A Trackstand Saved My Life!

Headed home southbound, (Ontario St. @ 12th Ave.) I'd stopped and
dabbed to wait for the red light. Cross traffic was heavy.

As the light was changing I looked to the left and saw that traffic
was stopping. I checked to the right and it was stopped. I mounted
up, clipped in the other shoe and started to go just as my light
turned green. Suddenly there was a very large horn, very loud and
very close on my left. I appears the city truck was either unable to
stop or the driver just felt like squeezing the light to get across
the intersection.

I froze. I only needed to hold the track stand for about four seconds
but it felt like an eternity as the truck passed within inches of my
body.

I turned to the pair of horrified cyclists behind me and quipped,
"That would have been messy. But at least it would have been cleaned
up fast." The truck was a street sweeper.
--
zk

LOL
Similar situation happened to me.
Traffic light had changed and a car and I were busy making our way across a
5 lane intersection. Buddy stops mid way and I stopped cause I was curious
and bingo a lone white truck comes barreling through. One more second and I
might not have survived. Common Sense saved my life.

Another time I was on an admittedly narrow stretch of busy road in Surrey.
Semis and everything going through. Being too tired to find a bicycle
friendly way home. I looked behind and saw a White Construction truck
coming a little way off and decided to watch him... he took way too long to
inch over and i being kind of waiting too long to make a decision to get
out of the clipless, slowly plunked on to the sidewalk. I'd say he gave me
less than a foot and it was a fast heavy vehicle. The truck slowed down to
see me get up but continued. No one else even slowed down. What a crowd.
Just not my day I guess.

Track Standing is definitely more sofisticated though.

Zoot Katz wrote:
:::: I turned to the pair of horrified cyclists behind me and quipped,
:: "That would have been messy. But at least it would have been cleaned
:: up fast." The truck was a street sweeper.
:: --

Glad you're alive.

On Mon, 6 Nov 2006 20:44:01 -0500, "Roger Zoul"
wrote:

Zoot Katz wrote:
:::: I turned to the pair of horrified cyclists behind me and quipped,
:: "That would have been messy. But at least it would have been cleaned
:: up fast." The truck was a street sweeper.
:: --

Glad you're alive.

I'm glad I didn't soil myself.
--
zk

"Zoot Katz" wrote in message
...
Headed home southbound, (Ontario St. @ 12th Ave.) I'd stopped and
dabbed to wait for the red light. Cross traffic was heavy.

As the light was changing I looked to the left and saw that traffic
was stopping. I checked to the right and it was stopped. I mounted
up, clipped in the other shoe and started to go just as my light
turned green. Suddenly there was a very large horn, very loud and
very close on my left. I appears the city truck was either unable to
stop or the driver just felt like squeezing the light to get across
the intersection.

I froze. I only needed to hold the track stand for about four seconds
but it felt like an eternity as the truck passed within inches of my
body.

I turned to the pair of horrified cyclists behind me and quipped,
"That would have been messy. But at least it would have been cleaned
up fast." The truck was a street sweeper.
--
zk

at least they clean your streets up in Canada. down here all the storm
drains are clogged leaving big pools and small rivers to hide big potholes!

On Mon, 6 Nov 2006 20:49:28 -0800, "greggery peccary" .@. wrote:

I froze. I only needed to hold the track stand for about four seconds
but it felt like an eternity as the truck passed within inches of my
body.

I turned to the pair of horrified cyclists behind me and quipped,
"That would have been messy. But at least it would have been cleaned
up fast." The truck was a street sweeper.

at least they clean your streets up in Canada. down here all the storm
drains are clogged leaving big pools and small rivers to hide big potholes!

They keep the major streets clean. Most of the streets comprising the
"bike route" system are residential streets. They're packed with leaf
goo where we're expected to ride. There were several ponds and
cascading torrents this morning.

This street sweeper wasn't cleaning anything at the time. The brushes
were up, thank dog.
--
zk

In article ,
Zoot Katz writes:
Headed home southbound, (Ontario St. @ 12th Ave.) I'd stopped and
dabbed to wait for the red light. Cross traffic was heavy.

As the light was changing I looked to the left and saw that traffic
was stopping. I checked to the right and it was stopped. I mounted
up, clipped in the other shoe and started to go just as my light
turned green. Suddenly there was a very large horn, very loud and
very close on my left. I appears the city truck was either unable to
stop or the driver just felt like squeezing the light to get across
the intersection.

I froze. I only needed to hold the track stand for about four seconds
but it felt like an eternity as the truck passed within inches of my
body.

That's an ugly intersection. Southbound, as you were, you've got
that hump on 12th just to the left where you can't see what's
coming until it crests the hump, and then it's practically right
in front of you. Northbound on Dumfries @ King Edward is similar,
or even worse (no traffic lights there.)

