I just got back from a very strange ride. Today was a UT football game, so I decided to take a cruise through campus and check out all the goings on. I always enjoy a ride through the city, especially on Saturdays, when it feels so alive.

I'm riding through campus, next to the stadium when some overweight frat boy yells "Yeah, you ride your bike, F4990t!" WTF? Who does this sort of thing? Honestly, what could compel another person to just yell something like that out? I love this state, but sometimes it's unbearable. I was speechless; I just gave him a perplexed/disappointed look that was meant to communicate something along the lines of "WTF is wrong w/ you?" Then he said, "Come over here, F....., so I can knock you off your bike." Okay! Great idea!

After that, I ran into an old friend of mine who is strung out on heroin. ugh.

Then came the absolute worst part of my ride. I'm almost home, riding on one of the busiest streets of Austin (Congress), when I see 2 cop cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance all packed into this one intersection that I go through 4 times a day, everytime I'm going to school. This is a horrible intersection, clearly not meant to handle the amount of traffic that passes through it, As I'm rubbernecking, I see something in the middle of all the chaos that resembles a bicycle wheel. My heart sinks "**** **** ****, this is one of my friends from school." I get off my bike and run across the intersection to see who it is. Once I get there, I realize that it's not one of my friends, but a middle-aged man on a MTB. He has a plastic cylinder around his neck. Blood is covering the pavement. His bike looks like a contortionist. I'm looking at this guy and he is surrounded on all sides by the huge, inconsiderate, dangerous, and impatient vehicles we call cars, and he's just lying there completely helpless, unable to move. For the second time tonight, I'm speechless. Except this time, my heart is filled with sadness instead of anger. They lift him into the back of the ambulance using one of those plastic boards, and the whole time he can't move. After they load him up, they wash his blood off the street using some liquid chemical.

I ask a guy what happened and he says that a car turned left and t-boned the bike. The bike had a green light, going straight through the intersection in the bicycle lane, and just got nailed from the side. He probably didn't even see it coming.

This is the first time I have encountered a bad bike/car accident. It was one of the worst things I've ever witnessed in my life. I hope this guy lives and is able to walk again.

Sry, I just had to vent.

sorry to hear about your friend
god that sounds like a bad ride though...

you just witnessed what other people call "life" Take it, put it in your mouth, chew on it for a bit, get the flavor, then spit it out. Go to bed, wake up tomorrow and try again.

+1

I know its like totally rad to be a dick on this forum, but some one could have died.

it wasn't his friend, way to skim through

but yeah that ride sucks, me and my friends from the cycling club went through the busiest part of campus before the game to watch drunk college kids do their thing before we went on a 60mile ride

Was pretty fun, nothing like yours though

PedallingATX,

Damn. You're right. That is a crappy day. I'm sorry for all 3 of the people who made your day that way. I'm sorry for the DB who felt the need to elevate himself through minimizing you (it can't be real fun being him), I'm sorry for your old friend who is clearly having a tough go of things and I'm sorry for the cyclist who before 24 hours passes will be nothing more than a minor write-up on page 7 of the local paper. I sincerely hope things looked much worse than they were.

That's kind of a lot to choke down in one bite like that. Especially the combination friend/accident thing. Live well and try to remain available to your fellow human being. Doing so is really our only salvation in this life. Live your life well and be of value to your fellow human being whenever you can. While we as humans rarely show we are worth extensions of kindness the reality is we are. We just so often don't even know it ourselves. Sorry for your day.

I didn't take that comment as being a dink, to me it's a realistic way to deal with things that happen in life good or bad. Kind of sad you took it in a bad way...

The thing I love about riding is that it gets me out into the world. I feel like I'm a part of everything that's oging on when I'm riding. After this ride, though, i just wanted to stay inside and never leave.

