Why Do People Fall Down?

I mean, when it's a nice flat road, no one's around them, it's sunny,
dry, no winds...how do people just go plop! in front of you like that?

I saw this three times on Sunday's Tour de Bronx in NYC (great ride;
free food and water and no helmets required!!!)...they're not going
fast, they weren't going downhill, no one was around them (I was a
good four yards behind), and suddenly they fall. Just like that.

I fall out of my bike like once every five years due to trying to ride
down stairs or something like that. How do these people just fall in
perfectly good conditions? They weren't newbie riders either,
apparently.

Weird.

"Prisoner at War" wrote in message
oups.com...
I mean, when it's a nice flat road, no one's around them, it's sunny,
dry, no winds...how do people just go plop! in front of you like that?

I saw this three times on Sunday's Tour de Bronx in NYC (great ride;
free food and water and no helmets required!!!)...they're not going
fast, they weren't going downhill, no one was around them (I was a
good four yards behind), and suddenly they fall. Just like that.

I fall out of my bike like once every five years due to trying to ride
down stairs or something like that. How do these people just fall in
perfectly good conditions? They weren't newbie riders either,
apparently.

Weird.


Don't know. It's a mystery. I saw it happen to a guy riding my recumbent.
No discernable rider error. No bike malfunction. No adverse road
conditions. No plausible explanation. I suspect it was caused by something
out there in the recumbent twilight zone.

Os

On Oct 25, 4:06 pm, "Brother Oswald" wrote:


Don't know. It's a mystery. I saw it happen to a guy riding my recumbent.
No discernable rider error. No bike malfunction. No adverse road
conditions. No plausible explanation. I suspect it was caused by something
out there in the recumbent twilight zone.

Os


The last time I went flying off my bike (without a helmet, of course)
was on my 'bent, on the campus of the College of Staten Island, where
from my height and distance mistook a flight of stairs for a ramp (the
steps were big and wide and from that vantage point looked like a ramp
descent). After the first few steps I put on the break and went
flying out of my Street Machine! But not headlong like on an upright;
I went flying, but always rightside-up, and so landed on my feet
without even having thought about it.

So slamming the breaks on a 'bent doesn't seem dangerous, either! It
was actually fun...I had a good three seconds of air time! If it
weren't for fear of further damaging my bike (it was scratched, of
course), I would have done it again. =)

"Prisoner at War" wrote in message
oups.com...
I mean, when it's a nice flat road, no one's around them, it's sunny,
dry, no winds...how do people just go plop! in front of you like that?

I saw this three times on Sunday's Tour de Bronx in NYC (great ride;
free food and water and no helmets required!!!)...they're not going
fast, they weren't going downhill, no one was around them (I was a
good four yards behind), and suddenly they fall. Just like that.

I fall out of my bike like once every five years due to trying to ride
down stairs or something like that. How do these people just fall in
perfectly good conditions? They weren't newbie riders either,
apparently.

Weird.

What's the matter - can't keep a single user name? Try your real name
sometime why don't you!

The reason people fall is because being on only 2 wheels is inherently
unstable. If you never want to fall, get a 3 wheeled recumbent. Elementary
my dear Watson!

Mr. Tom Sherman, an engineering and physics jerk, could explain this in
terms that even you could understand, but all he is capable of these days is
****ing me off - so the less we hear from him, the better.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

On Oct 25, 3:12 pm, Prisoner at War wrote:
I mean, when it's a nice flat road, no one's around them, it's sunny,
dry, no winds...how do people just go plop! in front of you like that?
zzzznipppp
Weird.

You're leaving out the effect of gravitational perturbations (GPs)..
These show up unannounced, kinda like wind shear, and lob a wrench
into an otherwise ordinary day... Like people who carve level notches
into a perfectly good descent ramp.. The guy in the yellow raincoat
on Laugh-In was frequently attacked by GPs.. A couple of extra beers
will attract every GP in the vicinity until you hide in a ditch, the
lowest point around, clutching the remnants of your dignity. Pretty
much any time you stop your bike at a light and grin vacantly at a
scantily clad young female pedestrian, you can count on a GP tossing
you to the pavement. Most importantly, GPs liberate a guy from any
direct responsibility for some rather embarrassing events-- sliding
down all the stairs on shoe leather alone-- being found under a table
in a bar at closing time-- leaving a perfectly dry canoe while
fishing. Don't spend too much time wondering why. Just keep 911 on
speed-dial..

"Prisoner at War" wrote in message
oups.com...
I mean, when it's a nice flat road, no one's around them, it's sunny,
dry, no winds...how do people just go plop! in front of you like that?

