Cars don't always explode like they do in movies

From today's almost-daily diary, detailing a typical
Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride we do rain or shine. --Mike--

01/06/05- CARS DON'T ALWAYS EXPLODE LIKE THEY DO IN THE MOVIES. We can't
absolutely guarantee the ride of your life when you're out with us, but it
just might happen. Take today's ride, for example. Started out like any
other winter day; cool (38-45 degrees), overcast, damp roads. Kevin, Carl &
newcomers Julian and Joan in attendance. Kevin warned me about Julian; he's
been a customer of ours for several years, but this was the first time he
made it to one of our rides. He's strong. Period. I was part of the
Kevin/Carl/Julian group for the first few minutes, then gradually lost
contact. At the wide clearing I slowed down and waited a bit for Joan; after
my ride a few weeks ago with four flat tires, I wanted to make sure nobody
else was suffering a similar fate on their own!

Joan and I head continue the climb together, until we come to a pair of
tree limbs/trunks/whatever that had fallen onto the road from the adjacent
hillside, blocking a car from getting through. At first I tried to move one
of them; have you ever pushed really, really hard against a concrete
building and noticed how far you could move it? Same thing. So much for male
ego. Fortunately, while the driver didn't think she could get through, I
could see that it looked possible, and guided her past with at least half an
inch to spare at the top of her car. Hopefully one more car driver who will
think something a bit nicer of the next cyclist they come across.

We regroup at the top of Skyline and head south towards 84... for maybe
half a mile. That's when we come upon a guy in a truck sideways across the
road, blocking traffic. Why would somebody do that? Did somebody hit it?
Nope. The guy in the truck is turning people around, explaining that there's
a car on fire a bit further up the road. Cool, we're thinking, as we head on
past, figuring that we'd be able to get through and maybe see something else
interesting this morning. And interesting it was. Sure enough, we shortly
came to an old pickup with a trailer, thoroughly engulfed in flames that
reached up into the trees. I can't really tell you just how odd such a sight
is, nor how stupid I felt for leaving my camera at home this morning! One
fire truck tending to it, spraying foam now & then. We're thinking it might
be OK to squeak past on the far left side of the road, until somebody in our
group more intelligent than I mentions that cars have gas tanks, and it
might explode. Now we're talking waaaaaay cool! (I should note that we'd
already been told nobody was hurt; the driver apparently noticing his
vehicle was on fire and parking it at the side of the road long before it
was so thoroughly engulfed).

So we wait for maybe five minutes, with nobody paying us much attention
(we're the only people on the north side of the fire, while a long line of
cars are waiting to get through on the north end). The flames get bigger,
the tires start burning (not much wind so the smell wasn't too bad, as the
black smoke carried straight upward with the heat from the fire) and
all-of-a-suden there's the big "whoosh" sound and a bunch of flame shoots
out of the far side of the vehicle. No thunderous explosion causing the car
to fly up into the air, not even a couple inches. No fireball. Not at all
like the movies! After another couple minutes there's another "whoosh",
after which the firefighters finally start getting aggressive and move in to
get the flames down. We figure that whatever might have exploded already
had, so we get back on our bikes and ride past, with nobody paying us any
attention whatsoever. How strange that you could come across something much
less dangerous and somebody would be telling you to turn around and detour
20 miles, but here, we're on our own.

Enough for one ride? Not quite. I thought about shortening my ride and
heading straight home down 84, since there's this Chain Reaction place I'm
supposed to be at when it opens, but figure nah, we're only 20 minutes
behind schedule, I'm fine! So we all continue on to the west side of Old
LaHonda, where the sun actually makes an appearance and life seems pretty
good. Almost. Julian forces the pace and I try to keep up. Luckily, just
where you enter the forest, we come upon another group of riders, one that
Harry, another one of our customers, is part of. So I slow my pace briefly
to say hello, seeing it as a great excuse to shut down for a bit and take it
easy. Nope. Pleasantries were exchanged all-too-quickly so I'm back to
chasing Julian again, a rather futile thing to do. We assemble at the top,
with four from his group and four of us (Kevin had to turn around and head
back at 84 for work), with Julian and Joan heading down the east side of Old
LaHonda. No, don't do that, we told them. Too dangerous. But they felt more
comfortable with fewer cars than you'd find on the 84 descent, so we bid
them adieu and continued toward 84.

