Advocacy & Safety - Hidden things

The other day I was riding into work and I saw some inner-city kids walking to school. One strayed right out into the middle of the road where I was headed on my bike. He stopped and bent over as if to examine something in the middle of the street.

I prepared to avoid him by moving out into the middle of the lane while I waited to see exactly where he was going. But as he moved back towards the sidewalk, I gazed at the area of the street that seemed to have caught his interest.

It turned out to be an open manhole, right in my path.

I don't know who thinks it's cool to steal manhole covers, but I hope 1,000 fleas infest his armpits for a day or two.

(Be careful and know your route well.)

:) One day when I was a teenager,A Friend an I were riding to a local swimming hole, just going slow talking about if those same girls would be there today and then BANG. My Friend had hit a missing manhole cover,He ended up with a badly broken jaw with lots of road-rash.To this day I look out for those manhole covers to be in the right place.

What would one do with a manhole cover after stealing it? Hubcaps I can at least understand.

I agree, whoever did that may all his ejaculations be premature.

And of course, there are those sewer grates with the slats that, if you turn them the wrong way, can be death traps for wheels. However, most of those seem to have been replaced by new grates which are safer.

Unfortunately, we are surrounded by irresponsible jerks ...

Stealing a manhole has to go down as one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard (and living on the Gold Coast I get to see plenty of stupidity). May he suffer from an extreme case of food poisoning!

(OK, I just had to say it once).

uuuhhhh....Pete.....umm... on what road are we talking about? Ya know...just in case the city is a little slow in getting there to replace the cover. And to watch out in case the person steals another one later.

Pete, that is pretty scary.
Had I been in your shoes, I probably would have been too shook up at that moment to thank the kid for saving me from certain disaster.
I'll need to remember/consider your encounter next time I get annoyed with someone who seems to get in my way and stop for no apparent reason...

Oh No , something else for me to worry about , thanks Pete , thanks a lot, I hadnt even thought of that one!:mad: Till now !!!

Has anyone considered that maybe it broke, then fell down the hole? Manhole covers are cast from ductile iron and they do occasionally crack.

Originally posted by wabbit
may all his ejaculations be premature.
And if it was a woman?

Scary story.

Originally posted by D*Alex
Has anyone considered that maybe it broke, then fell down the hole? Manhole covers are cast from ductile iron and they do occasionally crack.
In that case, I'll be doubly observant.

Urban, it was downtown on Auburn Ave, inbound (westbound)at the freeway junction. On a more positive note, I congratulate the city for finally repaving Edgewood Avenue, a designated bike route and former site of an apparent artillery attack. I must say, it is now absolutely pristine, although I haven't figured out why they painted a stick figure of a bicyclist in the parking lane. ;)

I won't be bombing over any manholes from now on, though I think I usually avoid them anyway since the street has been patched/repaved so many times that manholes can be like deep ruts.

Similarly, I've noticed some pedestrian crosswalks in very old neighborhoods that have been restriped so many times that hitting them on my bike actually works like a sort of speed bump.

What would one do with a manhole cover after stealing it?

Attach it to a BIG gold chain and wear it around their neck.:D Like Run DMC.

Originally posted by Dutchy
Attach it to a BIG gold chain and wear it around their neck.:D Like Run DMC. :roflmao: you da man!! :roflmao:

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Originally posted by Greg
And if it was a woman?

Scary story.

I doubt it was a woman. No woman would be that stupid.

Originally posted by wabbit
I doubt it was a woman. No woman would be that stupid.

You have no imagination?;)

And here I thought I only hated teenagers because I was getting old. :D Man, that's terrible!

I tend to avoid manhole covers and grills anyway on general principal. Our little town has a lot of loose ones, and I'm constantly worried that if I drive over one the lid might tip up suddenly and catch on eof my tires in the hole.