"Oh Shit" moments...

It was intended sincerely. Black cabs are some way below rats and on a par with amoebic dysentery in my personal pantheon of favourite classes of organism.

Cheers, I couldn't agree more, I seem to see them do more stupid things on the road than anyone else.

I wish it had been merely an 'Oh shit!' moment for the four people who have so far been confirmed killed and the others who were seriously injured. Early suggestions are that this was a murderous attack using a car as a weapon. Absolutely awful. The cyclist could easily have been the fifth.

Totally agree. The full details of the incident were not known when I first posted, I certainly didn't want to make light of people getting killed.

Lucky that cyclist was paying attention - terrifying stuff. It's scary really that so many people have access to such a potentially devastating weapon (i.e. a car) in some ways.

I spent a Queen's Day in Amsterdam once - a really, really happy-go-lucky event that includes the whole city. Can't believe someone did that.

Max, heal up quickly and hope you manage to sort out your bike soon. When you say 'ridge', do you mean one of those of wavy tarmac as created by HGVs?

Sorry to hear you've been scared into wearing a lid. Remember that it's not going to make you a better rider. More confidence comes from better skills. Not that you could necessarily have avoided this crash even with better skills, of course, but it's about gaining more enjoyment, not feeling scared or worried.

i'm pretty sure thats the type i mean, it was a massive bit aswell, im 6'5" and 210 lbs and i lost control of my bike completely. some of the roads in london are fucked.
cheers man the aches are starting to subside and regarding wearing a helmet, i should really be wearing one anyway..

the video on the other hand is so surreal, i can't believe that happened, when i saw the picture on the front page of the papers i was literally like wtf.. you can see peds just bouncing off the road

I spent a Queen's Day in Amsterdam once - a really, really happy-go-lucky event that includes the whole city. Can't believe someone did that.

My brother lives in Holland and we spent last Queens day in Amsterdam. It was a fantastic couple of days, really good fun getting pissed up with the Dutch who are in general some of the nicest people you'll ever hope to meet.

I hit a ped today, never done that before. There are two sides to every story but it was mainly his fault, I felt really bad though as he came off far worse than I did.

Basically a group of pedestrians had just crossed the road ahead of me, the light was flashing orange so I went through because it seemed clear, however as I did this a guy ran out right in front of me from behind a taxi. I braked hard but he was literally two feet away so it didn't help much. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have been going as fast as I was through a flashing amber light either.

He apologised, I said "You know you shouldn't have tried to cross the road then don't you?" and he apologised a lot more. I felt really bad though because I then saw he had a cut on his head and it had started to bleed - it wasn't terrible but it didn't look too pretty.

I asked him if he was definitely OK and asked if he wanted me to call an ambulance but he refused and said he was fine, I asked a couple times more but he said it was OK and walked away.

So I checked my bike over and rode off. Luckily the only damage was a nasty scrape on the drops, bit of a shock though! It's a strange thing when you slam, most of the time riding is a fluid and quite delicate (for want of a better word) experience. Suddenly one is abruptly reminded that riding also involves moving fairly fast relative to the world at large. When things become slightly less delicate, the world at large suddenly becomes remarkably hard and physical!

First broken skin wound ever for me today, and sadly, completely my fault.
On roehampton high street trying to cross the road to go up the hill to my house (which means i had to go through another lane of opposing traffic which i managed fine, as always) i spy my dad crossing the road to go on the pavement to the left of me covered by cars, me being me i decide to suprise the unsuspecting man by charging up the empty pavement infront of him.
I end up gaining much to much speed for this hill which is clearly less steep than i have predicted, i had just enough time to emit the words oh shi.. before i slamming straight into my fence, cutting through my shirt and grazing my shoulder on the outsticking wood panels, all before plummeting to the floor in a heap infront of my laughing father.

tl;dr tried to be a dick, paid for it.

...pull my finger.

Cheers, I couldn't agree more, I seem to see them do more stupid things on the road than anyone else.

Wednesday this week and pink branded black cab nearly took myself and three other cyclists out at goldhawk road station.

Picture it, heavy traffic coming from the bush, everyone slowing down to que, cabbie comes by honking his horn and revving his engine before jerking past and nearly flooring us. I didn't really take this so well and palmed his window much to indicate WTF to the surprise of his wobbly joules and fat bald head.

Wednesday this week and pink branded black cab nearly took myself and three other cyclists out at goldhawk road station.

Picture it, heavy traffic coming from the bush, everyone slowing down to que, cabbie comes by honking his horn and revving his engine before jerking past and nearly flooring us. I didn't really take this so well and palmed his window much to indicate WTF to the surprise of his wobbly joules and fat bald head.