Fortunately, that feeling is most likely transient. The sadness will disappear, but hopefully I can retain whatever lesson/moral/significance there is to be had from all of this. Maybe I can help my friend, maybe I can influence some other cyclists to wear helmets after hearing this story. If either of those things happen, then some good will have come out of it.

i hate *******s. the other day some stupid kids were in a car yelling stupid **** at me while i was riding. i did the same thing you did, just looking at them like their idiots. as i was riding towards the stop light they cut a little towards me tryin to block/hit me. i was so mad i swung my arm tryin to break their side mirror. too bad i missed.... just brush it off, its no big deal. *******s will the *******s

Sorry dude. Hugs n kisses.

perhaps he was talking about his old friend that was strung out on heroin? way to skim through

sucks, though. hopefully the guy that got hit lives and heals up!

exactly. pay attention before you assume.

I wouldnt worry about the homophobic football jock; he just goes to football games and calls men whom he finds attractive "f4gg0ts" in front his friends to provide cover for checking you out in your bike shorts and to hide his secret activity of regularly sucking guys off from craigslist -- when he says anything to the affect of "I want to kick your ass" he actually means "I want to lick your butthole." I would take it as a compliment. he's a miserable bastard and ashamed of his true self...and you're not.

have you found any information in the local media about the wreck?

and if you see your junkie friend, tell him one word: suboxone.

No way dude, I also go to UT. However i ride a bmx bike (maybe you've seen it, its all black with red grips and chrome rims and various other red accents)

It's really too bad about all the people yelling at you. You really just have to ignore it. I get yelled at occasionally as well, and for nothing at all really, i guess they need to feel like a bad ass in some way.
And i always wear a helmet (although hardly anyone here does). I almost got ran over by a granny running a stop sign the other day.

I actually go to St. Ed's, so I've prolly never seen ur bike unless downtown or somethin. I was just on a ride up north. Reminds me why I hate west campus so much, but there are *******s everywhere i guess. it's just in other parts of the city we don't let drunken frat boys roam wild in the streets. we kept them chained and caged like they ought to be

Ah, i see. Yeah, i live deep in the heart of west campus, so i'm used to having to deal with their BS.
Most of the comments i get are more along the lines of, "Do a 180" or "Bunny Hop", but the occasional negative comment is enough to ruin 15 minutes of a ride.

people yell dumb stuff from cars all the time. Just smile at them and give them a look that lets them know it doesnt bother you.

Tell them to lick the **** off your tires

I live in sf, so when I ride up steep hills I always get "you got it bro" or something along those lines

For the most part, I would say it's because of the college campus. There are always a group of people, generally men, but often times women too (in my experience -- manly women, though) who like to poke at cyclists. For me, personally, it only happens at night, and on nights when it is less busy. There are still too many "that guy" people around this school (NCSU).

ATX, that sucks dude. I came across a guy who had been hit about 2 minutes before I got there. Hit and run. He died before the ambulance arrived. I watched him die, and I just felt so powerless. I just wanted the guy to know that he wasn't alone, you know? I know how you feel.

As for your friend strung out on H, at least now you know not to let him in your house.

And the fat-frat boy, just remember: He has to be himself everyday. You're coming out on top.

And that's a big part of life, too.


To the frat boy, just wave, smile, and say "Have a Nice Day!"

To the "friend" strung out on heroin; drag his @ss to the nearest police station if he doesn't immediately agree to go into rehab. That is what a true friend would do, help him.

Can't do much about idiots that run lights; that's the sucky part about life. It ain't fair, it ain't pretty. But it does go on.

The frat boy you should have said some **** too. A simple "Come knock me off my bike then chunker!" would have done the trick. and then just rode a few mph above his top speed and ideally if you could have lured him into the darkest, deepest, ally ways of your city where he would get jumped

PedATX,
Sorry to hear about your ****ty day, but they happen to the best of folks I suppose. Just focus on the positive things and let go of the rest...
Reading about ppl like the guy that yelled at you and the comment of the other poster make me never want to go back to the states...