I gave up cycling in the city after three run-ins with vehicles. The third time, I was passing a bus that had stopped to pick up some passengers. A tow truck tried to pass me while I was passing the bus and it clipped me with its wide rear view mirror, striking me between the shoulder blades. The glass in the mirror exploded all around my head and the impact shot me forward out in front of the bus as it was starting up. Two things worked in my favour: first, I was able to stay upright until I reached the curb; second, the bus driver saw me and stopped the bus, otherwise he might have run me down. But that was enough for me.
My previous run-in had been more serious, resulting in an overnight stay in an emergency ward and a major concussion. I wanted to get back to riding my bike. After all, cycling is one of the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly forms of transportation. It has the further benefit of taking up little space, an important consideration in urban settings. However, a third hit coupled with an increasingly confrontational attitude from many drivers sent my levels of anxiety through the stratosphere. I hung up my wheels and started walking everywhere.
I haven’t given up on cycling entirely. Not long ago, my wife and I went on an extended cycling tour of County Cork in the Republic of Ireland. In preparation, I had purchased a sexy pair of skin-tight shorts with padding in all the right places, and not wishing my purchase to go unused after our tour, I started wearing the shorts to the gym where I regularly sit on a stationary bicycle (which is technically a unicycle) and pretend I’m fleeing a horde of rabid zombies. I pedal like the wind, not that there’s any wind in a gym, but it gives me a good cardio workout. Most importantly, I haven’t crashed the stationary bicycle, not even once.
