Every time we get on our bikes, we are playing a game of Russian Roulette. We take care to maintain our machines, to make sure they are in perfect running order, we look after our bodies to maximise our performance, and we, hopefully, abide by the rules of the road to keep ourselves safe from the dangers of other road users. But ultimately, our lives are in the hands of fate, destiny, or even other people. Ours is a sport fraught with danger, and every now and then, and increasingly all too often, we are reminded of the thin black line between life and death.
Such a reminder came today with the news that yet another Pro Cyclist, Kristof Goddaert, lost their life when going about their everyday job. Maybe we are less at risk in our own day-to-day lives than these athletes, but we shouldn’t take with a grain of salt the dangers that are inherent any and every time we cover ourselves with a thin shield of lycra, mount an 8kg piece of plastic, alloy and rubber, then surround ourselves with tonnes of fast-moving metal often operated by less-than-accommodating drivers. We should regard every motorist with caution, never knowing if they themselves are a cycle-aware operator or one of the increasingly common outspoken anti-cyclists that seem to crawl out of the woodwork to vent their disdain for us every time an online article regarding any aspect of sharing the road appears. Make no bones about it, there is a lot of contempt and anger towards cyclists from many drivers.
There’s only so much we can do to minimise our risk of not returning from a ride. Wearing a YJA is not going to help. Having a foam lid half-encasing our craniums will only do so much (let’s not get into a helmet debate here though). Not putting ourselves into a dangerous situation by flouting road rules, running red lights or riding erratically in traffic should be a no-brainer. Yet just by joining the arterial flow of cars, buses and trucks we put ourselves at the bottom of the transport food chain, and like a hyena in a lion-filled savannah, we need to be alert and aware of our surroundings and regard everyone around us a potential predator.
We’ve lost many of our own, and it’s often I think about our community friend @itburns when I kit up. Every time I read about another cyclist tragically killed, the reality of the dangers of our passion hits home, again, hard. Having met Kristof on KT12, when he gave up his time to talk to us before Paris-Roubaix, answering our questions, humouring us as he prepared for one of his most important days at work of the year, it feels that little bit more personal, even though our worlds were so far removed from each other. And now, he is removed from our world completely, a victim of bad luck, a tragic accident of circumstances that we might never consider could happen to us. Which only serves to remind us that it can.
Be careful out there, friends.
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Nice one Bretto. For our encounter with Kristof during KT2012 I had the feeling AG2R's Monsieur Lavenu poked his head in the door of two of the younger riders on the team and said get up lads, I need you two out here to chat up some civilians. It was nice of them all to answer our questions.
I'm using a lezyne red flasher on the back of my bike all the time now. It's more effective than a YJA. The flashers might catch the eye of the young texter right before they hit me. These dangers aren't going to keep us from riding, so we have to be as clever as possible, Rule #62, bitches!
@Gianni Yes, yes, yes all music must be sung "Breaking Away" style -- or add a professional soundtrack later.
You can wear any colour you like. If they aren't looking, they won't see you. A flashing light on the other hand stands out, repeatedly, and can catch an eye.
You have very likely seen the experiment below but it demonstrates that motorists looking for other cars, are very likely not going to see a cyclist.
http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/gorilla_experiment.html
A very tragic tale, unfortunately heard too often.
A group of Perth (WA) cyclists are rolling out a new tail-light/ camera, trying to change driver culture by letting them know they are being recorded. The "Fly6" is getting a reasonable amount of press (also as they were (over) funded by Kickstarter). I have no financial interest, but have bought one. Cool little product...
Video didn't work, try;
http://kck.st/1h1viSw
@asyax Nice thinking on that product. I had an idea last year to mount a worthless GoPro body on the Nobi race number bracket to give drivers that "obvious" feeling that they were being recorded. I could not take the extra bracket being mounted under the brakes and a constant GoPro presence dominating the rear of my bike.
Sad news indeed.
But if I may be slightly lateral, I think we as cyclists should be careful about overstating the dangers.
One of the things that always struck me in my daily journalism days, constantly reading news wires from around the world, was that each and every day dozens of people walk out their front door confidently expecting to return home that evening but they never will. Sometimes the cause will be mundane, sometimes it will be bizarre but the effect is the same.
Cycling is not an inherently dangerous activity. As a form of transport it's not that much more dangerous than driving a car, and less dangerous than a motorbike, depending of course on where you are.
Shit happens - it's sad, but it just happens. Don't let it stop you.
Just got done with an evening ride in the semi-dark. Flashing lights front and back.
This did not stop the driver of a car from pulling out across my path as he looked directly at me. He did that sort of nervous pause, as if stopping directly in front of me would make things right. But I was watching him as I approached, because I'm a motorcyclist and I expect that all cross traffic is trying to kill me at all times. I covered the brake and I was ready.
All the yellow jackets and flashing lights in the world would not have stopped this guy. So the only thing left to do is stay alert and expect to be attacked by anything that moves. As soon as you begin thinking of drivers as sentient beings who can think and reason, you're letting down your last line of defense. You can't prevent everything of course, and it's horrible to hear news like this, seemingly all too often these days. Try to be seen. Just don't ever *expect* to be seen.
@Gunnersaurus [ Martin Short voice ] "Wait!" It's Gunnar with an 'a' -- my mistake.
Gents and all, I've been reading a long time here. The other day I read a comment about only drinking as much as life requires. And to hear of news as such... not too long ago it was a young lady in her prime in Belgium. This kinda news too often. I don't know, I guess I've finally been prompted to register and post. Not that I have anything really enlightening to add to conversation but I sure feel that this kinda news really, really sucks and yea, maybe an extra drink is required to appreciate life sometimes. RC