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Conference noted::bicycle

Title: Bicycling
Notice:Bicycling for Fun
Moderator:JAMIN::WASSER
Created:Mon Apr 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3214
Total number of notes:31946

1599.0. "Another Story From The Mean Cold City" by KERBER::GWYN () Mon Jun 18 1990 12:11

    Last weekend, flying down a hill, in a hurry to catch a train so I
    could get out of the city and to some sane cycling country, my front wheel
    slid into a tram line and, you guessed it, I came a buster. After a
    couple of somersaults with pike I came to rest, face down, sprawled on
    the road. A couple of minutes of contemplation and I decided nothing
    was broken, but what the hell I thought I'll lay here a bit longer and
    see what sort of response I get from passerbys. (From my supine
    position I could see a few people walking past). Yeh, you guessed
    it - absolutely none. I may have been dead but did one of these ******
    *******'s offer any assistance? The city, by the way, is Brussels.
    Doe's anybody have any comment? I may be parochial, and out of touch, but
    I can't believe the same thing would happen in Aus (my homeland), or
    would it? Anyway, after I got back on my bike, a few of the kind and
    decent citizens of Brussels where offered some vocal advice they
    probably neither understood or would care to attempt if they could.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1599.1At least your bike was OKUJEST::POSTMon Jun 18 1990 12:553
    You should have spit on a few of them... At least you would have
    their attension at this point ;-)
    
1599.2THAT REALLY STINKS!WMOIS::C_GIROUARDMon Jun 18 1990 13:0513
     It just so happened I came upon a bad cyclist accident only seconds
    after it happened (Ashburnham, U.S.A). My immediate reaction was
    "Oh SH*T" and immediately sprinted to her with my friend in tow.
    People from the nearby houses were out with water, blankets, etc...
    After about 3 minutes a doctor and his family stopped, he immediately
    began assessing the situation in readiness for the arrival and
    transport by the local rescue/paramedics.
    
     I can't speak for the rest of the country, but if I knew it was me
    giving the asphalt an involuntary hug, I'd want the same concern and
    compassion from whoever was passing by....
    
      Chip
1599.3The other side of the coinSTAR::BECKPaul BeckMon Jun 18 1990 13:1510
When I hit Monument Street in Concord MA on May 27th, I was surrounded by 
helpers almost literally before I hit the ground. (Oh, if only they could have
caught me...) One guy tried to hold my shoulders down to keep me from moving
too much (how *else* am I gonna find out what's broken?), someone else stood
between my face and the sun, someone else checked out my bike and reseated the
chain, somebody called the EMTs ... it was like a whole busload of Good
Samaritans was just passing by. I'm pretty sure it was one guy in a pickup
plus several passing cyclists (who knows, maybe even some DECcies?).

I'm make a note not to crash in Brussels.
1599.4ARCHER::GOODWIN_STue Jun 19 1990 10:147
    re .0
    
    You're just lucky you weren't in NYC in the good ol' US of A...
    
    They would have kicked you out of the way!  8^)
    
    Steve (sorry_to_hear_of_your_unfortunate_experience)
1599.5WCSM::MANDILEMon Jul 23 1990 04:2820
    
    Crashed mike Fuji into the back of a parked car, broke the frame\
    all up, my inner thigh was bloody from the castraters (shifters mounted
    up on the handlebar stem), which missed my family jewels by about a
    inch. I had to walk about a mile home, and was offered numerous rides,
    but chose to walk it and drown in my sorrows.
    
    Another time I was driving my truck home from work, this guy and his
    girlfriend were riding, and this mean dog came running out and bit the
    guy on the leg, I stopped, took a look at the 3 inch long gash on his
    calf, I could see clear through to his bone! we took his bike and his
    girlfriends thru them in the back of my truck, and I brought him to
    the hospital, never saw him again, til about 2 years later in a pub
    he took 40 stiches in his gash, the owners of the dog took no
    responsibilty (can you say "HALT" spray??). Any way he thanked me
    over many beers, as we exchanged dog stories.
    
    Both of these stories happened in Vermont,
    
    Albert