Be Careful Out There

One day last week on an absolutely beautiul late Spring day —  low humidity, temperature around 80, sunny — I started on a bike ride. 

Then I nearly crashed in the first 50 feet, just steps from my driveway.

Trying to get your shoes seated into those cages on the pedals is a little tricky, you see, especially with biking shoes. And sometimes while you are focused on that you might not pay attention to which direction you’re going and you know ... end up in the ditch. Right in front of your neighbor’s house.

I stayed upright fortunately, so no real harm done, but was immediately reminded of that time way back in, let’s see ... probably 1972, when I was around 13, and I had just bought and installed a cool new speedometer on my bike. 

I was *so* excited about this thing, admiring it while riding home from my friend’s house.

In fact I admired it so much that as I rounded a corner I hit a parked car and launched myself onto the trunk. Right in front of my neighbor’s house.

Rounding corners with your head down is *not* a good idea, as it turns out.

This neighbor happened to be in his driveway and then crash! 

Not one of my finer moments. I had a couple scrapes and bruises but nothing serious. The bike however now had a bent fork, and so I was reminded of this incident every time I rode that bike forevermore, since it pulled left.

Too bad I didn’t pull off this move — impressive!

But back to this century, and last week’s ride ... after that initial mishap I also almost hit a street sign and almost ran off the edge of the path. Almost. Good times.

So my advice to you is keep your head up, eyes forward, when riding a bike. Sounds simple, but every 50 years or so, you might forget.