One wrong move (Comments: 2)
Author: Julie
Date: 12 September, 2008
Category: Commuting, Julie White, safety
BSNYC’s post from yesterday’s Links of the Day echoed my own feelings this week…sometimes the fact that I am only one wrong move away from a serious accident makes me pause. I remind myself that such a fact is true even when I’m not on a bike, but cycling ramps up the intensity and immediacy of that knowledge.
This week alone I’ve had several incidents that kicked up the adrenaline a bit. Funny thing is, they’re about equal in terms of whether they happened on a bike trail or on the street.
On the street, there’s been the usual…cars driving way too fast and too close, cars running a red light, cars backing out of driveways with no clue that I’m there. Oh, and cyclists on the wrong side of the road forcing me into traffic.
On the bike trail…again, some of the usual…cyclists rounding a curve without being prepared for me on the other side being the most common.
Then there was a very unusual instance: a pedestrian was walking in the middle of the trail (it’s a multi-use trail). I rang my bell a couple of times, and she froze in place…stopped walking, stood in the middle of the trail, and hunched her arms and shoulders as though she were trying to make herself smaller. I yelled, “Move to the right, please!” But she just stayed there. Fortunately, the trail was wide enough for me to go around her, and there were no other cyclists around.
All of this at the same time that my daughter has said that she’s willing to get back on a bike. Long-time readers of RocBike will know that Jason and I have a special and prior-to-RocBike unknown connection…he came to my assistance when my daughter was hit while biking several years back. I’ve written about how hard it was for me to overcome my fear and get back on a bike after that accident.
I am thrilled that she is ready to get back in the saddle. We will start with some easy trail rides and take it from there. I will put my own awareness of how quickly things can go wrong into trying to educate her about safe cycling. And, even though she’s 17, she will probably actually listen to me. She’s like that.
And I’ll try not to worry. Because life is always shorter than we want it to be. We can live in denial and fritter our time away because we think there’ll always be time in the future to do what we really want to be doing. Or we can live in fear and make ourselves crazy with worry and anxiety. Or we can do what I find the hardest and most uncomfortable of all—live in the full knowledge of the fact that my life and the lives of those I love will inevitably be shorter than I want them to be.
Cycling reminds me of that, and today, as I prepare to take my daughter out for a ride this weekend, I am grateful for the reminder.
2 comments to “One wrong move”