Could've been worse

northwe-@comcast.net

2004-06-24



This is a multi-part message in MIME format.



------=_NextPart_000_019B_01C459EA.DF16F6E0

Content-Type: text/plain;

charset="US-ASCII"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit



It came to reality yesterday why I always say to myself in my mind while

I am biking in the city, that "I feel safer riding my mountain bike at

full speed through a rock garden down the side of mountain than I do in

town." Here I am riding my cruiser bike to the gym in a pretty good

mood just a few blocks from my house on a side street yesterday. A car

is coming down the street in the opposite direction, but I am fine

because I am in my lane, but before I knew it - oh crap, a car door

opens only inches in front of me on the right side of the street. No

time to brake or room to swerve. Clipped the edge of his door, stopped

me dead in my tracks, and I flew across the pavement on my right side. I

thank being a downhill mountain biker, used to crashing, because I

instinctually tucked my body and took the pavement slide with my

shoulder. People came running to my side. I got up and turned around,

and I couldn't even tell you what anyone looked like, I only remember

seeing my bike lying there. People were asking if I was ok. In shock, I

said 'yes,' quickly picked up my bike (as if I was in a crash during a

race, in which I would have to quickly recover and continue on), and

pedaled off. Within seconds, I realized that I was in great pain, and I

could not hold back. Really, I only have a serious impact blow to my

shoulder, a skinned up knee, a sprung middle finger, and I was dizzy for

a little while. The strange thing is that I got a flat tire on my car

yesterday, so I figured it was sign that I should ride my bike, hmm.



All in all, I am very lucky. As bikers, I am sure you are fairly aware,

but please remember to always LOOK when opening your car door on both

the busy and side streets. As I told this story to a few friends last

night, they realized that they never look on the side streets when

opening their car door, only the busy ones...



Michelle



------=_NextPart_000_019B_01C459EA.DF16F6E0

Content-Type: text/html;

charset="US-ASCII"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit



<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">

<HTML><HEAD>

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">

<TITLE>Message</TITLE>



<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>

<BODY>

<DIV><SPAN class=545202518-24062004><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>It came to

reality yesterday why I always say to myself in my mind while I am biking in the

city, that "I feel safer riding my mountain bike at full speed through a rock

garden down the side of mountain than I do in town."  Here I am riding my

cruiser bike to the gym in a pretty good mood just a few blocks from my house on

a side street<SPAN class=270344719-24062004> yesterday</SPAN>. A car

is coming<SPAN class=270344719-24062004> down the street in the opposite

direction, </SPAN>but I am fine because I am in my lane, but before I knew

it - oh<SPAN class=972375418-24062004> crap</SPAN>, a car door opens only

inches in front of me<SPAN class=270344719-24062004> o</SPAN>n <SPAN

class=270344719-24062004>the right side of the street</SPAN>. No time to brake

or room to swerve. Clipped the edge of his door, stopped me dead in my tracks,

and I flew across the pavement on my right side. I thank being a downhill

mountain biker, used to crashing, because I instinctually tucked my body and

took the pavement slide with my shoulder. People came running to my side.

I <SPAN class=270344719-24062004>got up and </SPAN>turned around, and

I couldn't even tell you what anyone looked like, I only remember seeing my bike

lying there. People were asking if I was ok. In shock, I said 'yes,'

quickly picked up my bike (as if I was in a crash during a race, in which I

would have to quickly recover and continue on), and pedaled off. Within

seconds, I realized that I was in great pain, and I could not hold

back. Really, I only have a serious impact blow to my shoulder, a skinned

up knee, a sprung middle finger, and I was dizzy for a little while. The

strange thing is that I got a flat tire on my <SPAN

class=270344719-24062004>car</SPAN> yesterday, so I figured it was sign that I

should ride my bike, hmm. <SPAN

class=270344719-24062004> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>

<DIV><SPAN class=545202518-24062004><FONT size=2><SPAN

class=270344719-24062004></SPAN></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>

<DIV><SPAN class=545202518-24062004><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>All in all, I

am very lucky<SPAN class=270344719-24062004>. As bikers, I am sure you are

fairly aware, but please remember to always</SPAN> LOOK when opening your

car door on both the busy and side streets.</FONT><SPAN

class=270344719-24062004><FONT face=Arial>  As I told this story to a

few friends last night, they realized that they never look on the side

streets when opening their car door, only the busy

ones...</FONT> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV>

<DIV> </DIV>

<DIV><FONT face="Monotype Corsiva">Michelle </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>



------=_NextPart_000_019B_01C459EA.DF16F6E0--