Flat tire may have saved my life! (long)

This is kinda long but, I'm sure some of you (Claire) will appreciate it:

Last night I was leaving for work (I work 3rd shift). I carry my bike
downstairs and take off, then realize my _brand new_ back tire is flat.
"No problem" says I, taking it off and running back upstairs to fetch a
spare wheel. The spare is flat from sitting (of course) and has no
cassette on it. Grrr... I pump it up slap gears on it, and run back
downstairs. I put the wheel on, remount my bike and there's no
resistance when I go to take off. Damnit! In my haste I've forgotten to
tighten the lock ring. I take the wheel, run _back_ upstairs, and secure
the lock-ring and call to let them know I'm going to be late. Finally
I'm on my way. Up ahead I can hear sirens, lots of them. As I ponder
this a firetruck approaches from behind, I pull over wait for it to
pass, and continue on my way. Up ahead I see that all the commotion
seems to coming from the overpass across the highway and the road is
closed. Seriously irritated now, I take the only available detour,
adding about 1.5 miles to my ride. The 11 O'clock news doesn't tell me
much, a car flipped and hit a tree. Riding home this morning I can see
that the car was traveling in the same direction I would have been. At
the bottom of the (long straight) hill from the overpass there's a "T"
intersection to the left; this is where I turn. The car demolished the
guardrail and hit a tree in front of the house that's on the right-hand
corner as you turn (I hope that makes sense). The news did say that
apparently the car went off the right side of the road at a high rate of
speed, over-corrected and lost control. In other words, had I been
anywhere on the road when they slid through there, I wouldn't have stood
a chance (I believe there were fatalities in the car, as well).

The moral to this story? How about: Don't curse flat tires, they may be
blessings in disguise (as most blessings are).
Some people might chalk this up as a grand coincidence, but I believe
that coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.

Thanks for "listening",

Greg


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
Without deviation from the norm,
progress is not possible.
--Frank Zappa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
My photos: http://members.aol.com/photog0314/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

Greg Evans wrote:

The moral to this story? How about: Don't curse flat tires, they may be
blessings in disguise (as most blessings are).
Some people might chalk this up as a grand coincidence, but I believe
that coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.

Indeed! I once had a flat only 1/2 mile from my home. Just as I got
it fixed and swung my leg over the bike, a cute blonde I met at the
previous inteval training session cruised by. We rode together for a
while, and made plans to ride again. And again. We've been married
since '89 now.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

D.Putnam wrote:
Or, if you had been riding on that stretch of road the driver would have had
to slow down to pass you and avoided the accident completely.

Ha-ha-ha. You had me for a second there. A driver slowing down for
a bicycle. That's a good one. :-)

--Bill Davidson
--
Please remove ".nospam" from my address for email replies.

I'm a 17 year veteran of usenet -- you'd think I'd be over it by now

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 19:36:28 GMT, Mark Hickey wrote:

Greg Evans wrote:

The moral to this story? How about: Don't curse flat tires, they may be
blessings in disguise (as most blessings are).
Some people might chalk this up as a grand coincidence, but I believe
that coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.

Indeed! I once had a flat only 1/2 mile from my home. Just as I got
it fixed and swung my leg over the bike, a cute blonde I met at the
previous inteval training session cruised by. We rode together for a
while, and made plans to ride again. And again. We've been married
since '89 now.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame


That's a cool story.

--
Bob M in CT remove 'x.' to reply

Okay - The real moral is don't wear a he**et, carry a flat tire.


http://members.aol.com/foxcondorsrvtns
(Colorado rental condo)

http://members.aol.com/dnvrfox
(Family Web Page)