Originally Posted by bigbris1

I got a story for you about the time I learned not to use a master link on a FG:

One day I was riding down Fifth Ave on the downward hill between 40th & 34th. I was between 2 busses when my chain popped. The busses closed in & I was gaining momentum down the hill. 38th, 37th, 36th...I was on the white lines with a bus on either side in their lanes. I mean there was about 2 feet between the two busses, not counting me & my bike.

As we approached 34th Street the light turned red. I would have sailed thru one of the busiest intesections in NYC & probably been hit by a taxi & blown clear inside the Empire State Building! Instict kicked in-I sat up on the bike, grabbed on to the window frames of either bus & as they braked for the red light at 34th, I came to a halt. My legs were shaking so bad I could hardly walk the bike to the curb. Man, the adreneline!

You know, I think that many drivers believe we can just hit the brake & stop if need be, and they don't realize we're not stopping until we reach our destination. A large part of driving is anticipation what the next man will do before he does it. This holds true with riding in traffic. You have to see it before it happens. When you can master this, bye bye brake!