"Oh Shit" moments...

And if there was a pussy in that thread Clive would have killed it by now.

did achesmybrains really crash into someone on a shared use path and blame them?

Yeah... My best near-dooring was last year. Wide out from parked cars and shifting along, when a bus passed pretty close. Moved in for spacing, only for a parked van ahead to throw his door wide open.

Gets more exciting as I'm on a lowracer recumbent, so the bottom of his door was about neck height. Cue hauling on the brakes, locking up both wheels, and a beautiful skid to stop about two feet short of the door.

We exchanged views.

why concede your priority when it puts you at great risk? have you considered making eye contact with the approaching vehicle so they are aware you know they are near, and that you are likely to give them space when it is safe to do so?

did aches and pains, really crash into someone on a shared use path and blame them?

No i never blamed her, in fact i repeatedly apologized to the crazy lady.

why concede your priority when it puts you at great risk? have you considered making eye contact with the approaching vehicle so they are aware you know they are near, and that you are likely to give them space when it is safe to do so?

He's riding a recumbent, so two good reasons for lack of eye contact.

can you not look back when on a recumbent?

Not so easily - wing mirror is there for that. And normally I'd stay wide, but if someone decides they absolutely must pass now and then cuts me up, I'm always going to try and dodge them.

Big white van moved across on me, wing mirror went between my bag and back.
Thankfully it flicked forward and I became 'unstuck' before I went down...

Couple of years ago I had a car slam the brakes on in front of me (zebra crossing just after a downhill blind bend, bloody genius). Would have been fine had his left hand brake light been out. Hauled on the brakes and slowed down a fair bit but still hit the back of his car pretty hard.

He just drove off, which suited me fine.

I also had a bizarre one the other day, dropped a bottle on a very quiet road and a mate riding a way behind me stopped and picked it up. He then tried to hand it to me as he rode past me. I somehow swerved into him, my bike went down and I vaulted the bars and ended up running along the road. He stayed on.

Oh, and on the subject of people walking out and blaming the cyclist, I was riding in a very local charity tri the other day and had a group of 20 walkers walk straight out in front of me without looking, completely blocking the road. "Use your bell next time please". Sadly my only rejoinder was "Look before you cross the road next time please". Still a bit disappointed I didn't call anyone a c*nt.

I've had quite a few "oh shit" moments - the two worst ones were firstly, on my first track bike four years ago (a two hundred odd pound globe roll from evanscycles) I decided it would be a brilliant idea to take the brakes off it - not realising just how cheap the back wheel was. Bombing down the main road in kingston heading towards the round-about i attempted a skid as i approached the round about and shredded the threading on the rear hub - so essentially i was riding a single speed, with no brakes, going 20 odd towards a busy main road roundabout, luckily i managed to almost throw my self off the bike and bring it too a stop, but that was a oh shit moment. second was a couple years ago - pissing down with rain on richmond road, bombing it again attempting to catch up with my mate and get to the pub to get out the rain. a women pulled out of a side road and went to go into the opposite side of the road, as she pulled out i started moving behind her to get past and at the last minute she decided to let the other lane of traffic past and started to reverse..as i was going behind her...a metre away from the rear of her car, i saw the car reversing and i couldn't stop myself in time as i rocketed towards it last thing i remember was saying "shit shit shit shit." and then waking up on the pavement a little while later.

^ that's shit. Last year someone reversed into me; the car knocked my wheel and kept on coming, so I tried to shuffle out of the way and punched their rear windscreen, and they finally stopped just as I jumped out of the way. Then the guy coming the other way got out of his car and proceeded to square up to me for 'scaring the lady driver'.

My wrist and knuckles still hurt to this day and my bike suffered some scratches from dropping it; in retrospect I should've phoned the police.

I went from an "oh shit" moment to a "fuck yes" moment earlier on my ride to work. Riding along fairly fast on a clear road when I see a blind guy with a cane feeling his way out of a shop towards the road, I assumed he'd stop but he didn't, stepping out into the road right in front of me, I couldn't really dodge him because he had his cane right out in front of him in the road so I did a super sweet skid stop, missing him by inches (totally forgetting that i'd fitted a brake a couple of days ago). I must have looked cool as shit (or like a total dickhead for not even touching my brake as I hurtled towards a blind man)

Does a skid count if you do it in front of a blind man?

I think that's a much bigger "oh shit" moment for the blind man.

Locked up the rear and got fishtailing. one of those skids where putting pressure on the pedals changes nothing and you ride at 12mph for the rest of your journey.

I think that's a much bigger "oh shit" moment for the blind man.

not really, he didnt even see it coming!

He didn't even notice me until I told him to be careful. He was lucky it was a guy on a bike and not a car or he would have been ploughed.

some idiot was doing a three point turn, and didnt see me. I had to serve around his back. but realised he didnt see me again, and nearly reversed into me =="

When someone is doing a maneuver in the road, no matter how inappropriate the timing might seem, I would recommend slowing and waiting for them to finish. Or at a minimum, eye contact before continuing.

^ This, always

Your blind spots move around when you're performing a manouvre, and you have to look in several directions at once while concentrating on the task you're performing, so if a small visual target (e.g. a cyclist) is also moving around in your blind spots, your chances of seeing them is much lower. Always gobsmacked at the number of cyclists who see a gap in the road while a vehicle is performing a manouvre and think "I can fit through that! WAHEY" without paying any attention to which direction the car is moving in and whether the driver has seen anybody else there.

To be fair, if you're doing it right you should see any and all approaching traffic. But generally people do a turn in't road dead quick without checking, so just stay back and wait it out.

You only ever do it "right" if you've got a driving instructor in the car with you at the time going "what's behind you? have you checked your blind spot? check your mirrors! check your blind spot! There's somebody in the road, stop moving and acknowledge them!". As soon as that fucker's out of the shotgun seat you're like

Or if you're an ex/a driving instructor.

It's not hard to check mirrors, surely

It is not.