Re: Why Do People Fall Down?

On 2007-10-25, Prisoner at War <prisoner_at_war@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> The last time I went flying off my bike (without a helmet, of
> course) was on my 'bent, on the campus of the College of Staten
> Island, where from my height and distance mistook a flight of
> stairs for a ramp (the steps were big and wide and from that
> vantage point looked like a ramp descent).  After the first few
> steps I put on the break and went flying out of my Street Machine!
> But not headlong like on an upright; I went flying, but always
> rightside-up, and so landed on my feet without even having thought
> about it.
>
> So slamming the breaks on a 'bent doesn't seem dangerous, either!
> It was actually fun...I had a good three seconds of air time!  If
> it weren't for fear of further damaging my bike (it was scratched,
> of course), I would have done it again.  =)

I did more or less the same thing myself, a few years back, on the
University of Florida campus.  Except in my case I was on a mountain
bike, so (1) I didn't have the poor-point-of-view excuse for my
mistake, and (2) instead of flying into an upright position, I flew
over the handlebars and smacked my cheek on the pavement.

I think I better re-evaluate my position on the relative safety of
re***bents versus upright bicycles...

-- 
Mark Shroyer
http://markshroyer.com/