The road surface is a bit wet in places, with oil spots here and there. As
I've said before, I prefer descending when it's really dumping, because
traction is much more consistent and the oil's been washed away. But today
it was alternating wet & dry, with oil. Not my favorite. Still, I know the
road well, and generally don't find too many people who ride it faster than
I do. But today, Harry was one of those people. He didn't want to get stuck
behind a car that might have tried to pass us if we went too slow, so away
he went. About half a mile down the hill we're going into a damp corner,
with me following him by maybe 50 feet or so. I'm amazed at how quickly he
enters the corner, and even more amazed at the daring line he's willing to
take (given the conditions). And I'm thinking at the time, can you really
take that line and make it work at that speed? The answer came quickly- no.
He went sliding down around the curve, landing on his right side, coming to
a stop near the middle of the road just past the corner. Ouch. Cracked
helmet, gash above the eye (needed four stitches), torn jacket, bloody
knuckles and lots of bruises. We stopped traffic and found someone who had
some paper towels that were useful for cleaning him up a bit, took a bit of
time to assess his situation (Carl, a Chiropractor, seemed pretty capable of
figuring out if he'd scrambled his head or not... he might later be useful
for dealing with some of the aches & pains), called his wife on a cell phone
to have her meet up with us a bit further down the hill, straightened out
his bike and headed back down the hill.

Almost.

Just as I'm getting back on my bike I notice my rear tire's flat. So, we
had a blocked road (actually two), burning car, crash and a flat tire. All
that and I still made it to work on time. Who cares that my face looks like
I was clawed by a cat because I had to quickly shave in the shower?

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

Wow, Mike...GREAT story! Thanks for the excellent reportage.


In article ,
"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles"
wrote:

From today's almost-daily diary, detailing a typical
Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride we do rain or shine. --Mike--
snip

In article ,
says...
From today's almost-daily diary, detailing a typical
Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride we do rain or shine. --Mike--

01/06/05- CARS DON'T ALWAYS EXPLODE LIKE THEY DO IN THE MOVIES.

Hardly ever, in fact! Sounds like a fun ride!

....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

Excellent report. I'm glad my rides are much tamerg

This is the second post I've read today where someone had a flat. I'm
hoping this type of luck doesn't spead over the internet. I'm still hoping
someday AAA will extend my tire changing coverage to the bike

Beverly

"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles" wrote
in message m...
From today's almost-daily diary, detailing a typical
Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride we do rain or shine. --Mike--

01/06/05- CARS DON'T ALWAYS EXPLODE LIKE THEY DO IN THE MOVIES. We can't
absolutely guarantee the ride of your life when you're out with us, but it
just might happen. Take today's ride, for example. Started out like any
other winter day; cool (38-45 degrees), overcast, damp roads. Kevin, Carl
&
newcomers Julian and Joan in attendance. Kevin warned me about Julian;
he's
been a customer of ours for several years, but this was the first time he
made it to one of our rides. He's strong. Period. I was part of the
Kevin/Carl/Julian group for the first few minutes, then gradually lost
contact. At the wide clearing I slowed down and waited a bit for Joan;
after
my ride a few weeks ago with four flat tires, I wanted to make sure nobody
else was suffering a similar fate on their own!

Joan and I head continue the climb together, until we come to a pair of
tree limbs/trunks/whatever that had fallen onto the road from the adjacent
hillside, blocking a car from getting through. At first I tried to move
one
of them; have you ever pushed really, really hard against a concrete
building and noticed how far you could move it? Same thing. So much for
male
ego. Fortunately, while the driver didn't think she could get through, I
could see that it looked possible, and guided her past with at least half
an
inch to spare at the top of her car. Hopefully one more car driver who
will
think something a bit nicer of the next cyclist they come across.

We regroup at the top of Skyline and head south towards 84... for maybe
half a mile. That's when we come upon a guy in a truck sideways across the
road, blocking traffic. Why would somebody do that? Did somebody hit it?
Nope. The guy in the truck is turning people around, explaining that
there's
a car on fire a bit further up the road. Cool, we're thinking, as we head
on
past, figuring that we'd be able to get through and maybe see something
else
interesting this morning. And interesting it was. Sure enough, we shortly
came to an old pickup with a trailer, thoroughly engulfed in flames that
reached up into the trees. I can't really tell you just how odd such a
sight
is, nor how stupid I felt for leaving my camera at home this morning! One
fire truck tending to it, spraying foam now & then. We're thinking it
might
be OK to squeak past on the far left side of the road, until somebody in
our
group more intelligent than I mentions that cars have gas tanks, and it
might explode. Now we're talking waaaaaay cool! (I should note that we'd
already been told nobody was hurt; the driver apparently noticing his
vehicle was on fire and parking it at the side of the road long before it
was so thoroughly engulfed).

