that you get right after something BAD almost happens, when you're rolling away from a really close call and you're shaking something fierce and can't really help but smile that you just cheating something unspeakable.

I both love and hate that feeling.

I got one of those today. It was a near door prize. (*ding*). some dude just swings open the door of his taxi (curbside, but not along the curb) without looking. gave me about 8 inches to work with between the end of the door and the curb. now, i don't know about many of you, but my ass is wider than 8", and i didn't want to hit the door, so i launched the bike and the gap while i jumped off the back. as suspected the bike hit the curb and fell over, unharmed, and i landed and did what i do best. tuck and roll. (i am the self-proclaimed master of the tuck and roll) my knee hit the curb, but i was fine. my bike was fine. dude was like "sorry, i'm in a rush". I was like, "whatever, no one got hurt. **** happens." then i rolled on to my next stop. feeling that feeling that i described at the beginning of this long and over-done post. but yeah, i was for the most part fine. knee a little bloody, but i've done worse unassisted. I love my job.

-jason

I can't imagine how insanely bad it would suck to get doored. I missed a cops door the other night by about a foot. Hooray for paying attention. Good thing you pay attention when you are in a rush.

i love that feeling, after burning a red light so smoothly its like you were never there. splitting lanes, dodging cars, peds, using reflections in plate glass to see around otherwise blind corners. using every trick to keep your momentum up. doing this, i've had my share of close calls. some were my fault. some were the other guy's.

i know that i put myself in dangerous situations, and i dont mean to boast, but i'm good at what i do. i try to use good judgement, to ride within my abilities, and rely on experience to predict the actions of other vehicles. thankfully i emerge unscathed 95% of the time. its that 5% im worried about. the things you can't possibly predict.

sometimes, a drycleaning guy will jump out of his truck with three bridesmaids dresses slung over his shoulder on a rainy morning. you'll swerve to dodge. you'll miss him, but the trailing plastic garment bags will snag on your handlebar and you'll drag those pristine white dresses twenty feet along the grimy, ****ty asphalt before you can come to a stop. and there's not a damn thing you could have done about it.

sometimes, the situation will be not so much funny as is it physically and mentally painful. thankfully, i've never incurred a major injury while working, or just plain riding. but the possibility is always there.

lightning strike survivor's describe a tingling sensation prior to them being stuck. the tingling is caused by static electricity building up right before the bolt strikes. i think i can kind of relate, in a roundabout way.

i rode around for about a week feeling like i was going to get creamed. i had just come off a back injury. (a gap in the lasalle bridge grabbed my front wheel at speed and i got a trip over the handlebars as well as an unexpected vacation. i also toasted the front wheel and frame.) i came back and had a terrible day. inane runs that didn't fit together, crap weather, touchy clients, you know the deal. it seemed like everything and everyone was jumping in front of me. it got a little better, it got a little worse for the duration of the week. a bad week, but you know, just another week.

the next monday, it rained all day and i got solidly doored at 5:15pm, bringing in my last package for the day. it was then that doubt crept in. i had this sick, nagging thought in my head all through the week that i was going to wreck, and bad. i think that's why i quit, among other, more tangible reasons.

how recently did you quit? your tales remind me of a chicago courier that is friends with someone i know.

good job on avoiding the door. it's easy to stop paying attention when it's so cold you can't feel your face (although today was absolutely perfect weather).

i tend to **** up the worst when i look at the lights and they're all red. i make an assumption as to which is turning green and i'm always wrong. always. or when a cop runs out from behind a van on 11th street and I get my wheel stuck in the trolley tracks and almost flip trying to avoid him. the feeling of cheating death or major injury is like you've been given another chance to do it all over again at some later time.

Almost got doored in Chi during the MNG. Got that feeling. Did a hockey-stop/270º skid in the rain at a 4-way intersection a little while back to keep from getting hit. Got that feeling then, too.

about 2 months ago, I got doored on locust b/t 16th and 17th. Traffic's stopped and I'm cruising along in b/t the two lanes. I guess I was distracted, I was having an awful night, but it seemed as though this woman just threw her door open instantaneously. I tried to swerve, but as the door opened further, I ran out of room, catching the door partially on the drops of the bars and half on my shoulder and I flipped of my bike. I got up and started to give the woman hell, (probably more aggressively than I should have) but after a few seconds of being totally focused on yelling at her, I realized she had an open beer in her hand. That kinda pissed me off. I’ve wondered since then if there was something I could have done about that, exploiting the fact that it’s illegal to have an open container of alcohol in a vehicle. I've had the feeling you describe, but this, obviously, was not one of them.

"baby baby baaaby...baby baby baaaaby....baby baby baaaaby...baby baby- I GOT THAT FEELIN'! " - JB


I got that feeling today

its like, 4:58, i cut across H street intersection tight into the wrong way lane of 12th heading north hugging the curb, gotta drop something by 5, halfway up the block dude steps out looking the opposite way of me (looking the right way for car traffic) i run the suit over. my bike ends up on the sidewalk? i end up sort of on him but im standing? i dont know, he yells, "what the hell were you doing riding on the wrong side of the road?!?!" me-"what the hell were you doing jaywalking?" and i leave.

Sometimes when I get really scared, I pee a little bit.

i feel ya! i dig it too. and it makes me laugh like hell. i also taste pennies for some reason afterword. like a minut after. it's weird.

I know the feelin'!

It's a form of mild shock, the body's natural reaction to threat. Your brain gets flooded in a cocktail of happy chemicals (adrenaline, cortisol, et cet) that makes you feel euphoric and painless.

Too much of it will **** you up, but in moderation I think it's actually good for you.

I hope so, anyway, cause that's a large part of why I like to ride my bicycle....

When you're sliding into first and you feel something squirt...

word. i'm remembering that sort of comeback.