79pmooney

Horseshoes and hand grenades - close matters. On the bike? Not so much. If you grew up riding in and around Boston, you got used to close. That said, I had a farm truck pass me pulling a wider trailer last fall. I used my mirror so I knew the trailer was coming. Moved to about 4" from the pavement drop. Watched that long flatbed trailer pass my hip about the same 4" away. Truck pulled left into the farm immediately after passing me. I followed him and asked if we was aware how close he was. Guess he thought I was angry. (I was near shaking but just because it was that close.) He grabbed my helmet, started to wind up, then reconsidered and ordered me off his property as I was trespassing. (There were no signs.) I left, rode just out of sight and called the sheriff. He got a visit.

Had he hit me, it would not have been an accident. He passed me that close because he was furious that I was riding 2' from the pavement edge. (There was excellent vision far up the road, the day was bright and the sun was behind us. I was wearing very bright orange. There isn't a brighter jersey out there. I knew full well he would have to pull out a little further, but it was so easy and visibility so good that who cares?

Ben

dougphoto

I've been riding in Chicago for almost 20 years, every time I go out I have a close call.

allen254

Dam this is every single ****ing day for me here in burbank, california. all the drivers underestimate a bikes speed and they all want to make it before you do **** i hate this i have to deal with this every day at least once,, my heart rate increases every time i'm at an intersection because you just don't know. i just wish the drivers had a little bit more respect for the cyclist. burbank has a huge problem though no bike lanes SMH.

allen254

Same here in burbank, ca. just way too many cars to many busy americans rushing to starbucks.

dougphoto

My little sister lives in Burbank, say hi if you see her.

OmegaWolf

About 10 years ago I was living in a small town. I was just getting back to town after a 50 mile ride. In a 30 mph zone I was just cresting the top of a hill, no passing zone, I was as far to the right as I could get and still be on the road. An oncoming car was passing and must have been doing at least 80 missed me by about 3 inches. With the hill there I didn't see it until the last instant and it didn't register in my head what was happening until it was by me. I doubt if the driver ever even saw me.

rmfnla

I grew up riding road (in Florida is there a choice?) so when I moved to Santa Barbara to manage a bike shop the whole MTB thing was new to me.

All the guys who worked for me were at least ten years younger and had grown up doing BMX, so they were awesome riders.

Their favorite thing was to take Rich up Romero or Jususito and "work him", so between going off cliffs and eating it in the creeks almost every trail ride involved a close call.

Still one of the best parts of my life...

allen254

lol maybe she will be the one that runs me over ,, I kid, I kid lol.

B. Carfree

Years ago I was loafing home at the end of a 300 km ride. A truck with some farm equipment passed me about seven miles from home, which ordinarily isn't a big deal. However, this one had disc blades hanging out over two meters on its right side, just about head height. Two blades went by on either side of my head before I could think to duck.

I did find out that I had something left in the tank as I took off after him. Fortunately for both of us, I did not catch up to him.

Darth Steele

I've had many a close calls.. and in the minutes afterwards I always look back and wondered what happened... but luckily at the last instant I was able to pull out in time..

thump55

While riding I got a text from my girlfriend that said, "I think you're going to be a daddy!"

Turns out, she was just a freaking psycho nutjob. That was close.

Leinster

Too many to count in Dublin back in the old days, before the bike-to-work scheme saturated the streets with cyclists.

Most recent major one here was on a narrow downhill that I'd done 50-100 times before, and a white Nissan pickup comes charging up in the other direction. I saw him coming and got over to the right, around a right hand bend, but he took his left-hander tight and left me with only 18" of road to work with; it wasn't enough, and while overcorrecting my front wheel hit the mud next to the road, and I went over the bars. Nothing but a few scrapes and the back wheel needed a bit of truing, but I was very nearly a shiny new hood ornament.

rumrunn6

learned my lesson not to read txts from women while "driving" Wifey was bugging me cuz I was late, even tho I wasn't ... wound up driving faster and got a $400 speeding ticket, took me 16 months and a $375 lawyer to get it dismissed

VNA

STOP!
Stop talking of what might have happened or what has happened!
It is bad karma and you are just scaring yourselves silly.
Yes cycling is not for sissies, yes cycling is scary, yes intimidating and sometimes dangerous.
So are so many other activities including taking a shower!
Just go enjoy yourself on two wheels hopefully on a balmy afternoon in your favorite setting!

diphthong

^mmkay. i need to bomb down california street into the financial district next time i'm in sf.
cable cars trax, autos, peds and lights be damned.

TrojanHorse

Had a bad right hook tonight. My spidey sense was tingling and I turned in too or I'd be a hood ornament. It was dark but I was lit up like a christmas tree, I have no idea what was going through that woman's head. I chewed her out pretty good and she said she was so sorry about eleventy billion times. Crazy.

banerjek

I was in a bad wreck a few years ago where I thought I was going to buy it. I suspected a car was going to do a left cross and eased up on the speed, but we made eye contact and she slowed down. I sped up, but then she came to a stop and made eye contact. My buddy and I started accelerating hard -- at this point, we're probably doing 25 and just as we go through the intersection, she suddenly guns it.

There was no way I could possibly avoid a crash and I remember thinking for a half second, "so this is how it ends." I jammed my front brake and threw myself in the air in the hopes I would bounce off the top of the car rather than be crushed. I was fine (bruised, cut up, and a broken toe of all things), my buddy who was behind me was less fortunate. He now has 4 metal plates and 22 titanium screws in him.

Bob Ross

Is it still considered a "close call" if you actually make contact?
Just last week I got doored by a parked car while I was cycling home from work. The thing is, the timing was so fortuitously perfect that I hit the edge of the door before it had been opened far enough to take me down, and instead my contact & momentum just caused the door to get slammed shut on the car's occupant. It hurt like hell but I was so confused by the fact that I didn't go down, and in fact was continuing to cycle along at speed as if nothing had happened, except for the fact that my leg was in excrutiating pain. I eventually was so perplexed that I stopped riding, a good 100 yards away from where the collision occured. I could see a guy slowly climbing out of his car and heard him yell "Holy *****!". I have a huge painfull bruise just below my knee where I connected with the edge of the door, and a small laceration on the top of my foot where I hit the lower corner of his door; that corner also destroyed the ankle cuff on my winter cycling boot.

ColaJacket

I'd say you can make contact and still call it a close call. As long as you don't get thrown off your bike, and you keep cycling.

It's when you get thrown off your bike (or go down and can't keep cycling) that I say it changes from a close call to a crash.

GH

B. Carfree

That's classic. I had an acquaintance who had a similar experience. He was a little more attentive/lucky than you were and he managed to not only avoid the door, but he slammed it shut with his leg as he went by. That motorist was lucky he didn't get his leg out the door faster or it would have definitely been more than a little sore.

Stories like these, and the many, many times I have had doors open as I went by, are why I never ride in the door zone. If I want to play a lottery, I'll pay my money for a ticket.

SpeshulEd 

I think this is mine...

rumrunn6

holy S**T!

RPK79

I had my wife call me when I was about a mile from home.

banerjek

That was a jerk move by the motorist, but it looks like you had the situation fully under control as you had a bail option even if that would have caused a fall.

SpeshulEd 

Yeah, I could have went right, but the gravel was loose and not ideal. I just stopped pedaling and squeezed my body in...you can actually hear my hub start coasting at the pucker moment in the video.

The thing that upset me the most, this is a low travel road out to a local lake. The guy was literally a quarter mile from the stop sign, passing the guy with the camper probably saved him a total of 30 seconds travel time.