Why is it?



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Bob Watkinson

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Why is it that there are always witnesses around when you do something stupid? Normally I get of my
bike by swinging right leg over rear wheel and cruising to a gentle stop. Today however something
possesed me to go left leg over rear wheel instead. Now my brain seems to be totaly programed to do
the former but the latter, well no. Result- left leg bounced of pannier then caught right leg that
failed to disengage from peddle. The resulting clatter of bike and body was wittnessed by a long
stern faced bus queu and a gang of highly amused school children.

Bruised pride but no other damage though thankfully.
 
bob watkinson wrote:
> Why is it that there are always witnesses around when you do something stupid?

The presence of witnesses *causes* the stupidity... ;-/

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
On Wed, 2 Apr 2003 09:07:03 +0000 (UTC), bob watkinson <[email protected]> wrote:

> Why is it that there are always witnesses around when you do something stupid? Normally I get of
> my bike by swinging right leg over rear wheel and cruising to a gentle stop. Today however
> something possesed me to go left leg over rear wheel instead. Now my brain seems to be totaly
> programed to do the former but the latter, well no. Result-left leg bounced of pannier then caught
> right leg that failed to disengage from peddle. The resulting clatter of bike and body was
> wittnessed by a long stern faced bus queu and a gang of highly amused school children.
>
> Bruised pride but no other damage though thankfully.

It's surprisingly hard to do anything bike-related the unfamiliar way round. I remember the first
time I tried looking back over my left shoulder, in preparation for cycling in Europe - loud
Inspector Closeau wails as I veered all over the road.

Ian

--
Ian Walker Remove the yummy paste in my address to reply. Homepage: http://www.drianwalker.com
 
it took me about 200 miles before i could do it!

panda

"Ian Walker" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:eek:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 2 Apr 2003 09:07:03 +0000 (UTC), bob watkinson <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Why is it that there are always witnesses around when you do something stupid? Normally I get of
> > my bike by swinging right leg over rear wheel and cruising to a gentle stop. Today however
> > something possesed me to go left leg
over
> > rear wheel instead. Now my brain seems to be totaly programed to do the former but the latter,
> > well no. Result-left leg bounced of pannier then caught right leg that failed to disengage
> > from peddle. The resulting clatter of bike and body was wittnessed by a long stern faced bus
> > queu and a
gang
> > of highly amused school children.
> >
> > Bruised pride but no other damage though thankfully.
>
> It's surprisingly hard to do anything bike-related the unfamiliar way round. I remember the first
> time I tried looking back over my left shoulder, in preparation for cycling in Europe - loud
> Inspector Closeau wails as I veered all over the road.
>
> Ian
>
> --
> Ian Walker Remove the yummy paste in my address to reply. Homepage: http://www.drianwalker.com
 
bob watkinson wrote:
> Why is it that there are always witnesses around when you do something stupid?

>The presence of witnesses *causes* the stupidity... ;-/

I find the sillier the mistake is in proportion to the number of people watching, therefore
increasing your embarrassment and blushes. I am sure there is a math formula for such situations.

Irving
 
In article <[email protected]>, one of infinite monkeys at the keyboard of "bob
watkinson" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Why is it that there are always witnesses around when you do something stupid?

Hehe:)

Last week I cycled home with a new purchase, that protruded a long way above the pannier it was in.
The top was about level with the saddle. After kicking it once, I pleasantly surprised myself by
remembering it each subsequent time I dismounted (such as for crossing the rivers by steppingstones
and footbridge).

How do parents with child seats avoid decapitating their offspring?

--
Axis of Evil: Whose economy needs ever more wars? Arms Exports $bn: USA 14.2, UK 5.1, vs France 1.5,
Germany 0.8 (The Economist, July 2002)
 
[email protected] (Nick Kew) writes:
> > Why is it that there are always witnesses around when you do something stupid?
>
> Last week I cycled home with a new purchase, that protruded a long way above the pannier it was
> in. The top was about level with the saddle. After kicking it once, I pleasantly surprised myself
> by remembering it each subsequent time I dismounted (such as for crossing the rivers by
> steppingstones and footbridge).
>
> How do parents with child seats avoid decapitating their offspring?

The back of the seat sticks up a lot further than the saddle (at least with the seat I used), so it
wouldn't really be possible to do more than bang your knee on it, and it's extremely obvious the
seat is there so even that isn't a real problem.

However when I bought a trailer bike I was warned that swinging a leg over in the usual way will
kick the child in the face, and that this is fairly common, and probably the major risk of using a
trailer bike. I never did it myself though.
 
Alan Braggins <[email protected]> wrote:
>[email protected] (Nick Kew) writes:
>>How do parents with child seats avoid decapitating their offspring?
>The back of the seat sticks up a lot further than the saddle (at least with the seat I used), so it
>wouldn't really be possible to do more than bang your knee on it,

This is not necessarily so - I've been kicked in the head once (on an old-style child seat without a
high back, which admittedly are less common than they were in the late 70s :) - I suspect that,
like falling forwards off the saddle onto the crossbar gonads first, the reaction is so memorable
that the rider will _never_ do it again.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> flcl?
 
David Damerell wrote:
> This is not necessarily so - I've been kicked in the head once (on an old-style child seat without
> a high back, which admittedly are less common than they were in the late 70s :) - I suspect that,
> like falling forwards off the saddle onto the crossbar gonads first, the reaction is so memorable
> that the rider will _never_ do it again.

Yes, that's why we've got two gonads.

~PB
 
"Pete Biggs" <pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in news:b6jvs9$65o9c$1 @ID-144931.news.dfncis.de:

> David Damerell wrote:
>> This is not necessarily so - I've been kicked in the head once (on an old-style child seat
>> without a high back, which admittedly are less common than they were in the late 70s :) - I
>> suspect that, like falling forwards off the saddle onto the crossbar gonads first, the reaction
>> is so memorable that the rider will _never_ do it again.
>
> Yes, that's why we've got two gonads.

Not once you've hit the crossbar you haven't :)
 
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