On being attacked by a sidewalk
Yesterday, I was attacked by a sidewalk.
I was cycling from work to a friend's house for dinner and was
northbound in the shoulder on 172nd Ave NE in Redmond.
As I reached
the intersection with NE 138th St.,
I was momentarily distracted, perhaps by my water bottle, I forget.
This lapse of attention resulted in my failing to notice that
north of NE 138th St.,
what used to be the shoulder becomes completely consumed by a sidewalk
which leaps into the road out of nowhere.
A sidewalk with a sharp curb.
Fortunately, the curb curves into position, so instead of running
headfirst into a curb, my wheels were merely nudged
to the left about
sixty centimeters.
Still, it was more than enough to throw me flying off
the seat onto the ground at around
30kph.
Luckily, my rear end took the brunt of the impact,
with minor scraping on my right leg and right arm.
I'm writing this to serve as a
warning to anybody who cycles along 172nd Ave NE:
There a sidewalk lying in wait at NE 138th St.
(After dinner, we watched the most recent episode of
Battlestar Galactica
then camped in the backyard to observe the
Perseid meteor shower.
I spotted only three meteors.
I'm not a very good meteor-spotter—I glimpsed only three—what
with my smudgy glasses and poor night vision.)