I turned to the pair of horrified cyclists behind me and quipped,
"That would have been messy. But at least it would have been cleaned
up fast." The truck was a street sweeper.

I once heard of an account of a rider northbound on Ontario, riding
through the traffic-calming car barrier (which lets bicycles through)
at 11th -- a driver behind him tried to follow him, right through
the barrier, knocking the sign over. That one reminded me of the
time I was parked on the sidewalk at 10th & heather, doing some minor
adjustment to my static, kickstanded bike, and a driver drove right
up onto the sidewalk at me. Don'cha just hate it when they actually
/aim/ at bikes?

Then there's the drivers who ignore the "cars go one way" thing
on Columbia, up the hill from Broadway (and MEC.) At least you
can see those ones coming. Although I'd think that sort of stuff
is as at least as worthy of inclusion in the mayor's Public Disorder
online poll, as unh*lm*ted cyclists, defecating/urinating in the
streets (I guess some drivers might actually /cause/ that,)
jaywalking, littering, and open/public drug use:
http://mayorsamsullivan.ca/survey/index.php?sid=2


cheers,
Tom
--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats wrote:
Although I'd think that sort of stuff
is as at least as worthy of inclusion in the mayor's Public Disorder
online poll, as unh*lm*ted cyclists, defecating/urinating in the
streets (I guess some drivers might actually /cause/ that,)
jaywalking, littering, and open/public drug use:
http://mayorsamsullivan.ca/survey/index.php?sid=2

I thought you were joking. I went to the site on a lark. I cannot
believe that someone was stupid enough to include cyclists not wearing
helmets in a list of public disorder problems. That means that the
person who created the survey (or someone who influences the choices)
actually believes that not wearing a helmet is a sign of disorder! What
the heck is wrong with these people?

It smacks of the holier-than-though mentality I see among so many urban
planning students. Come to think of it, the worst of the lot I had to
deal with was from Vancouver....

If the survey wasn't active, I'd propose we skew the results a bit. If
I were the mayor, I would have a long conversation with the maker of
that survey. I just hope that the mayor didn't see/approve the survey
before it was posted.

-Buck

On 10 Nov 2006 05:55:06 -0800, "Buck" wrote:

Tom Keats wrote:
Although I'd think that sort of stuff
is as at least as worthy of inclusion in the mayor's Public Disorder
online poll, as unh*lm*ted cyclists, defecating/urinating in the
streets (I guess some drivers might actually /cause/ that,)
jaywalking, littering, and open/public drug use:
http://mayorsamsullivan.ca/survey/index.php?sid=2

I thought you were joking. I went to the site on a lark. I cannot
believe that someone was stupid enough to include cyclists not wearing
helmets in a list of public disorder problems. That means that the
person who created the survey (or someone who influences the choices)
actually believes that not wearing a helmet is a sign of disorder! What
the heck is wrong with these people?

It's interesting. When I first stared back riding I wore a baseball cap and
would not have worn a helmet - I thought they were uncomfortable and gorky.

I wonder if drivers subconsciously consider helmet wearing as an admission
that cycling is inherently dangerous, a dunce cap, almost a punishment,
like using training wheels; a way of branding bicycles as 'toys' or
something.

Now I actually like wearing a helmet and if I forget mine as I walk out the
door, will stop and go back and get it. Modern helmets look pretty cool,
actually.

But for drivers it's as though they're thinking 'ok, you're already doing
something hazardous and getting in the way, the nerve not to wear a helmet
so that you'll bounce when we hit you.' ;-)


It smacks of the holier-than-though mentality I see among so many urban
planning students. Come to think of it, the worst of the lot I had to
deal with was from Vancouver....

If the survey wasn't active, I'd propose we skew the results a bit. If
I were the mayor, I would have a long conversation with the maker of
that survey. I just hope that the mayor didn't see/approve the survey
before it was posted.

-Buck

In article .com,
"Buck" writes:
Tom Keats wrote:
Although I'd think that sort of stuff
is as at least as worthy of inclusion in the mayor's Public Disorder
online poll, as unh*lm*ted cyclists, defecating/urinating in the
streets (I guess some drivers might actually /cause/ that,)
jaywalking, littering, and open/public drug use:
http://mayorsamsullivan.ca/survey/index.php?sid=2

I thought you were joking. I went to the site on a lark. I cannot
believe that someone was stupid enough to include cyclists not wearing
helmets in a list of public disorder problems. That means that the
person who created the survey (or someone who influences the choices)
actually believes that not wearing a helmet is a sign of disorder! What
the heck is wrong with these people?

Here's another one for ya: there's a "pedestrian safety" blitz going
on here right now. Among the usual safety tips, the Authorities are
admonishing pedestrians to only use /marked/ crosswalks. But here,
every intersection is a crosswalk, and drivers (although most probably
don't know this) are legally obligated to respect them as such, whether
they're marked or not.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca