Was following another rider through the Meadows – up ahead in the cycle lane a couple of cars were over the line and indicating to turn left. A gap opened in front of a van and the rider in front of me nipped down it to filter on the right. I was doing the same thing, something I’ve done a million times before. Unlike him I thought I’d do it safely, and as I moved into the gap checked over my right shoulder to make sure no-one else was coming up the side of the van. Just as I turned to look the car ahead of the van braked cos of the traffic ahead, except I was checking behind me so didn’t see it till the last minute. I swerved, but not by enough and clipped the rear driver’s side. Went straight over the top of the bars at 15-20mph.
The driver was an utter gent. With me in a heap he was already out the door checking I was okay. He pointed out he was a cyclist as well and filters like that too. I checked for damage to his car, but there was none. Well, I saw a small scratch that might have been me, which I pointed out to him, but he was fine about it. He then proved he was a cyclist by asking if the bike was okay. The wheels seemed to spin fine, so I was off again (he let me go first).
Left knee took a big knock and I’ll be feeling that for a couple of days, and took some skin off a couple of fingers. Other than that I managed to land on my head, so no danger of any lasting damage there. In fact I landed on my little headcam, which is still working perfectly. The bike, checked over at work, has not scuff nor scratch. So the only damage is some superficial scrapes on me, and a mortally wounded pride.
Entirely my fault, 100%, no doubt, but I’ve got away with it, and got lucky with the driver of the car being a nice bloke. Bit of a wake up call to getting a bit too confident in traffic!
There IS a video, which I might get online this morning. Worth it just to highlight how good the driver was.
posts
