Ah, I see, that is nuts. There was talk in this thread the other day about whether there are worse drivers downtown lately, I think I would agree. It might be all the extra people shopping or something, but I've had a few close scrapes lately as well.

Damn, didn't you just build your SS to keep your surly in one piece?
Good to hear you are alright. Last time I got hit I was on an adrenaline rush, but my arm and knee still hurt and my legs were shaking like mexican jumping beans. I've never had anyone who hit me offer to pay for damages to my bike without it being brought up by a cop.

A taxi did this to me yesterday morning, except he was backing onto king. It was insane. I was travelling at the speed of traffic with a streetcar next to me. A taxi backs onto king from a one way street in to my lane (he was backing the wrong way as it were), which puts me on a full collision course towards him when I am about a streetcar's length away. I saw it coming but he obviously didn't. I didn't have time to stop, so I had to veer into the next lane wiping the side of the streetcar. I still managed to give his trunk a mighty wallop though as I went by. The cars behind couldn't get through obviously and slammed on the brakes. Stationary honking ensued. If I had been an auto we would have had 2 cars totally written off and probably crashed into the completely packed streetcar. Makes me so mad these idiots don't care about the lives and safety of others.

Looks to me like it's getting worse. Crazy aggressive drivers force other to drive the same way. Survival of the fittest. All I want for x-mas are my 2 true wheels back.

Jammer, when you get "serious" about luging you invest in a hang gliding helmet because they are designed to allow you to see through the bottom. For first timers anything that is DOT approved is going to be just fine, runs don't last that long so your usually OK even if your positioning isn't perfect.

Hope everything works out OK. Glad you're not hurt too bad.

Every day I love my air zound more and more. I've only got it on the one bike... but every time I ride one of my other bikes 'round town I really feel like I'm at a disadvantage without it.

sweeet...the search for a DOT brain bucket....begins

glad your ok and not hurt Sirrobinofcoxly

damn.. spills for the both of us tonight. Glad you made it out unscathed (physically). Mine was all by myself at Queen/Victoria, lane-splitting in rush-hour traffic. Stupid street car tracks turning South onto Victoria!

I also had that "WWoOoAH" noise from people on the corner, and a nice fellow ran out and made sure traffic stopped and was going to help me up and I was already on my feet. Scraped up my brifters and brooks swift (noooo!), and put holes in my goretex pants. d'oh.

murphy's law kicked in since I'm thinking about selling the lemond (to finance another geared bike) and passed up those $25 pants on craigslist. So, I *would* scrape up my mint-condition shifters and rip holes in my pants. :P

nothin I can do now! anyhoo.. time for food and then sleep.

Thanks for the concern everyone. It's good to be walking.

Hope you're doing ok too. Too bad about the brifters. They just ain't cheap. This town is getting crazy. Just to think that I was car dodging through heavy traffic on bloor, and I get nailed on young with very little traffic. And for you, those tracks are unforgiving.

We should have a gimp ride, where all the injured folks ride their scratched up and damaged bikes.

i agree. the best part of the AGO is the modern art gallery (that chuck close piece is my favourite). there are a lot of great canadian artists who need exposure, and i think being one of (if not) the biggest galleries in canada, it would be stupid not to capitalize on that reputation/potential. the swing space exhibits were a step in the right direction.

and they need more photography, in the absence of any dedicated photography galleries here.

toronto sucks.

Two down in one day is crappy. Glad to hear you're both okay. Checked out the ROM tonight, can't figuye out what that cubisy crystal thing is supposed to be. Ruined an otherwise nice building in my mind. I'm like the Monty Python Pope, I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.

crash bang boom! man, it's bad karma out there. glad to hear all the accident victims are in one piece. get yourself checked out robin and don't forget to stretch.

it's supposed to be nice on sunday if anyone is interested in meeting for coffee in the morning and not riding that hard...

EDIT: wes, shame about the scraping up a new brooks; i have some proofide if you need to treat the scuff.

Wes, you can replace the front "shiny" caps on the brifters if I'm not mistaken. Also, you can probably clean your saddle up a lot w/ some decent leather polish if it's really deep. Don't break yourself. Robin, I think I actually "met" you one time outside of curbside - I said I liked your bike as I was on my way out and you were locking up. Glad to hear you're in one piece. If you need any replacement stuff for your bike that you guys don't normally stock, let me know and I'll see if I can toss it on an order here (at Cycle Therapy).


I find I've grown really superstitious regarding traffic mishaps. Some stuff I won't even mention because I don't want to jinx myself (this is the first time in my life I've ever been like that about something). Oh, and people have been insane for me lately too, but I've been trying to be a better man and not act out avec rage. For example, now when someone cuts me off and almost sends their bumper through my shin bone I lay a hand of love on their hood and gently cradle the vehicle until it goes on its own path. Unlike before when I smashed the ****er and broke ****.

Coffee is god, and a ride would be nice.

Hey Mike, thanks again. Went out for about an hour tonight, wheel is great, no cog slips and was able to do a few skids no problem. Great job.

Mucho thanks, I'll pass it along - oh, and thanks for the booze. You've won our hearts. ;)

I alway's take care crossing multiple streetcar tracks even in the dry, victoria and queen is nasty so is church and queen

Ahh yes Victoria and Queen. I took a nice spill there one day at work. I got all cocky and tried to cross the intersection in the left lane. Then it was like oh **** I knew I was going to go down.

Wow look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6KdJd8M1ZI

sweet. I wish I was that good at something!

Today looks like a nice time to leisurely do my errands. another global warming day so this might be your last chance for some nice weather riding until late december!

*feels waaay uncoordinated after viewing that*

pardon my ignorance, but what is 'lane splitting'? Is that when you ride down a two lane road while straddling the lane dividers?

Yup

So I'm still riding my ****ed up Surly to work out of spite. You just can't kill that bike. I'm getting the damage assessed by the Mechs at Curbside on Monday, and then sending to bill to my hitter. Can't wait to get it back to normal. Need new rims, new TT lever, and some new bar tape.

woh...slow night tonight.

Maybe I'm the only one who stays in on a saturday night. Blarg.

Heheh, I am cooking some awesome gnocchi, watching the first DVD of Arrested Development and having a coffee before I head out to a potluck. Man, gnocchi are the easiest thing to make, I hope no one at the thing knows this; I think I'll tell them that I made them from scratch ;)

I was out and about today and there is a lot of construction in the west end lately, hopefully some of those cement trucks and piledrivers find their way over to my 'hood, it is bumpy as hell on Roncey lately.