right arm out at
> him, giving him the "stop right there" sign. I don't know if he was just out of
> it, or if he massively misjudged my speed.

For what it's worth:

One hour ago. Waiting for a green arrow in a left turn lane. Cars
facing me have a red light.

I get my green arrow and start to turn left. Motorist facing me
simultaneously decides he doesn't want to wait for his red light any
more. He starts up at the same moment I do and heads straight for me
as I'm making my turn. I slam on the brakes and barely miss him. As I
blare the horn, he yells something at me, but never even slows down.

Yes, I blared the horn. You see, I was driving my car. With
headlights on.

There are idiots and jerks out there. You encounter them while riding
a bike, driving a car, riding a motorcycle or just walking. Keep it in
mind, but don't let it keep you off your bike.

- Frank Krygowski

01-06-2007, 02:41 PM

In article <1168125256.161323.72380@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups. com>,
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
>
> There are idiots and jerks out there. You encounter them while riding
> a bike, driving a car, riding a motorcycle or just walking. Keep it in
> mind, but don't let it keep you off your bike.

BTDT. The only thing that'll keep me off the bike is some shop time it needs
(front der. went off the reservation during today's ride, and I'm overdue for a
tune-up/shopping excursion anyway). That's after tomorrow's ride, though.

--

__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
(_)/ (_)

01-06-2007, 02:42 PM

qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:
> Bill Baka wrote:
>> If you had time to inform him, you didn't have time to drag him out of
>> the truck and teach him some manners? Face to face is a great equalizer.
>> Many of the pickup yahoos I have run ins with will just not get out of
>> their protective box, now thinking they have pissed off a lunatic.
>> Maybe in my case.
>> Bill Baka
>
> Gent in Denver had this sort of thing happen. Got a cross bow arrow in
> the chest, died..Altho I am one that is very militent on my bicycle and
> will shout and gesture, ya gotta be careful.
>
Sort of unique and not the kind of encounter I am looking for, but a
cross bow, that is different. Around here there are some idiots with
guns, but mostly just dumb asses in pick up trucks. I did get hit just
before Christmas by an old man in a pickup truck but didn't mention it,
since it was a case of a guy who really didn't see me. My thumb got
cracked and is still sore but he gave me a ride home and was very sorry
so I didn't bother to get the police involved. That was an accident, but
most of my encounters are not. For what it's worth it was at a stop sign
and my bike didn't register so he pulled out just in time to clip my
rear and dump me. Why a 65 year old who had a stroke a few years back
was driving a jacked up 4 x 4 is beyond me, but there he was.
Bill Baka

01-06-2007, 02:47 PM

Kristian M Zoerhoff wrote:
> In article <1168125256.161323.72380@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups. com>,
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
>> There are idiots and jerks out there. You encounter them while riding
>> a bike, driving a car, riding a motorcycle or just walking. Keep it in
>> mind, but don't let it keep you off your bike.
>
> BTDT. The only thing that'll keep me off the bike is some shop time it needs
> (front der. went off the reservation during today's ride, and I'm overdue for a
> tune-up/shopping excursion anyway). That's after tomorrow's ride, though.
>
My shop time involves some quality time either in the cold and crowded
garage with the bike or in the living room watching the Discovery
channel while truing a wheel or something time consuming. My LBS knows
me for coming in and buying those exotic little parts you can't buy
anywhere else. Wife does not like the bike in the living room, but at
least I can watch a special about someplace I would like to be while
turning a wrench.
Bill Baka

01-06-2007, 03:40 PM

"Bill Baka" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:gtWnh.25635$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].prodigy.n et...
> qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:
>> Bill Baka wrote:
>>> If you had time to inform him, you didn't have time to drag him out of
>>> the truck and teach him some manners? Face to face is a great equalizer.
>>> Many of the pickup yahoos I have run ins with will just not get out of
>>> their protective box, now thinking they have pissed off a lunatic.
>>> Maybe in my case.
>>> Bill Baka
>>
>> Gent in Denver had this sort of thing happen. Got a cross bow arrow in
>> the chest, died..Altho I am one that is very militent on my bicycle and
>> will shout and gesture, ya gotta be careful.
>>
> Sort of unique and not the kind of encounter I am looking for, but a cross
> bow, that is different. Around here there are some idiots with guns, but
> mostly just dumb asses in pick up trucks. I did get hit just before
> Christmas by an old man in a pickup truck but didn't mention it, since it
> was a case of a guy who really didn't see me. My thumb got cracked and is
> still sore but he gave me a ride home and was very sorry so I didn't
> bother to get the police involved. That was an accident, but most of my
> encounters are not. For what it's worth it was at a stop sign and my bike
> didn't register so he pulled out just in time to clip my rear and dump me.
> Why a 65 year old who had a stroke a few years back was driving a jacked
> up 4 x 4 is beyond me, but there he was.
> Bill Baka

You have to be extremely vigilant when looking for safe manoevers, referring
to the driver, as you get older because your eyes are getting slower too.
After a stroke probably worse than normal. Tired folks after Christmas
shopping or any other time. I noticed a more than the usuall amount of
people in stores were very aggravated about everything. Good thing I was
not on a bike much cause of the weather.
SN

01-07-2007, 08:02 PM

Close call 2002
I'm moronically riding the wrong direction up the bike road. Hugging
the curb only helps slightly when you consider I'm sharing the road
with about a million bikes. Near the McDonald's another bike's
handlebars hit me across the hand and I get a nasty scrape and bruise.
I don't have that much farther to go and given my general fear of the
big scary trafficness of the car road continue riding the wrong
direction.

