"Oh Shit" moments...

Haven't had any oh shit moments, near misses or accidents for a long while now :)

Yesterday I had two!

1. I was cycling past regents park tube station in the morning drizzle on my Planet X (88mm deep carbon rims). As i'm accelerating a scooter swerves into the bus lane in front of a cab. Said cab then decided to turn into the kerb. Only Issue is it was overtaking me at that point so I kinda got squashed between the cab and kerb, failed bunnyhopping onto the high kerb, my back rim scratched along it making a horrible carbon on stone noise. My heart sank but after inspection it seems there isn't a single scratch on the rim. Very happy.

2. On my way down to collect some forks from @timbre with @badmanlongtime 's frame on my back. Going up the Kings X to Angel incline I get a weird feeling in my left foot. I immediately suspected loose cleats but it turns out my crank arm was loosening and it came off! Cycled into cycle surgery brakeless, one leg, with my crank arm attached to my left leg.

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Not ideal.

regents street station

This is bugging me way more than it really should.

I don't believe that's possible - it's a travesty of the highest order

Edited :)

True, it should be Regent Street Station.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent_Street_railway_station

How come you know so much about Sydney?

Damn, I thought yesterday's commute was longer than usual. Now I understand.

I was barreling down Charlotte St towards Fitzroy square, looked right at the junction of Howland St and Fitzroy St, traffic was all stopped at the Zebra crossing so I flew straight across the junction.

Bloke opposite me on a Brompton decides to set off from the junction and turn right, straight in front of me. There was a couple of seconds, which felt like an age where our eyes locked and a look of sheer terror flashed across his face.

Luckily he managed to back up a tiny bit, so I only smashed into his front wheel, as opposed to his face. I went straight over the bars and landed, missing a pole by a cm or so. It was then one of those moments where you lay there for a couple of seconds, sit up and look at yourself, and can't believe that your knee is still bent in the right direction, you aren't laying in a pool of blood etc.

He apologized to be fair, but still got an earful!

I was barreling down>>>>>

There's your problem.

I didn't realised there's another Necropolis railways other than the one between Waterloo and Brookwood, that made for interesting reading.

I stupidly filtered down the left hand side of a lorry today, which was waiting at a t-juntion where 95% of vehicles turn right onto Brixton Road. It wasn't indicating.

It began a left turn maneuver as I came alongside the cab. Shit! Shit! I might die here. Shit!

Managed to get ahead of it and then have a shouting match in the road along the lines of

"Why weren't you indicating?"
"We didn't know which way we were going."
"Why weren't you indicating?"
"You're a cunt."

Cycle off, shaken.

To be honest, I was a twat to filter past it.

Bus tried to force me into oncoming traffic.
Very fucking scary was banging and banging on the window to get drivers attention. Very shaken.

I saw a small building lorry do a left turn today at the St Ann's Road/Seven Sisters Road junction from a position that had clearly initially been taken to go straight ahead (from St Ann's Road into St Ann's Road). No indication. They must have decided to turn left at the last minute. I had stayed behind them as something about that lorry suggested very strongly that it was being driven badly. Glad you're OK.

I saw the height and sharp edges on the segregation furniture they are using to fuck up the previously perfectly safe Queenstown roundabout.

Rolling along the Cranbrook Road (Ilford) on the Brompton this lunchtime, then boom, for no reason at all apart from my own error the front wheel tucks under and I go straight over the bars. Land head first and end up in the crumpled heap in the middle of the road. Much onlooker enjoyment ensued! Much jacket shred. Glad there wasn't a HGV directly behind. Or someone with gopro!

Bit of a different oh shit moment.

After sitting in a taxi in traffic for far longer than I expected, Heathrow Express takes a half hour instead of the normal 15 mins and then there's a quarter hour wait to transfer to terminal four. There's nothing I hate more than waiting when I can't do something about it, which is why I generally ride a bike instead of taking public transport. So those fifteen minutes are just a hell of rising panic that I might have just about missed my flight.

Anyhow, check in desk is shut when I get to terminal four about 55 minutes before takeoff and because I'm checking luggage, basically I can't fly. Fuck. So £600 later I have a flight first thing in the morning that gets me in about 11 hours later than planned which I'm praying the fancy travel insurance I bought on a whim this year will cover, and I'm also praying the lady friend I'm flying halfway around the world to see will see the funny side of the situation.

Balls

Gutted! pretty tight of them to close the gate with 55 min to spare, I've turned up at city airport with less than 25 minutes to spare and still made it onto the flight.

God, that sucks dude.
Hope it ends up being worth it!

Yep that is precisely the situation I was in although it was a full length low loader.

I was so stupid.

Lessons learnt. Again.

City is amazing for this very reason. I used to work in Oxford circus and would fly to Luxembourg on a Friday evening to see my other half.

I could leave my desk an hour before take off and make the flight.

Queens Circus on the corner of Battersea Park? Aye. Used to be a no-brainer, shortly to become a killing zone for cyclists. Glad I only have one more week with that on my commute. It would actually have made more sense to get rid of the roundabout entirely and turn it into a simple junction than the death trap they've invented.

Had an artic following me, speed bumps and a 30mph limit means we're roughly doing the same speed through an industrial estate. There is a long long straight so I wave him past, he has all the time in the world, but decides to stay close behind me. I'm thinking OK, patient driver, perhaps turning off soon, etc. No. He/she waits until a short section immediately before a roundabout, a central divide and drain covers means I am squeezed between him and the drains. Bloody close. Didn't take the reg.

I should have stayed primary, I really didn't expect it to pass at that point.

Heart in mouth moment...
http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=4707fe0dd7ba

horrible to watch
look before signalling, look before changing lane

don't ride a bike in Russia.