your closest call while riding...
 

just experienced my "closest call" while cycling today. have a bad downhill wipeout requiring (brief) hospitalization in my past but this one was scary.
was gingerly descending (25-30 mph) yerba buena rd in the santa monica mountains near malibu in southern california when an 18-wheeler
came lurching around the corner and was taking up more than half of my lane with a guardrail and a decent 50-75 foot dropoff as a (potential)
life-saving/voiding alternative. just managed to avoid the truck (by approx 1.5 feet), and skidding and only glanced barely against the guardrail.
if i had been going 35-40 mph on that descent as i normally would have been, i'm fairly certain i wouldn't have been able to avoid both the truck and
the guardrail/dropoff. only reason i was going slower is that i got a front flat climbing the same road and my-time to replace the crappy-pump only got
it to the 30-35 psi range. definitely not enough for confident descending so i was mostly riding the brakes, thank goodness.

what is your closest call with mortality?

Closest call? You'd have to ask right after it happened, I think. A crash would be memorable, but it seems close calls either blend into the background or are wiped from memory. I don't have too much fear of traffic or the sense that I've had close calls on account of it (knock wood), but sand, gravel, and rutted roads are scary and have been the source of a couple of crashes, and I'm sure plenty of close calls.

I broadsided a car that cut in front of me .... that was so close I could feel it ! :D

I once had a close call with morality. Does that count?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=500654
Pick-up decided at last minute to not take the exit, swerved toward me, saw me at last minute (yellow jersey, 2 flashing red lights on helmet and seat post), truck tires were smoking when screeched to a halt. Whew. In Santo Domingo, Dominican Repupblic.

Well if you don't count actually being hit, then this is the closest recent one...I was coming up to a 4 way stop when I saw a SUV in my mirror. Usually at this intersection I move out into the lane from OL to establish myself heading into the stop. However, my spidey senses were tingling. There was something about the SUV that wasn't right so I stayed put. The SUV flew past me so close I could feel the heat off the car on my arm hairs. They then proceeded to blow the 4 way stop sign at full speed. Fortunately, two other vehicle at the 4 way also saw what was coming and didn't move or there would have been a pretty massive crash a few yards in front of me. For whatever reason the SUV driver was not paying attention and had I followed my normal process I'm fairly sure I would have been mowed down.

When I was a teenager I got "doored". I flew off my bike, and onto the road, cutting and brusing myself enough that I still have the scars. I know this doesn't sound like a close call, but when I opened my eyes after crashing the first thing I saw was the wheel of a bus which had stopped about 6 inches from my head.

The scene:

Crossing a main road divided (3 lanes plus 2 turn lanes in each direction, so a total of 10 lanes) with the light. I was in the middle lane to go straight (left lane turned left, middle straight, right right).

The incident:

I started with the green, van to my left was turning left. As I get 1/3 of the way across the road a car approaches from my right and runs his red light. He passes 1.5 to 2 feet in front of my front wheel and broadsides the van to my left. The van had pulled slightly ahead of me, so it took the impact to the rear wheel and spun it around.

If I was 3' forward of where I was, I probably would have lost my legs (or my life). It was nearly a brown pants moment.

I had a similar experience as a student in the UK many, many years ago. The car door flew open, I hit it and the door was left hanging by one hinge! I was scraped and bruised and my Maclean was bent and battered. The driver said it was my fault, but the police thought differently.

This one always stands out for me, left cross when I was going 30+ MPH. I checked off on the car, thinking that she was stopped and waiting. Lesson, trust no one! If she had not stopped I would have hit the car. I was full braking to the point I could feel my rear wheel lifting.

MUTE your volume if you don't what to hear loud profanity.

In my case, the guy who doored me both had a suspended license and his van had expired tax disc and no insurance. The cops did f*** all about it. Also in the UK FYI.

It happened recently about a month ago on a very windy day. A sudden gust caught me off guard and almost threw me on the road where cars were speeding. I would've been ran over if I fell.

