Does Your Mortality Ever Come To Mind While Your Biking?



youcansellerz

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Jun 10, 2015
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Moved a couple months ago. Haven't figured out a great route. I ride in a suburban area where cycling for transportation is real unusual. Find myself on some fairly faster paced narrow roads with drivers who seem unprepared how to safely negotiate sharing the road with a cyclist. My old commutes were more predictable and I was still careful but I generally felt pretty safe. Now I can't help but wonder If I'm going to eat it on a regular basis. Not complaining, I'm sure other commuters contend with worse.

I'm developing new strategies and I'll probably tinker with my route some more. One thing I've figured out is if you want to discourage people from passing too close or when it's unsafe -without putting yourself in the line of fire, is to give the bike some movement without straying from your line. Like get out of the saddle and pump and rock the handle bars or act a little wobbly and unsure of yourself. In my experience people don't want to squish you, but they will risk squishing you if they feel more than 80% confident in their chances. So what say ye, how often do you find yourself wondering if today is the day?
 
I think about my mortality all the time. Then again, I've read too many existentialism books so that might be the problem, haha.

I haven't been riding long and have never been in a bad accident, so I don't really think about it specifically on the bike very often. There's been a couple times where it entered my mind, like the first time a car zipped by and almost clipped me while passing, but beyond that, not really. It's probably better to try and be safe as possible while also not worrying too much about it. You don't wanna talk yourself out of riding like I know some people have.
 
Statistically you are a lot more likely to get into an accident if you in a car, but more likely to be seriously injured or killed in an accident bike vs car.
However riding more can increase your total life span plus your quality of life during that time.

So yes I think about and consider my life during any event, everything has risks/rewards to be analysed.
 
"rock the handlebars or act a little wobbly"
Doesn't that define to take the bike a bit out of straightness; out of perfection from driving in a straight line?
As "rock the handlebars" does. Shaking the steering does.

Motor vehicle drivers, depending on (people who live in) the state that you drive in that method: those m-v drivers of the metro attitude are most likely to think of you being a druggie. One who be high. As why you can't drive in a straight line.
Even the p-d will stop you/harass you. Go as far as a blood test. The only was out of this be if you were disabled.
 
Starting out as a roadie, and still doing lots of riding on my road bike...nah. I was used to being on the roads long before I started commuting. There are some roads I am a little more perked up on while on them, but it is my belief that my chances of being seriously hurt are about the same if I were in a car
 
The wobble method works from what I've read here, I haven't tried it.

In my particular situation, what has worked is using a daylight visible taillight - IMO only the DesignShine DS500 and some of the Dinotte models qualify - but both are in the $200 range for a taillight.

The other thing is to take the lane when necessary. I actually ride pretty far right most of the time, but there are times when I am mid-lane. It's highly situationally dependent though and I am not going to try to tell someone else when or how to do that.
 
i think its healthy to consider it. I was hit several times while commuting in africa. its always on my mind, but it keeps me riding safely. stay safe, its not that bad. the average motorist does not wnt to take the time out of his/her day to hit a cyclist, it really does take a long time to sort out and is a real bummer.
 
Not specifically when cycling. In fact, I think about it more often if I was in a car that somebody else drives. It is because I only think of those thoughts when my mind are free and I know the statistics show that car accidents rate is so high. The only reason why I don't think about mortality that much on the plane is because I know the fatality rate of airplanes are not that high either. However, yeah, when I am biking, I would rather think about the road ahead because I am not the type of person that can concentrate on two things.
 
I think about it from time to time, but I honestly feel more at risk while driving. You are traveling at much higher speeds in a car, with the possibility of head-on collisions, and the roads that I drive on are much more heavily trafficked.
 
I don't even think about it even though at 61 I'm far closer to it then you are. Why don't I think about? because for one I'm not paranoid; but for two, I know where I'll be going, do you have the self assurance? Once you have the self assurance of what there is after this life you won't have fear about it.
 
Absolutely, all the time. After all I happen to be a cyclist in South Africa, a country that has a high crime rate and obnoxiously bad road users. I know that every time I'm on the road, whether I'm cycling or using my motor vehicle there is a chance that I won't make it back alive. I've already been in two road accidents that were caused by the other parties. On both occasions the other parties were under the influence of alcohol, another common problem in this country. Because of this, I try to be as cautious as possible but there are no guarantees.
 
The only time I think about my own mortality is when I look in my granddaughters' eyes or after a rewarding conversation with my son.

When I'm on a bike I'm either having too much fun being alive or concentrating really hard on STAYING alive.
 
It does and it's a grand feeling. Especially in an urban landscape during rush hour. Why bother living if you are going to be a meek Little noob.
It does and it's a grand feeling. Especially in an urban landscape during rush hour. Why bother living if you are going to be a meek Little noob.
 
I think about it quite a lot actually. When you are riding down the road in either a bike or motorcycle, you have to be aware that you are but a spec to motorist. Any little mistake or misjudgment and you could possibly get hit. I just got into an accident 3 weeks ago where a cars tire was in the middle of road. I don't know what it was doing there. Maybe someone was trying to steal it and saw light s coming, I don't know. Anyways, I hit the tire at night and I blacked out for a minute. I woke up and my right side was busted up but thank god I was wearing a helmet.

After that night I think about my mortality all the time. It's like a flash when you hit the ground that hard and you find out that you are bleeding.
 
Nope. I don't go out on a bicycle ride thinking that I'm going to get hurt, hit by a car, die, or anything like that. If you start worrying about those kinds of things, then it becomes a distraction, and, really, cycling is pretty safe if you know what you're doing. I have better things to do than worry about what could happen while I'm out on the road!
 
I honestly have thought about this before haha. Granted, whenever it is just me and the open road, I think of a lot of different things, so it really is not saying much that I thought about this.
 
I do not want to think about it like on the day I would go out maybe I can do that while at home or somewhere because such thought would ruin the beauty of my ride or day. It helps though to be prepared and aware
 
When the road is unsafe, why risk you life and limb? Safety is the primary reason why I do my biking inside the village most of the time. I used to ride outside and join some cyclists in the main road (since our main road is the usual haunt of cyclists for it leads to the town of Antipolo which is a rider's haven for its steep roads). But the heavy traffic lately discourages me from going out of the village because accidents can really happen.
 
In a word, no.

yes, I have had lucky escapes with motor vehicles and the like when cycling my bike. But thoughts about my own mortality? No.
 

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