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Yesterday I had a close call.
I was coming out of the parking garage at the gym I go to.
There is an area with a fountain that I first ride past.
I then cross the sidewalk to get to the street.
So I'm slowly riding past the fountain (friction zone) and scanning the side walk for pedestrians. It's clear. My eyes go out to the road and scan for cars.
Just as I reach the sidewalk a girl on a bicycle comes around fast on the sidewalk.
She is also on the wrong side of the street for the direction she's traveling.
I grab my front brake and the bike lurches to the right.
My foot goes down and there is about 2 seconds of awkward struggling and I'm not sure if I can hold it.
Somehow I don't drop it but I'm feeling it today in my leg and back.
So I guess I panicked and did the brake grab thing.
These are the things that make me realize I'm still a newbie and keep me humble.
If experience were for sale I'm ready with my credit card.

Flipper

Don't be ashamed, you just gained experience and it was almost free. Hope you're feeling better soon.

We've all done it and most likely will do it again sometime during our riding careers. Nothing to be ashamed of, although it can be embarrassing if you do in front of another rider.

dr_bar wrote:Don't be ashamed, you just gained experience and it was almost free. Hope you're feeling better soon.

+1. Almost don't count!

Reminds me of a habit I've almost broken myself of.

I want to brake when turning tightly into a parking spot. I'm low speed with my tire cut and I want to slow down as I advance into the spot.

I've done the over and catch thing twice because of that.

ceemes wrote:We've all done it and most likely will do it again sometime during our riding careers. Nothing to be ashamed of, although it can be embarrassing if you do in front of another rider.

I'd rather another rider see me than a cager. At least another rider would understand what happened, a cager might think I was drunk.

Thanks everybody.
I was embarrassed about almost falling down in front of a lot of cars.
Sometimes I feel like I'm representing all female riders when I'm in traffic.
I get lots of attention at times and I try to act polite and ride skillfull at the same time.
But I know there is potential for a screw up on my part during every ride.
I'm going to ratchet my attention level up another notch.