eja_ bottecchia

My wife buys sewing machines and sewing-related stuff like I buy bikes and accessories.

ours is a happy and well balanced household.

PS She has two cats and I have two dogs...all is good.

CAT7RDR

Truth: Family members will tell you multiple times how dangerous cycling is while they stuff themselves on sweets and salty snacks, complain of stomach issues from obesity, and go get their blood checked regularly for the rat poison they are prescribed so they do not stroke out.

Milton Keynes

That's always one of my biggest fears. I try to adjust speed accordingly to avoid having the cars meet each other when the one behind is passing me.

wphamilton

T-12 All winds are headwinds.

vane171

I can confirm that finding, also that abut cars not being just one.
I suppose some might try to persuade you, that you just remember those cases when that happens, that statistically it is an even chance, but I know better.

I went over the bars twice when I was teenager and in my twenties. That first time, I rode on a completely empty stretch of road with my thoughts being elsewhere and on a gentle left curve I kept going straight and into a ditch, nothing happened and only needed to straighten the handlebars relative to the front wheel.
The second time was more serious, a car driver was turning left across my path and didn't see me. My bike stayed crushed on the car's front wheel, I went over its hood and made a turn in the air and ended up rolling long ways curled up like a hedgehog... Nothing happened to me, the bike was destroyed. I attribute my falling instincts to a judo lessons I took years prior to this accident. In judo, basic training from day one consists in learning how to fall, distribute the energy of the fall, throwing your partner and being thrown.

billridesbikes

T-? Just because you made eye contact with a driver doesn’t mean they’re groked that you’re on a bike and will run you over anyway.

CargoDane

I find eye contact is way over-rated. I prefer to look at the wheels (front wheels) as a much better indicator.

BobsPoprad

OK. That was kinda funny.

billridesbikes

We compromise. She gets a new pair of Manolo Blahniks and I get pretty bike stuff. It's a good marriage.

eja_ bottecchia

Oh yeah, I forgot her shoes and purses collection.

rsbob 

T-13, Never tally your receipts

Ghazmh

So true. Don’t forget the relative or friend who regularly down a six pack every other day yet acts like we are crazy.

OldTryGuy

Heck with the rider, HOW'S THE BIKE!!!!

If you're reading this, 1st - you're alive, 2nd - you're here and not there

Sorry but SHE bought my last 2 bikes because in her words -- "You need a new bike."

Not if you pedal backwards.

OldTryGuy

T-14 Bikes are best enjoyed while vertical not horizontal

Phil_gretz

T-15: Just go riding, because you won't regret having ridden even in the foulest conditions. Corollary: You will not enjoy 100% of the rides you didn't take.

ofajen

Mostly, it turns out. If you have this sense that winds work against you more than they help, you are correct. This graph is taken from Jobst Brandt’s article about wind and cycling. Notice how even a wind from the side slows you down and makes you work harder, and tailwinds don’t help as much as headwinds cost. (Wind speed shown as a percent of rider speed in still air)




Otto

rsbob 

OK, that’s the final straw. I quit!

RiceAWay

My favorite was riding on the bicycle lane on the side of the road, there was overhanging branches with heavy green leaves in the spring, I ducked my head enough to just brush the leaves and there was a 3" diameter branch under there that stopped me at 15 mph. This was some 15 feet from the tree planted along the road out to the bike lane where I was. At least this is one reason for wearing a helmet.

CargoDane

You're lucky you didn't break you neck, helmet or not.

rsbob 

T-16 A helmet is cheaper than a neurosurgeon

ofajen

It really is so unfair! A wind speed equal to your still air speed doubles your effort to maintain that speed when it is only 15 degrees forward of a side wind. That is an outrage. Head on of course it increases the total effort by a factor of four.

With the leaves down, every ride will be a windy ride around here for about the next five months.

Otto

I-Like-To-Bike

one4smoke

I shake my helmet clad head every time I see someone riding without one.

Korina

Or when it's near freezing and you're riding too fast on an aluminum trail bridge. I felt my front wheel starting to go out, but the side tread was able to grab and I didn't quite go down. I'm more cautious now.

Elbeinlaw

I don't do that any more. I was in the habit of riding under hanging-down leaf-heavy branches, figuring my helmet would brush them away. And then I did that and a branch in exactly the right orientation stabbed inside my helmet vent holes and jerked my head back … Luckily the branch was small and it broke off. But I could easily imagine being de-horsed, or having a branch stab into my skull, or worse, having that stab eliminate my one working brain-cell. I try not to be that cool any more. I fail, unfortunately. I can't help being cool.

As if.