I am just in from work. About half an hour ago (4:45 my time) I made a completely idiotic move on the bike that I am ashamed of. I have to make dinner and stuff right now, but on the tiny chance that the driver I almost crashed in front of while crossing the train tracks on Egerton at Brydges is looking me up, I am really sorry. That was the most stupid thing I've done on the bike in a very very long time. I don't know what the hell I was thinking.
I will explain all later tonight or tomorrow, but I just wanted to get my sincere sorry out there right away.
---- about five hours later ----
OK, I'm done my chores and I thought I wanted to relay every little detail, with diagrams and everything, but now I just want to try and forget it.
I don't display my "How's My Driving" sign any more, but the blue tub on the back of my bike has reflective vinyl letters spelling "R A N T W I C K" on it. That's where the tiny chance that the driver I impressed today could have looked up this blog comes in.
Let's just say I was coming in perpendicular to a long line of cars just as some railway arms were lifting and in an effort to join the traffic flow rather than wait "forever" for the traffic backup to clear I put myself badly out of position, so much so that I had to push my way in ahead of a car from the left. That established me as a jerk.
So eager was I to get to where I belonged in the lane, I then failed to handle some train tracks properly and very nearly went down right in front of that same car. That established me as a moron.
I'm really not sure how I stayed upright, but I ended up careening off to the right on to the sidewalk, where I brought myself to a stop, hung my head and waved my apology to the car. That established me as one of the reasons cyclists have no place on the road, particularly in winter in the minds of many who witnessed the event. Damn it! Other cyclists are out there saving the day.
As some of the comments have already reminded me, everybody makes a bonehead move once in a while. That of course goes for cars and bikes and everything else. I think there should be a universal "I'm sorry. My bad" hand signal of some kind so others could at least know that you know you were in the wrong and wish you could take it back.
Steve A said he hoped I learned something, as he recently did, from a riding mistake. I did. Unfortunately it was something I already knew, that saving a little time is never a good reason to take extra risks with your safety or anybody else's. Cyclists rant at motorists for not being willing to just slow down or wait a few seconds extra all the time... consider me re-schooled.
---- about five hours later ----
OK, I'm done my chores and I thought I wanted to relay every little detail, with diagrams and everything, but now I just want to try and forget it.
I don't display my "How's My Driving" sign any more, but the blue tub on the back of my bike has reflective vinyl letters spelling "R A N T W I C K" on it. That's where the tiny chance that the driver I impressed today could have looked up this blog comes in.
Let's just say I was coming in perpendicular to a long line of cars just as some railway arms were lifting and in an effort to join the traffic flow rather than wait "forever" for the traffic backup to clear I put myself badly out of position, so much so that I had to push my way in ahead of a car from the left. That established me as a jerk.
So eager was I to get to where I belonged in the lane, I then failed to handle some train tracks properly and very nearly went down right in front of that same car. That established me as a moron.
I'm really not sure how I stayed upright, but I ended up careening off to the right on to the sidewalk, where I brought myself to a stop, hung my head and waved my apology to the car. That established me as one of the reasons cyclists have no place on the road, particularly in winter in the minds of many who witnessed the event. Damn it! Other cyclists are out there saving the day.
As some of the comments have already reminded me, everybody makes a bonehead move once in a while. That of course goes for cars and bikes and everything else. I think there should be a universal "I'm sorry. My bad" hand signal of some kind so others could at least know that you know you were in the wrong and wish you could take it back.
Steve A said he hoped I learned something, as he recently did, from a riding mistake. I did. Unfortunately it was something I already knew, that saving a little time is never a good reason to take extra risks with your safety or anybody else's. Cyclists rant at motorists for not being willing to just slow down or wait a few seconds extra all the time... consider me re-schooled.
Yer Shame-Faced Pal,
R A N T W I C K 
6 comments:
Ironically, I got a little sloppy today as well but you beat me to the mea culpa post. I hope yours resulted in asmuch learning as mine did.
Huh -- guess that makes three of us. I was hammering up the road, enjoying the semi-decent weather, and failed to notice a yellow light in time to slow down and stop for the red.
I felt like a total jerk. I didn't mean to be 'that guy,' but I guess we all are, sometimes.
Hope everything turned out okay for you!
It's great that you can critically appraise your own riding. We all do boneheaded things on occasion so don't beat yourself up too much. Live and learn.
Hey, thanks for the moral support, really. If I had seen me today I would have said to my wife "see? This is the kind of moron who's giving good cyclists a bad name..."
Oh yeah! I know that head-hung apology wave. BTDT.
We all have bonehead moments.
I still cringe when I remember this one: Several years ago I changed lanes in front of a tractor trailer I thought was slowing to allow me to do so. It wasn't. I realized it and swerved through the lane in front of it and into the left turn lane. I made 2 significant mistakes leading up to that, but the bad lane change itself was the product of an incompetent shoulder check and over-reliance on my mirror.
Nice touch with Christopher's balloon video to add a happy moment :-)
Thanks Keri. I would have linked to that excellent little vid anyway, but it was nice to have in this post...
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