Flat tire may have saved my life! (long)



Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Greg Evans

Guest
This is kinda long but, I'm sure some of you (Claire) will appreciate it:

Last night I was leaving for work (I work 3rd shift). I carry my bike downstairs and take off, then
realize my _brand new_ back tire is flat. "No problem" says I, taking it off and running back
upstairs to fetch a spare wheel. The spare is flat from sitting (of course) and has no cassette on
it. Grrr... I pump it up slap gears on it, and run back downstairs. I put the wheel on, remount my
bike and there's no resistance when I go to take off. Damnit! In my haste I've forgotten to tighten
the lock ring. I take the wheel, run _back_ upstairs, and secure the lock-ring and call to let them
know I'm going to be late. Finally I'm on my way. Up ahead I can hear sirens, lots of them. As I
ponder this a firetruck approaches from behind, I pull over wait for it to pass, and continue on my
way. Up ahead I see that all the commotion seems to coming from the overpass across the highway and
the road is closed. Seriously irritated now, I take the only available detour, adding about 1.5
miles to my ride. The 11 O'clock news doesn't tell me much, a car flipped and hit a tree. Riding
home this morning I can see that the car was traveling in the same direction I would have been. At
the bottom of the (long straight) hill from the overpass there's a "T" intersection to the left;
this is where I turn. The car demolished the guardrail and hit a tree in front of the house that's
on the right-hand corner as you turn (I hope that makes sense). The news did say that apparently the
car went off the right side of the road at a high rate of speed, over-corrected and lost control. In
other words, had I been anywhere on the road when they slid through there, I wouldn't have stood a
chance (I believe there were fatalities in the car, as well).

The moral to this story? How about: Don't curse flat tires, they may be blessings in disguise (as
most blessings are). Some people might chalk this up as a grand coincidence, but I believe that
coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.

Thanks for "listening",

Greg

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. --Frank Zappa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My photos: http://members.aol.com/photog0314/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Or, if you had been riding on that stretch of road the driver would have had to slow down to pass
you and avoided the accident completely.

> The news did say that apparently the car went off the right side of the road at a high rate of
> speed, over-corrected and lost control. In other words, had I been anywhere on the road when they
> slid through there, I wouldn't have stood a chance (I believe there were fatalities in the car,
> as well).
 
Greg Evans <[email protected]> wrote:

>The moral to this story? How about: Don't curse flat tires, they may be blessings in disguise (as
>most blessings are). Some people might chalk this up as a grand coincidence, but I believe that
>coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.

Indeed! I once had a flat only 1/2 mile from my home. Just as I got it fixed and swung my leg over
the bike, a cute blonde I met at the previous inteval training session cruised by. We rode together
for a while, and made plans to ride again. And again. We've been married since '89 now.

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame
 
D.Putnam wrote:
> Or, if you had been riding on that stretch of road the driver would have had to slow down to pass
> you and avoided the accident completely.

Ha-ha-ha. You had me for a second there. A driver slowing down for a bicycle. That's a good one. :)

--Bill Davidson
--
Please remove ".nospam" from my address for email replies.

I'm a 17 year veteran of usenet -- you'd think I'd be over it by now
 
On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 19:36:28 GMT, Mark Hickey <[email protected]> wrote:

> Greg Evans <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> The moral to this story? How about: Don't curse flat tires, they may be blessings in disguise (as
>> most blessings are). Some people might chalk this up as a grand coincidence, but I believe that
>> coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.
>
> Indeed! I once had a flat only 1/2 mile from my home. Just as I got it fixed and swung my leg over
> the bike, a cute blonde I met at the previous inteval training session cruised by. We rode
> together for a while, and made plans to ride again. And again. We've been married since '89 now.
>
> Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame
>

That's a cool story.

--
Bob M in CT remove 'x.' to reply
 
Status
Not open for further replies.