My normal commuting route takes me down Beverley through the UoT campus and east onto College. I take that route specifically because of the corner. I can take it way too fast, cut left around oncoming traffic, cross the streetcar tracks, avoid the manhole cover and take the rest of the turn hard enough to clear the snowbank filling the bike lane/car parked in the bike lane. It's just a fun corner to take really fast and add a bit of flow to.

So ... today I'm coming up to the corner w/ a car behind me, I start the turn and my front tire goes completely flat (stupid glass). Holy crizzzap on a stick was that ever intense. I couldn't ride it out straight because I'd go straight into oncoming traffic, couldn't stop because of the car right behind me, still had to avoid the wet streetcar tracks and manhole cover, etc. Thank you, cyclocross season and limited experience in the Don for giving me the bike handing skills to somehow make the turn at speed and pull off to the side after the corner. I don't how I didn't throw the tire off the rim because it sure as hell fell like I was about to, but oh well - I'll take what I can get!

</silly commuting story>