So we wait for maybe five minutes, with nobody paying us much attention
(we're the only people on the north side of the fire, while a long line of
cars are waiting to get through on the north end). The flames get bigger,
the tires start burning (not much wind so the smell wasn't too bad, as the
black smoke carried straight upward with the heat from the fire) and
all-of-a-suden there's the big "whoosh" sound and a bunch of flame shoots
out of the far side of the vehicle. No thunderous explosion causing the
car
to fly up into the air, not even a couple inches. No fireball. Not at all
like the movies! After another couple minutes there's another "whoosh",
after which the firefighters finally start getting aggressive and move in
to
get the flames down. We figure that whatever might have exploded already
had, so we get back on our bikes and ride past, with nobody paying us any
attention whatsoever. How strange that you could come across something
much
less dangerous and somebody would be telling you to turn around and detour
20 miles, but here, we're on our own.

Enough for one ride? Not quite. I thought about shortening my ride and
heading straight home down 84, since there's this Chain Reaction place I'm
supposed to be at when it opens, but figure nah, we're only 20 minutes
behind schedule, I'm fine! So we all continue on to the west side of Old
LaHonda, where the sun actually makes an appearance and life seems pretty
good. Almost. Julian forces the pace and I try to keep up. Luckily, just
where you enter the forest, we come upon another group of riders, one that
Harry, another one of our customers, is part of. So I slow my pace briefly
to say hello, seeing it as a great excuse to shut down for a bit and take
it
easy. Nope. Pleasantries were exchanged all-too-quickly so I'm back to
chasing Julian again, a rather futile thing to do. We assemble at the top,
with four from his group and four of us (Kevin had to turn around and head
back at 84 for work), with Julian and Joan heading down the east side of
Old
LaHonda. No, don't do that, we told them. Too dangerous. But they felt
more
comfortable with fewer cars than you'd find on the 84 descent, so we bid
them adieu and continued toward 84.

The road surface is a bit wet in places, with oil spots here and there. As
I've said before, I prefer descending when it's really dumping, because
traction is much more consistent and the oil's been washed away. But today
it was alternating wet & dry, with oil. Not my favorite. Still, I know the
road well, and generally don't find too many people who ride it faster
than
I do. But today, Harry was one of those people. He didn't want to get
stuck
behind a car that might have tried to pass us if we went too slow, so away
he went. About half a mile down the hill we're going into a damp corner,
with me following him by maybe 50 feet or so. I'm amazed at how quickly he
enters the corner, and even more amazed at the daring line he's willing to
take (given the conditions). And I'm thinking at the time, can you really
take that line and make it work at that speed? The answer came quickly-
no.
He went sliding down around the curve, landing on his right side, coming
to
a stop near the middle of the road just past the corner. Ouch. Cracked
helmet, gash above the eye (needed four stitches), torn jacket, bloody
knuckles and lots of bruises. We stopped traffic and found someone who had
some paper towels that were useful for cleaning him up a bit, took a bit
of
time to assess his situation (Carl, a Chiropractor, seemed pretty capable
of
figuring out if he'd scrambled his head or not... he might later be useful
for dealing with some of the aches & pains), called his wife on a cell
phone
to have her meet up with us a bit further down the hill, straightened out
his bike and headed back down the hill.

Almost.

Just as I'm getting back on my bike I notice my rear tire's flat. So, we
had a blocked road (actually two), burning car, crash and a flat tire. All
that and I still made it to work on time. Who cares that my face looks
like
I was clawed by a cat because I had to quickly shave in the shower?

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

David Kerber wrote:
In article ,
says...

From today's almost-daily diary, detailing a typical
Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride we do rain or shine. --Mike--

01/06/05- CARS DON'T ALWAYS EXPLODE LIKE THEY DO IN THE MOVIES.


Hardly ever, in fact! Sounds like a fun ride!

I would expect the tires to be a significant concern. They'll "explode."

This has nothing to do with cycling, however. Not that there's anything
wrong with that.

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall
"We should not march into Baghdad. ... Assigning young soldiers to
a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning
them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerilla war, it
could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater
instability." George Bush Sr. in his 1998 book "A World Transformed"

From today's almost-daily diary, detailing a typical
Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride we do rain or shine. --Mike--

01/06/05- CARS DON'T ALWAYS EXPLODE LIKE THEY DO IN THE MOVIES.


Hardly ever, in fact! Sounds like a fun ride!

I would expect the tires to be a significant concern. They'll "explode."