I saw this three times on Sunday's Tour de Bronx in NYC (great ride;
free food and water and no helmets required!!!)...they're not going
fast, they weren't going downhill, no one was around them (I was a
good four yards behind), and suddenly they fall. Just like that.

I fall out of my bike like once every five years due to trying to ride
down stairs or something like that. How do these people just fall in
perfectly good conditions? They weren't newbie riders either,
apparently.

Weird.


Maybe something to do with clipless pedals, or their loose pants snagging on
the bike somewhere. Maybe they got up too early. Who knows.

Not to launch another helmet debate which I have no interest in, they SHOULD
require helmets in these rides. BU they are just following NYC law, which
only require children under 13 to use helmets. I did the ride also, a great
ride, but unnecessarily a chaotic start. The cops were confused. The
marshals were confused. I was glad to have left the start line.

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:06:14 -0500, Brother Oswald wrote:

Don't know. It's a mystery. I saw it happen to a guy riding my recumbent.
No discernable rider error. No bike malfunction. No adverse road
conditions. No plausible explanation. I suspect it was caused by something
out there in the recumbent twilight zone.

Maybe he suddenly realized how uncool he looked, and the shock destroyed
his sense of balance :-)

On 2007-10-25, Prisoner at War wrote:
The last time I went flying off my bike (without a helmet, of
course) was on my 'bent, on the campus of the College of Staten
Island, where from my height and distance mistook a flight of
stairs for a ramp (the steps were big and wide and from that
vantage point looked like a ramp descent). After the first few
steps I put on the break and went flying out of my Street Machine!
But not headlong like on an upright; I went flying, but always
rightside-up, and so landed on my feet without even having thought
about it.

So slamming the breaks on a 'bent doesn't seem dangerous, either!
It was actually fun...I had a good three seconds of air time! If
it weren't for fear of further damaging my bike (it was scratched,
of course), I would have done it again. =)

I did more or less the same thing myself, a few years back, on the
University of Florida campus. Except in my case I was on a mountain
bike, so (1) I didn't have the poor-point-of-view excuse for my
mistake, and (2) instead of flying into an upright position, I flew
over the handlebars and smacked my cheek on the pavement.

I think I better re-evaluate my position on the relative safety of
recumbents versus upright bicycles...

--
Mark Shroyer
http://markshroyer.com/

"Michael Warner" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:06:14 -0500, Brother Oswald wrote:

Don't know. It's a mystery. I saw it happen to a guy riding my
recumbent.
No discernable rider error. No bike malfunction. No adverse road
conditions. No plausible explanation. I suspect it was caused by
something
out there in the recumbent twilight zone.

Maybe he suddenly realized how uncool he looked, and the shock destroyed
his sense of balance :-)

Now that could be. At the time our unlikely test rider was wearing a
florescent yellow spandex pro bike racer outfit advertising a telephone or
some such with goofy sunglasses and helmet that made him look like a alien
from outer space. It was enough to make Superman laugh. The recumbent gods
probably smote him down just to end the embarrassment of it all.

On Oct 25, 11:56 pm, Mark Shroyer wrote:


I did more or less the same thing myself, a few years back, on the
University of Florida campus. Except in my case I was on a mountain
bike, so (1) I didn't have the poor-point-of-view excuse for my
mistake, and (2) instead of flying into an upright position, I flew
over the handlebars and smacked my cheek on the pavement.

Oooohh!!!!!

I had a few over-the-handlebars on various uprights, too...luckily,
none of them required a helmet! So that's why I never felt like I
needed a helmet.

I think I better re-evaluate my position on the relative safety of
recumbents versus upright bicycles...

I was told that the HP Velotechnik SMGTe was a very bad design where
the slamming of brakes was concerned...but it was so comfy I had to
get one! And then I found out that it's not dangerous at all in that
respect, and that was the only respect in which it would have been
dangerous.

I've even gone downhill very fast in the rain once...it was a good six-
degree gradient hill at least...I pumped the brakes a bit and not
totally slammed them, but I was still "upright" all that time...I
skidded for about five seconds! This was that big hill in Tarrytown,
NY, by that college and convent, if another knows what I'm talking
about...it's a T-intersection, and the coffee shop I would have
crashed into had folks looking out their window at me, LOL....

I ride around NYC and let most everybody try out my 'bent...so far,
there's only been one guy who didn't pick it up within a minute's
time...and everybody instinctively recognizes how safe it is, from a
physics-of-the-road standpoint (decreased vantage is a serious issue
one will need to master with time, however)....

--
Mark Shroyerhttp://markshroyer.com/