Originally Posted by
FrenchFit
Perfect timing for me to read this post. I went down last week, left hooked and I bailed right, lost some skin and pride. I was thinking the last few week, it's been years since I have fallen from a bike, and sure enough - time was up. I got back on and road to my destination, where I got some bandages, had lunch and rode back home. Been out a few times since, no biggie, but I was feeling a little brittle/fragile. So I dropped by a spin class and rode that Schwinn like a maniac, felt much better afterwards.
Fear is an interesting thing. None of us is getting out of this thing alive you know. Seems to me the quality of your life before you go is something to be worried about. Letting fear be a deciding factor in how you live -- not so good imho.
Assuming you are not reckless, you risk a good deal more by fearfully staying off the bike than by riding aggressively. Ride on partner...
I am not a reckless cyclist, IMHO. I was perhaps more so when I was a teen, but a few close calls in traffic set me straight long ago.
I say IMHO because one might consider not being 100% aware of one's surroundings at all times while riding on a MUP as reckless. I can't exactly recall what it was that distracted me - there was something noisey going on, on an island in the river we were riding near, so I may have been looking at that for a moment, but I seem to have a vague memory that there was an odd sound from the back of my bike so I may have looked down/back at it briefly. In the chaos that immediately followed I can't seem to recall exactly why I wasn't looking directly ahead just before it all happened. I do know that the fellow I clipped was not where he was a moment before I nearly creamed him, the path had been clear in front of me.
It might be the sheer randomness of the accident - things were going fine and then suddenly I was in a collision situation the next moment. Of course, that's life, right? Nearly anything unexpected could happen at any moment and change everything, so there isn't much use trying to avoid it all of the time.
I know that and you know that. Seems harder to convince my nagging over-active imagination of it by just rational thinking alone.
I've done one longer ride and a few shorter rides running errands so far this week since the weather has been nice. My hope is that if I can keep this up, the worries will go away and I'll be back to my old self bicycle-wise.