Reply to James - Cars are heavy, bikers are squishy

James had a good point. In the previous post I said something about "2000lbs slabs of metal at 40mph..." he pointed out that the small Mazda Miata is about 2300lbs and cars generally get bigger and heavier from there. Plus, they have a fair amount of plastic in them too. I hadn't really thought about the exact weight of vehicles when writing this because really anything bigger and heavier than me moving at that speed could seriously injure or kill me if we collide. Even if I were to run into another equally squishy human I would probably get hurt, though more from the fall than from the impact. Also, the human would be injured.

When it comes to biking, really any collision can be serious. Simply falling from your bike when you are traveling at any speed greater than zero can really hurt. Heck, I recently fell off my bike at a stop (it was dumb and I'm not going to tell you about it). I ended up with some small pointy rocks embedded in my knee which then proceeded to spout blood for about 5 minutes. The ground can be as hard and unforgiving the metal in a car.

Picture of my bloody leg.

 

Okay, I'll tell you about why it was dumb, or, actually a series of dumb.I was cruising south on Hamline Ave, coming home from work. I poured on some speed in order to pass another biker (I'm secretly competitive and love to pass other bikers). All that effort went to waste though as the light up ahead turned red. And here I made my first dumb mistake - I was still in a competitive mind frame.

Now this intersection is a kind of T intersection, with the entrance to a golf course taking the place of the 4th connection. I've never seen anyone, ever, go to the golf course. So, even when the light is red, I usually continue on through, against the light, crossing the entrance to the golf course. Thus, the second (and dumbest) mistake. To be sure, I slow down and watch for any cars that are not turning. This time however, there was a car, that I was certain was turning, but it just kept going straight. I was concentrating on braking (i.e. not riding in front of this moving car) and so I hadn't taken that oh so necessary moment to slip my foot out of the strap. The third mistake. I came to a stop, and fell right over.

The biker I had just passed gently rode past asking "did you forget [to unstrap]?"