Even after the joy of crossing the green, I don't like crossing over goldhawk road to get into my road..

On a similar tip, A taxi driver sort of cut me up by the oval cricket ground. Road goes from 2 to 1 lane due to road works. I'm in primary cause drivers always speed past and cut you up. Mr Black Cab realised he can't do this, so just tries to drive me into the curb. After I bang on his window to make sure he knows I'm there he threatens to run me over if I touch his cab again. Nice..

First broken skin wound ever for me today, and sadly, completely my fault.
On roehampton high street trying to cross the road to go up the hill to my house (which means i had to go through another lane of opposing traffic which i managed fine, as always) i spy my dad crossing the road to go on the pavement to the left of me covered by cars, me being me i decide to suprise the unsuspecting man by charging up the empty pavement infront of him.
I end up gaining much to much speed for this hill which is clearly less steep than i have predicted, i had just enough time to emit the words oh shi.. before i slamming straight into my fence, cutting through my shirt and grazing my shoulder on the outsticking wood panels, all before plummeting to the floor in a heap infront of my laughing father.

tl;dr tried to be a dick, paid for it.

hahhahaha heal soon you utter cnut

Hit the deck like a motherfucker on the way home this evening. There's an oil slick on the corner coming onto Oxford Street from Rathbone Place and my back wheel disappeared from underneath me. Didn't even have time to react.
Luckily i decided that it was too cold to cycle home in short sleeve and my rapha sample sale ls jersey kept my right arm intact. Mits also definitely saved my palm from some serious damage.

on my bike nothing (so far...)

of my bike...

1.being shot at in Tottenham by some yardie for fucking his car up as he tried to baseball bat my mate

1. having my face smashed in with a crooklock and managing to keep the sight in my right eye
   
2. reversing down the motorway in a clapped out 205 into on coming traffic.
   
3. Bumping to a bunch of cops when me and my cus was carrying a few ounces of the good stuff (none of that skunk BS) with two video recorders and a pirate copy of street fighter (i know!)
   
   

... Good times

of my bike...
...

jesus!

^^ Bloody hell, can't quite top that - but being towed by my mates car down a country lane after a few beers in the pub seemed like a good idea. Ended in the inevitable - 30mph crash taking the full impact on my right arm. Removed most of the skin from my right forearm and a fairly large chunk from my hand. Thought to myself just a few seconds before it happened 'this probably isn't a good idea.....ohh shhh...' Rode home the last eight miles on adrenaline. Started to really hurt a bit after I'd been home about half an hour though.....

Yeah well, ultimate "oh shit" moment. Sat behind a white van, about eight feet back, not up their arse. Dick puts that shit in reverse and starts reversing INTO ME. Cunt. I say a lot of very bad things. By the time he's about to hit me I'm already off the bike, screaming obscenities. A flock of peds is also screaming at the twat "what you doing?! there's a fucking cyclist behind you!".

He says "sorry I couldn't see you". To be honest he was lucky, I'm quite observant and as soon as I saw what he was doing jumped off the bike and went sideways, taking bike with me. If I had been a nodder we could easily be reading about some person getting run down. Twat.

I had one this morning, descending at speed down Sydenham Hill towards the South Circular when I hear a 'ppffffttt' sound and realise the front tyre had punctured. Thankfully I managed to scrub off enough speed before the tyre went completely flat. That's the steepest hill I ride down fixed and I was spinning like a amphetamine fuelled monkey when it went.

i got home from work in 7 minutes.. Shit i am good!

I had one this morning, descending at speed down Sydenham Hill towards the South Circular when I hear a 'ppffffttt' sound and realise the front tyre had punctured. Thankfully I managed to scrub off enough speed before the tyre went completely flat. That's the steepest hill I ride down fixed and I was spinning like a amphetamine fuelled monkey when it went.

you sure it wasn't an "air pancake of fear"? they some times make a ppfffffttt sound on quick drops

Going up sydenham hill would sometimes make me go oh shit too.

Riding down upper street towards Angel, lights turning amber, I'm going fairly quickly and there's not enough time to stop safely so I speed up and plough on through just as it turns red only for a motorcyclist that is very eager to get away from the lights that are just about turn green on his side speed through and nearly take me and two other cyclists out.
It was definitely still red when he started to accelerate. Twat.

^ that's the risk you run. I've had two of those recently and both times thanked my lucky stars I got away with it. TILMF.

Has anyone been taken out by a rampaging deer in Richmond Park yet? Had a close call last year when a young un realised the rest of the family had crossed the road and bolted as I was coming down the hill section at a fairly high rate of knots - little bugger came out of nowhere and hearly clipped me.