This has nothing to do with cycling, however. Not that there's anything
wrong with that.

I beg to differ... it has EVERYTHING to do with cycling. It's just part of
the adventure you experience when you're out riding. I try and make it a
point to notice something new & different each time I ride, even though I'm
often on the exact same route I've ridden for 30+ years. What's so cool is
that sometimes those things find ME!

Those 8 cars waiting on the other side for the fire department to let them
through... you think THEY were feeling like they were part of something
strange & interesting & new, or just ticked off that they couldn't get to
where they were going without delay?

Sometimes I think I take for granted the business I'm in. At those times I
should read some of the stuff I write and realize just what an incredible
opportunity it's been for me over the years. I get to make a living helping
people experience what riding a bike is all about. Life could be a whole lot
worse than that.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 07:01:09 GMT, "Mike Jacoubowsky"
wrote:

Sometimes I think I take for granted the business I'm in. At those times I
should read some of the stuff I write and realize just what an incredible
opportunity it's been for me over the years. I get to make a living helping
people experience what riding a bike is all about. Life could be a whole lot
worse than that.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

My wife is part Cherokee and does shaman walks. She recently participated
in a 'sweat lodge'. (this is not as 'new age' exotic as one might think. I
changed my mind after hearing her recounting the invitation to go on the
sweat lodge, a type of spirit journey. Because of her Indian blood (maybe)
and her ability playing the native american flute, she received an
invitation that few experience. I might be able to glom on next year...)

Anyway, I tried to tell her about the world at 15-20mph and she listened.

'But...', she replied, 'I need my contact with the ground. Look at that
raindrop hanging on the tree. Can you see that on the bicycle?', recounting
her world at 3-4 mph.

I didn't even have to think. 'I feel the rain and mist on my face and see
drops on my glasses, mini prisims distorting the world into colorsful
halos.' Oh well, I tried. ;-/

We agreed that it was about the vibrational speed, the rhythm, the energy.
Different but similar.

She can walk places that I would have difficulty. I can cycle places she
finds slightly difficult.

Oddly, she has a bigger engine than I and without training, she can do some
interesting climbs on the MTB, though she's only cycled a handful of times
in the last 4 years. pout, fret, grin

I'm trying to get her interested in the Erie Canal ride. She said, 'that's
not my thing.'

Then I showed her the webpage. She claps her hands and says, I want to go,
I want to go. She didn't realize it was a group ride with friendly people
and food and sightseeing. Oh, and the Erie canal - spectacular. Now we are
trying to get past the fact that it's in July. Conflict majoris! ;-p

jj

Beverly wrote:
Excellent report. I'm glad my rides are much tamerg

This is the second post I've read today where someone had a flat.
I'm
hoping this type of luck doesn't spead over the internet. I'm still
hoping
someday AAA will extend my tire changing coverage to the bike

Beverly


What a great idea. I took my bike out this morning after being up until
midnight talking to a young, crying relative with two small kids
comtemplating divorce. I thought if I rode my bike this morning it
would clear my head. I got flat, had to walk back home and now I am
sitting at my computer waiting for 5:00 p.m. so I can go home. If I had
been in my car I would have had AAA to turn to. I had a cell phone to
call home but no one was awake to answer the phone. Can't beat AAA.
Maggie
http://www.geocities.com/lindaannbuset/mypage.html

What a great idea. I took my bike out this morning after being up until
midnight talking to a young, crying relative with two small kids
comtemplating divorce. I thought if I rode my bike this morning it
would clear my head.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. Riding will definitely clear
my mind of "minor" things, but I remember very clearly muddling through a
bike ride the day I was told my father didn't have too much more time. I
didn't even ride up King's that day (those who know me would understand what
a strange thing that is), and the fact that I couldn't find peace while
riding my bike made it all the worse.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

wrote in message
ups.com...

Beverly wrote:
Excellent report. I'm glad my rides are much tamerg

This is the second post I've read today where someone had a flat.
I'm
hoping this type of luck doesn't spead over the internet. I'm still
hoping
someday AAA will extend my tire changing coverage to the bike

Beverly


What a great idea. I took my bike out this morning after being up until
midnight talking to a young, crying relative with two small kids
comtemplating divorce. I thought if I rode my bike this morning it
would clear my head. I got flat, had to walk back home and now I am
sitting at my computer waiting for 5:00 p.m. so I can go home. If I had
been in my car I would have had AAA to turn to. I had a cell phone to
call home but no one was awake to answer the phone. Can't beat AAA.
Maggie
http://www.geocities.com/lindaannbuset/mypage.html