Second one was similar to Hypno Toad's except I was partly to blame because it was nighttime and I didn't have headlights on, but the driver was at fault too because he made a sudden quick turn while barely braking and didn't have turn signals. We missed by inches then he sped off.

I was a kid, maybe 10 yrs old? I was crossing a street using the crosswalk for pedestrians. The cars were stopped for a red light. As I approached the curb on the other side I had to slow down to jump the curb but before I could, a car did not stop for the light (cuz he was turning right I guess). Maybe he didn't see me cuz other cars were blocking his view. Doesn't matter, he should have stopped. He wasn't going fast so I was able to hop off the bike as he drove over it. Good thing I had cat-like reflexes back then. He gave me $60 and I carried it to the bike shop where they were able to straighten the frame (I think while I waited). Don't remember exactly, this was almost 50 yrs ago.

And she was making an illegal turn over the gore/zebra stripes.

I'm not sure I would have been as restrained as you.


-Tim-

After a long but not steep climb I'm hustling down a downhill with my head down. Briefly pick my head up to see a car passing another car around a turn on a double yellow (no passing). It would have been about a 90mph impact figuring both of our speeds.

I do not worry about close calls.
Been hit several times (twice at 45 mph from behind on single and on tandem).
In over 300,000 miles of bicyxcling it's gonna happen sometime!
Now, at age 83, I still ride and rode 4,500 miles in 2015.

Wow, so if you had a proper frame pump, or a good CO2 inflator, you'd be dead. I'm anxiously awaiting this defense on the next CO2 inflator vs. mini-pump thread.

I've been hit twice over the years by cars. That's pretty close.

oh man! did you have a front strobe? got one now?

I've been riding with lights, day and night, for years. So, yes and yes.

I'm 99% certain that this was a case of driver needs more coffee, this was the AM commute. That and she didn't expect a bike approaching at traffic speeds, bikes are slow y'know.

My really close call came when I was a teenager over 30 years ago.

I was commuting to work on my bike, and I have a green light. Unfortunately, the semi (18-wheeler) coming from the opposite direction decided to turn left in front of me. I don't remember how fast I was going, but it was fast enough that my rear tire skidded and hit one of the rear tires on the semi. So me being a little bit faster would have had me being run over by the semi's back wheels.

GH

That's how I actually did get hit during a left turn broadside. Not going that fast though on a quiet two lane road she just unexpectedly crossed on over. The only good news it was an older low Camaro so I slide up on the hood and got away with scrapes and bruises. Bike destroyed. She alternately claimed she couldn't see me and I was supposed to stop???? The cops weren't buying it...

First week of riding clipless, stopped at a red light, truck to my left and forgot i was clipped, fell just infront of the truck and light turned green...had to push myselft off the road while still having one leg cliped on bike

Training for the BWR 2yrs ago, an on coming car made a left in front of me, went through a wind shield at 32mph slight downhill 2%, woke up in the wagon. Broke 10 bones that support left shoulder including 8 ribs, few internal damages, also totaled the car. Left shoulder is 1/2" shorter and does not have full range of motion and 1/3 the strength but I can still ride a bike :thumb: The half torn scapula plate gives me lots of pain on longer rides or in the drops too long.

Signed up for Spy's Belgium Waffle Ride/Race. 144 miles of mixed pave and dirt, 14 sections of dirt for about 40 dirty miles and 12k vertical feet. Should be fun again to complete.

I used to live in Singapore and the drivers over there... man.

I was at a light, near the curb, and some lady in a mercedes decided she needed to nose further forward. During the process of said nosing, she contacted my butt cheek and started shoving me out of the way. I yelped and smacked the roof of her car, which didn't dissuade her until I was properly tipped over into the ditch. She drove off. I was uninjured.

Another time (also Singapore, did I mention how spectacular those drivers are?) I was crossing the street, in the cross walk, with the light and I got drilled by a little utility truck turning. Went sailing through the air, landed in another ditch full of water. He helped me up and over to a gas station, and gave me the number of the police to call on him, so I can't hate him. My knee is wrecked but I can still ride my bike. Overnight stay in the hospital, X-rays etc cost me a grand total of about $100 USD.