Project Park Day 9 - I Saw It on the Internet
Ever since I started this project, and started biking as my primary mode of transportation, I’ve been waiting for the inevitable–a crash. I know it’s bound to happen eventually.
I didn’t expect it to only take nine days though.
Let me say right up front: It was a very very minor crash, and I’m completely fine.
You see, a couple of days ago, I saw this guy do something cool on youtube. (Alright, I realize nothing more really needs to be said at this point. Still, if you’re hungry for details, read on. Sicko.)
The video depicts a rider effortlessly bunny hopping his mountain bike over a 12-pack of beer. (Or what used to be a 12-pack, anyways. He’s no fool.) The clip then breaks the move down, and explains exactly how to do it.
So of course, after watching it a couple times, I was confident I had it down cold. Didn’t even need to try it on the bike. I gave myself a well-deserved pat on the back, knowing that the next time I rode up to something in my way … a stick, a pylon, a fallen orange construction barrel … I’d just fly right over it, just like that guy in the video.
But you know how this turns out, don’t you? So what was it that got me, you ask? Surely, you’re thinking, it was a low fence that took me down. Or perhaps a small child. No, what sent me flying over the handlebars earlier today was a curb.
A five inch, rounded off curb.
I was riding parallel to the curb, on the street side. I decided I would rather be on the sidewalk, and all I needed to do was show off my masterful bunny hopping skill (which I had never really practiced, mind you) and simply sail two feet to the right of me and above the curb. But that’s not how it played out. No, it played out like me catching my wheel under the curb, while the rest of me was still moving. Then, in super slow motion, I tumbled over my bike and into some soft wet grass. I ended up on my back, with my bike laying half over me. Fortunately, it was slow enough, and the grass was soft enough, that I ended up unscathed. I simply got up, picked up my bike, and carried on.
Several witnesses are available to confirm this story.
Resource of the Day
In honor of the hilarity of my pathetically slow “crash,” today’s resource is a comic. Ever since I stumbled on Yehuda Moon, an online comic about an old-school cyclist, I’ve been hooked. Check it out, sometime!