A Very Scary Incident

As a former triathlete I've trained many hours on my road racer. I ride a Giant OCR3 compact road racer. It's a great bike. The frame and fork are made of carbon fiber. I'ts much lighter than my old aluminum framed bike.

I've trained with other triathletes in triathalon clinics and was very familiar with cycling safety. Our coach, Raul Boca, was a real stickler for cycling safety. He showed us a lot of tips on cycling safety. Some of the tips he taught us were these: While riding along side parallel parked cars, make sure to look inside the car before you pass by it. A driver may be opening his/her door, or pulling out of the stall. When riding on road and coming up to a side street, if there's a driver waiting at the side street waiting to enter into the flow of traffic, make sure you make eye contact with that driver before you ride in front of him/her. Also, when approaching a side street, make sure no car is about to make a right turn into that street and cut you off.

Visibility is very important in cycling. That's why you see cyclers wear very brightly colored jerseys. That's so that motorists are aware of cyclists and can see them clearly.

On the day of my very scary incident I was doing a 20 mile bike ride. I started out at my house and got onto the main highway. The highway has a bike lane so it's relatively safe. The course I was doing has two brutal hills. One's called "Heartbreak Hill" and the other one's called "Misery Hill".

I did all right on the first hill, Heartbreak Hill. The second hill was where I got into trouble. I made it up to the top of Misery Hill, no problem. At the top of Misery Hill is a lookout. This is where I usually turn around and head back home.

I have a speedometer on my bike so as I was riding down that hill I knew I was really flying. I was doing about 30 miles an hour. At the bottom of the hill is a sharp curve to the right.

This is where "ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE". I didn't realize my quick releases on my front wheel had come loose. My front wheel was shimmying violently. I was totally out of control. My bike crossed the center line at the bottom of the hill and I was about to have a head-on collision with an oncoming car.

The thoughts of death suddenly rushed through my mind. I was scared to death. At the last possible second I was able to get my bike under control and missed that car by just a few feet.

In cycling, you can never take anything for granted. I always check my quick releases before I ride down a hill. Safety first.