Exciting Wednesday night

hippy Wrote:
"SteveA"
I always think I would like to do a little selective panel damage to
these fool's cars if I ever cannot avoid the collision, but I'm not
sure I would have the presence of mind to do it at the time. Should I
practice damaging parked cars as I ride past them on the street so
that
it will be almost instinctive when the collision happens?

Practice makes perfect!

Just remember cagers are very protective of their
cars and will want to hurt you should you ding it.
All I'm saying is... have a good escape route..

hippy
I'm a bushwalker and climber and rider of MTBs on bush tracks so I have
a 4WD that gets used at weekends. (We have a much smaller 4 cylinder car
for around town). The 4WD has a bullbar and air horns and about
1,000,000 watts of spotlights that can barbecue sausages at 100 metres.
As well as being my bush transport, it is also a very effective
educational tool. The most stupid of cagers are reminded of their
latest stupid act by a very loud and bright display of horns and
lights. Funnily enough, the blindness that allows drivers to almost
run over cyclists goes into remission when the other vehicle is a 4WD
with a bullbar that just might hurt if run into!! Perhaps we cyclists
all need friends with 4WDs with bullbars who we can phone at times of
'cager induced stress' to come and exact revenge on our behalf.
Perhaps I need a bullbar on the commuter bike and to upgrade the 10w
light on the front. Still I could get an Air Zound as a starter I
suppose.

SteveA


--
SteveA

"TimC"
Theres sometimes a path to the left, right next to the gutter, but
usually there is a car parked over it, or two cars 10m from each other
either side of it, so you would have to swerve in then out again to
miss the ditch. Naturally, I don't like swerving to miss a ditch.

Email them. Then they have a (better) record of it.
Feel free to mention the trench up near Burke Rd. too.
While you're at it, Burke Rd. south-bound is sheet
and so is east-bound Whitehorse Rd.

hippy
on those roads way too often...

Tamyka Bell Wrote:
Didn't I have an exciting ride home

Had just come out of Glen Rd onto the cycle path at Toowong when I hea
a strange crunching sound. I look back to see a woman on the stree
corner, hands over her mouth, gasping. I recall seeing a cyclis
headin
down that hill as I went up so I turn back to check. Sure enough
cyclist is now lying down in the middle of the road, not the best plac
to take a nap

He's hit the nasty little bump on the far side of the manhole cover
an
as I recall he was heading down the hill with water bottle in one hand
so I figure as he dropped forward on hitting the bump it made his bik
swerve and off he came

Two people who were about to get into vehicles stopped to help,
staye
because (1) I am a cyclist and (2) I had a bright yellow jacket on an
it was about 5.45 pm on an overcast night. Another cyclist was waitin
as well

The guy insisted he would be right to ride, he had nothing broken an
was just groggy (i.e., concussed and just wouldn't admit it) and hi
jersey was ripped a bit. We ended up convincing him to call for
pickup... only because the rear derailleur had folded back into th
spokes

As all this was going on, a bus driver heading up the street to th
waiting point (around the corner from the bus stop) cut the corner
bit, no doubt distracted by our excitement, and takes off the righ
rea
lights and bumper of a parked car. More excitement. After which I rod
very, very carefully and gave way to anything that looked vaguely lik
it might not see me in my bright yellow jacket and lots of flash
lights. Rest of my commute was (fortunately) without incident

New slogan: If you ride alone, take your phone

T
My one and only bad fall was somewhere near there. It was in the day
before mobile phones when Suntour 12 speed gears were pretty special.
I lived in St Lucia and used to take the bike out for a good ride o
Saturday and Sunday (bus commuter into the city job during the week).
Coming home, I was on Corro Drive and got overtaken by a couple o
flash lads in lycra. I fell in with them and took my turns on th
front as we headed out towards UQ (almost killed my poor body). As w
got to a sweeping downhill curve (a bit before the left turn into Fre
Schonell), the flash lads slowed down and I thought it was m
opportunity to show how fast I was. I jumped and took off into th
curve. The everything went horizontal. As the bike slid out fro
under me, I realised why they had backed off. The bottom of the curv
was gently layered with gravel the size and shape of little bal
bearings.

Yes, you can release from toe clips and straps while sliding sideway
down the road. The bike came to rest against something solid. I cam
to rest against the bike soon after. Front wheel of bike was ben
seriously. My knicks were ripped and ground away on one leg. I wa
gravel rashed down the thigh, knee and calf, and on one arm an
shoulder. This was in the days before helmets were compulsory but I'
convinced I still have my right ear because I was wearing one

The others stopped to check on me but I waved them on (the body wa
hurting but the pride was hurting more). A bit of water out of th
waterbottles got sprayed on the raw bits and then I walked hom
carrying the bike

Would have given anything to have had a mobilel phone the

Steve

--
SteveA

"Tamyka" == Tamyka Bell writes:

Tamyka Didn't I have an exciting ride home. Had just come out of
Tamyka Glen Rd onto the cycle path at Toowong when I hear a strange
Tamyka crunching sound. I look back to see a woman on the street
Tamyka corner, hands over her mouth, gasping. I recall seeing a
Tamyka cyclist heading down that hill as I went up so I turn back
Tamyka to check. Sure enough, cyclist is now lying down in the
Tamyka middle of the road, not the best place to take a nap.

snip

Must have been something about Wednesday; cycling home up Springvale
road @ 16:00ish approaching Wellington Road. Beemer starts passing me
then drifts over the left leaving me nowhere to go. Brake, Beemer
weaves out. Traffic near enough stationary courtesy of lights so I pull
level with Beemer which had window down.

