7 Metres to Pain

I decided to take a new route to work today. Normally I just ride through the town to get to one of the bridges across the river, but I thought I'd try a more scenic/less trafficy route by going straight down to the river near my house and then cycling along the tow path around the bend (there is a sort of park along the canal next to the river).

Well, it turns out that while the part of the path near my house is being maintained and gentrified, once you pass the guy living in the tunnel under the bridge to Highland Park, things get a little worse for wear. The pavement is still in good condition, but there are a lot of bushes growing in from the sides, and, for extra fun in the middle of the path in the seam between concrete and asphalt.

Nevertheless, I was making good time, doging from one side of the path to the other, wishing I had those extra things on the handlebars that go in front of your hands. Then I got to the exciting part. Right in the middle of the path, the Parks Department Comedy Division has placed a large bush that almost entirely blocks the path. However, I decide that I can squeeze by on the left, taking care not to get my wheels knocked by the bottom of the concrete embankment that has just appeared at the edge of the path. I slow down a bit (this turns out to be a good idea) and put my head down to push through the shrubbery.

I get my head up just in time to put my head down so that my helmet takes the impact with the chain link fence that... terminates... the path. I had a chance to pace off the distance from bush to fence while I was stumbling around recovering my wits. As an excercise for the reader, next time you're out riding, check your stopping distance; mine is precisely 7 metres, provided the last centimetre is into a fence.

Posted: June 16, 2003 10:37 AM