Originally Posted by
Tundra_Man
As I rode from the taco shop to the client office, I hit a rock with my rear tire. That in itself is unremarkable. I mention it because the rock suddenly propelled itself sideways from under my tire like a bullet and hit a parked car about 20 yards away with a loud BANG! The sound was slightly muted so I'm suspecting the rock hit a piece of plastic molding rather than paint or glass. Thankfully there wasn't anyone in the car so I didn't have to try and explain myself. I couldn't see any visible damage to the car, which is good because if there was I wouldn't know what to do. The tradition is to leave a note, but in this day and age who carries paper and pen with them? I don't.
A couple weeks ago, I pulled up to a stop light on a shoulder that hadn't been swept since forever and had a lot of sizeable gravel. As I came to a stop, one tire sent a rock sideways and into the side of a car already stopped at the light. I looked over apologetically and shrugged. I then wanted to reposition my pedal to get ready for the green light, and since I was riding my fixie, I had to lift the back wheel. After getting the pedal in the right spot, I dropped the back end, and the tire landed on another rock which squirted sideways and hit the same car! At that point, I just played dumb and stared straight ahead. The driver didn't try to get my attention either. I dunno, is it my fault that there's gravel on the shoulder? It was kind of a crappy old car anyway, so maybe he didn't care. My own vehicle has enough scratches and dings that I wouldn't care if it got another one.