"Excuse me"

"What?"

"You nearly side swiped me off the road just then, you drew level then
drifted over to the kerb leaving me with nowhere to go."

"Did I?" confused ditzy look

"You nearly got a scratch on you car, I was nearly injured, possibly
killed. Just be careful in future, OK?"

Stunned look like rabbit caught in headlights.

Not sure if it was the thought of a scratch on her Beemer or the other
stuff but seemed to have the desired effect.
--
Cheers
Euan

"flyingdutch" wrote
in message
ritcho Wrote:
Sore calves? Either cleat position or seat height -

Ritch

sounds more like a common thing you can get when first taking up
clipless pedalling IMHO.
All of a sudden you also pull up, thus using calves that have happily
gone along for the ride previously. Is this your first foray into
clipless DRS?

Yes. I went SPD, got a good deal on M520 pedals and M072 shoes. The shoes
were the only ones of that model in stock, I had vague memories of being a
size 43 from when I lived in Europe but you know how hopeless manufacturers
can be at sizing, but these fitted me like a glove. Good deal all round. I
haven't fallen over yet and I don't see what the fuss is about. The bloke
at the LBS (hi mfhor!) made sure the tension was set light to make getting
in and out fairly easy. The only thing I don't like is the feeling of the
balls of my feet "slipping" all the time because of the freedom of movement
the cleats give which was of course absent from my platforms.

PS adjust seatheight to allow for new distance between shoe and
pedal(axle)

I've raised the saddle height already, it's most probably just muscle
fatigue, although admittedly the cleats are all the way forward on the
shoes. The positioning probably isn't too bad as I find it fairly easy to
clip in, not by hunting around with my foot but simply putting the ball of
it on the pedal and pushing, if you get my drift, so it must be close.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

"hippy" wrote in message

"DRS"
Now, that begs the question: how the hell did a car end up in that
position?

Beach Rd., drugs, lack of sleep, speed... crash.

Heh. Little old lady, 4:30pm, heavy traffic, bright sunshine... conundrum.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

"DRS" wrote in message
...
"hippy" wrote in message
"DRS"
Now, that begs the question: how the hell did a car end up in that
position?

Beach Rd., drugs, lack of sleep, speed... crash.

Heh. Little old lady, 4:30pm, heavy traffic, bright sunshine...
conundrum.

Well.. I guess it _was_ a weekday..

hippy

TimC Wrote:
On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 at 00:01 GMT, Tamyka Bell (aka Bruce
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea
He's hit the nasty little bump on the far side of the manhole cover
an

Grrr. Anyone find that ditch over the width of the city-bound lane o
Burwood road near Swinburne annoying

I've got blood blisters out of it, but never fallen off... yet

Of course the council ignored me the one time I called. Might be tim
to give them another call

-
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors
What did you type in wrong to get it to crash?
Tim

Write to the council - tell them to fix it and its a danger t
cyclists/motorcyclists. When you are damaged you have the joy o
threatening to sue their pants off about an issue they knew wa
dangerous. A friend did this ti Ryde Council in Sydney - Big pothole
he wrote the letter, three weeks later was squeezed into the pothole b
a car, resulting in a knee reconstruction. Funnily enough the counci
paid for all his repair bills (bike and knee...) only with a ver
little letter from Legal Aid people

Tom - Put it in writing

--
casurina99

SteveA Wrote:
Last night an idiot in a car almost got me. I was in the last km of th
ride home, on suburban streets near home when the aforementioned idio
didn't give way at the give way sign, cut the corner and almost drov
over the top of me. I was lit up like a Christmas tree but I was i
some way invisible to him.

Somehow the words "you f***ing idiot" or something similarl
appropriate didn't come out of my mouth. Instead all I could say wa
"Oi" and point at him and shake my head. He had his window down so h
heard me quite clearly, and I was close enough (even though I swerve
and missed him) that he could see I was not happy.

I always think I would like to do a little selective panel damage t
these fool's cars if I ever cannot avoid the collision, but I'm no
sure I would have the presence of mind to do it at the time. Should
practice damaging parked cars as I ride past them on the street so tha
it will be almost instinctive when the collision happens

SteveA
Panel damage- a friend used to carry a very nice sharp fla
screwdriver in the right side bar end (inserted in with cut dow
handle). It was used for getting lifts crom cars that had squezzed hi
off. He used to just slip it out of the bar end and plunge into th
offending rear panel - a good sharp jab got through most pannels, jus
with a slight "pop" sound. Hanging onto the protruding handle got
great lift for a bit, before sliding it out. (Yes I watched him do i
on a commute home one day...

Very naughty, and served no other purpose than personal revenge. H
felt great about it though... Personally I cant fight well enough do d
that stuff!



--
casurina99

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 23:42:16 +1000, DRS wrote:

"hippy" wrote in message

"DRS"
Now, that begs the question: how the hell did a car end up in that
position?

Beach Rd., drugs, lack of sleep, speed... crash.

Heh. Little old lady, 4:30pm, heavy traffic, bright sunshine... conundrum.

Probably some nubile boy-racer in lycra zipped by and
caught her, uh, attention...

Beach road is near the beach right?

-kt