with sprinklings of you
Out of the house today, 7:50 on the dot, I was making great time for work. As it’s spring break, there weren’t too many cars on the road but because of daylight savings, things were a little darker.
I crossed one of the busier streets and turned to make double-y sure I had no cars in my way before passing a parked car. Unfortunately, my attention was in the wrong direction.
I misjudged my distance from the parked car and slammed into its left edge. I flew over the handle bars and landed right next to the car. I’ve never been so embarassed in all my life — I biked into a parked vehicle.
Understand, I have NEVER hit a car in my own car, or been responsible for ANY accident. I always felt very good about that, but now I’ve done it with a bike and a car that wasn’t even moving?!
The impact was pretty hard and I busted their back light while popping my tire. I have some bruises and my neck is a little funny, but all in all, it could have been way worse….though maybe not with a parked car. I left my info on their windshield but they haven’t called yet. We’ll see where that goes.
So why post about the most embarrassingly ridiculous event that’s happened to me in probably ever? Well see first I wasn’t going to let a soul in on this horrible tale because it’s such an embarrassment! And then I found myself wondering if other people made mistakes like this, other than a man down the street who heard my crash (he confessed to doing it a few times himself — very nice, and good-looking for that matter, but I digress).
I spent some time googling it to find others so I’d know I wasn’t alone in my ridiculous, embarrassing, frightening, dangerous, almost humorous incident. I found them and it made me feel better, so I decided why not open up, write about it and maybe in turn I will make someone else feel better about something they’ve done. Or maybe another googler will find my post and be encouraged they’re not the first to smash a parked car with their bike.
Thankfully, I’m signed up for a motorcycle license class, so I expect I’ll learn some tactics on knowing my surroundings and such. Until then, watch out world, I’m walking tomorrow and as I’ve done more damage to a car on bike then I ever did in car, I’ve probably got some real serious damage in store!
I am just a girl trying to figure out how I can best spend my life. I like to write, and as such have a blog. I have great friends and family—a rich life.
Vocationally, I work for a fabulous online website in the Houston area. I get to write, edit photos and sort and attend events in Houston. What can I say, it's loads of fun. Feel free to comment on anything—nothing you say will be unwelcome unless you choose to insult myself or another person on this blog. Criticize and challenge beliefs all you want, but please don't make it personal.This blog sprung from my blog at xanga awhile back (www.xanga.com/resplendentRachel). I hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading.
Simon Jones
March 17th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Oh how funny, though I am of course glad you’re okay. Bike crashes can be very nasty end, be warned, motorbike crashes are rarely that forgiving.
As for the question of has such a thing happened to me: Yes indeed. When I was a young whipper snapper of a lad I was speeding some place as fast as my legs could peddle. At one point I put my head down and really put my back into it. All was going well until I smashed into the back of a parked Jag! I actually flew over the car and rolled off the roof onto the ground. I ruined my bike and the car was unhurt.
In a semi related story, I was once driving down the road in my (original) mini when I saw a girl walking down the road wearing almost indecently high cut denim shorts! Transfixed by her, err… charms, I clipped the sidewalk on a curve. This yanked the steering wheel out of my hands and sent me crashing into a street light. Ouch!
I have a question for you though Rachel. Are you riding to work for eco reasons, or is this because you don’t have a car after your crash? Either way, well done to you, especially so since you live in a very bike unfriendly city.
Megan
March 19th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
I recently had a bike crash myself! Although I didn’t hit a parked car, I was freaked out by a backing-out car, slammed on the breaks and fell over. The man jumped out of the car thinking that he had hit me, all this then was followed by a very awkward conversation in Spanish. I walked away with only a skinned knee, although I don’t know that I’ve had one of those since the late 80′s…
Mason
July 27th, 2010 at 6:11 am
I actually hit a parked car with my bicycle on St. Patricks day. I swerved to avoid a drunk dude and first smacked a parking sign which in turn dragged into the car leaving a nasty scrape on the side of the car. Crazy domino effect. The funny thing is it was the 17th the same day as your little accident wierd?!! I have been gogling ‘hitting parked car with my bicycle’ all night just looking for some legal advice as the damages are over 1700 bucks! My bike did not even have a scratch on it and I only got a lil scrape thankfully.