Close call 2003
I'm riding my pretty pink city bike. No special clothing. I think I
had a helmet when I lived in Shijiazhuang but from this vantage I don't
remember if I actually wore it much. The bike has just had an odometer
installed so we're talking about four weeks after I bought it and two
weeks before it was stolen.
Bike road approaching a reasonably large intersection properly built
intersection. This city has good bike road (minimum 1.5 cars wide),
nice lines of sight, and really good intersections with separate
traffic lights for cars, bikes, and peds.
I've got a tailwind and a bit of attitude so I'm going faster than I
ought to be (about 20kph). Not a whole lot of vehicles on the car road
or bike road.
Taxi making a left hand turn (with turn signal and permission from
the light) misgauges my speed (since when do _bikes_ go that fast?) and
two vehicles (him and me) come to a screeching halt. If either had
been two inches farther along the other would have hit.

Close call 2004
Discover while going downhill (again in the bike road, again the
wrong direction) that the brakes on my borrowed bike don't do a very
good job of STOP. Nothing happens but it scares me and I vow to never
again ride a bike without thoroughly inspecting it first.

Close call 2005 (1)
Riding the wrong direction in the bike road (does anyone begin to
sense a theme?) I'm passing a bus stop when a small child, in the midst
of a temper tantrum, bolts from her mother and right in front of me.
I've got time to pull on the brakes but I still go down and she still
ends up with a wet tire track all the way from toe to hairline.

Close call 2005 (2)
I'm decked out in full touring gear, with panniers. I'm making a
legal U-turn. I'm checking out the scary beasts of doom (cars) coming
my direction when a putt putt motorcycle going the wrong direction down
the middle of the lane strikes my rear wheel. She flees the scene but
is later apprehended. (I was the first foreigner to ever have a
traffic accident in that city. I believe the entire police force
mobilized to find her.)

Close call 2006
I'm merging across a four lane highway. Checking out the scary
beasts of doom behind me. An elderly man with mental issues riding a
work bike has come the wrong way up the U-turn and is crossing
diagonally the wrong direction across traffic. I glance to check that
my front is clear in time to see him and think "oh ****" as a I hit the
side of his bike, and do an endo over him, cracking my helmet on the
pavement. Due to some minor issues with things like counting and
homonyms I think I may have had a minor concussion but was unwilling to
go to a Chinese hospital during a national holiday. My shoes probably
cost more than he makes per month. Needless to say I get no
compensation.

Close call 2006 (2)
I'm outside of town coming back from an all day ride on new roads I'd
never previously been on (including unexpected cyclocross and
hitchhiking on a tractor incidents). A black sedan comes up behind me
and starts honking until I move out of his way (rather than pass me in
the totally empty lane to our left). Having succeeded in forcing me
onto the shoulder/bike lane he notices that it's a foreigner on a bike
going fast and doesn't actually pass me. I'm debating sprinting and
sitting in front of him at 10kph or whether or not I should come to a
complete stop when it becomes apparent that a) I will not be able to go
around the van parked in the shoulder up ahead and b) that van isn't
parked because c) it's driving the wrong direction towards me and d) OH
****.
Sedan flees the scene.
Van driver takes me to the hospital and pays the bills for 14
stitches (leg and forehead), and new front fork (visible to the
uneducated naked eye as being scrap metal). I also broke the
windshield and left a dent in the bumper.

-M

01-08-2007, 02:38 PM

I guess there's not many I remember past a week. It's taken me a few
days to try recalling any really close ones lately.

Then I remembered the honk of a street sweeper squeezing the
red-light and me having to hold a track stand while it passed
entirely too close to my body. That was in early autumn.

Since then I've been reminding myself to double check - again.
Now I'm not so eager to dash off the instant the light turns green.
--
zk

01-08-2007, 06:53 PM

"Zoot Katz" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
>I guess there's not many I remember past a week. It's taken me a few
> days to try recalling any really close ones lately.
>
> Then I remembered the honk of a street sweeper squeezing the
> red-light and me having to hold a track stand while it passed
> entirely too close to my body. That was in early autumn.
>
> Since then I've been reminding myself to double check - again.
> Now I'm not so eager to dash off the instant the light turns green.
> --
> zk

Almost makes you wonder if our free medical system makes people want to play
God more than they would in the States.
SN