Old 12-02-18 | 07:43 AM
  #180  
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JoeyBike
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Originally Posted by KraneXL
Yesterday I burned my thumb on a hot skillet while cooking. If I hadn't been cooking that would not have happened. That is the irrational conclusion I believe he's implying some people are making.

Any place you have an accident is the wrong place at the wrong time. That would apply to any activity.
Let me put a finer point on it.

I was on a bike tour from New Orleans to Maine. Some old friends in Charlottesville, Virginia offered to let me crash a few days at their condo. I hit Charlottesville near 5pm rush hour on a weekday and they lived a few miles out of town. About one mile from the entrance to their cul de sac, the city to my back, I hit a long hill and huge curve in the road. It was a 2-lane, narrow, mountain road and 50mph commuter traffic was roaring up behind me heading to their bedroom communities, as well as traffic coming from in front of me to a lesser extent. I COULD HAVE held my ground and winched up that mountain at 4 mph, taken the lane, and continued on. It was only ONE MILE to my bud's house from that spot. One mile at 4mph would take 15 minutes right? I could have pedaled my entitled, rude, happy-go-lucky arse up that hill, and risked many close passes by irritated motorists. Instead, i pulled over onto a grassy front lawn, spread out my sleeping pad, and took a nap for an hour until rush hour traffic subsided. (My friend, also a cyclist, apologized for sending me up what he called "The Death Road", not knowing I would hit it at rush hour).

^^This is my most extreme example of situational awareness on a bicycle. I DIDN'T KNOW what was ahead or I would never have been there at the wrong place at the wrong time. So how did I handle it? I "disappeared" from that situation until conditions improved. This is the kind of situational awareness I am promoting. I probably would have survived, but why take the risk in a situation that was obvious (to me) to be high risk?

BTW...use an oven mitt. Or be careful. Or eat out. You are not helpless in most situations. (And no distracted/drugged second party CAUSED your injury. That was 100% on you). Would you cook breakfast standing in the middle of a freeway lane on an East-West highway, at sunrise, if it were legal? No? Why not? Would it be even more risky than your kitchen? Think about it and let me know.

Last edited by JoeyBike; 12-02-18 at 08:33 AM.
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