A Momentary Loss of Adhesion

I was riding to work the other morning, taking my usual route. It had rained a little bit earlier in the morning, but thankfully had stopped before I left. I took a corner into a parking lot that I cut through in order to avoid a busy intersection, and promptly wiped out.

I realized I was taking the corner too tight (given the recent rain) almost immediately, but it was still too late. My wheels went out from under me and I skidded along several feet of asphalt. Thankfully, it wasn't too rough, so I escaped with a bruised hip, a scuffed shoe, and a completely filthy shirt sleeve.

The funny thing is, my first thought as I was going down wasn't anything to do with falling, or the potential for injury. It was "oh man, I'm going to look like an idiot to the cars stopped in the road." It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but apparently I was more concerned with my image as a competent cyclist than with my own well-being. I actually worried not just about how they'd view me, but how it would reinforce their preference for driving rather than cycling.

That's the thing though - in cycling, you do sometimes fall down. It can happen even to a fairly experienced cyclist such as myself. I was cruising along and didn't want to slow down to take a familiar corner. I didn't factor in that it was wet, and therefore much slipperier than normal, and that it had been recently repaved and the fresh asphalt was much slicker than the previous, older surface had been. I absolutely could have prevented wiping out by slowing down just a bit and being more attentive to the conditions of the road (or parking lot - whatever). Frankly, I think a minor accident like this can be good for a cyclist - it prevents us from getting too self-confident and reminds us that any of us can wipe out, make poor judgment calls, or not pay enough attention to our surroundings. We're vulnerable and exposed on a bike, and to remember that is to ride more attentively. Think of falling as a memento mori "light" - a reminder of the fact that we can get injured, fall down, mess up our clothing. And maybe that reminder that we all must fall down will prevent a bigger accident in the future.