On Monday, in the short moment between jamming on my brakes and hitting the floor a great many thoughts passed through my mind:
- I am about to have a crash
- It can't be more than three months since my last crash: bad luck? or bad cycling?
- My brakes are rubbish, I should have sorted them out weeks ago
- I wonder whether I will be injured when I hit the ground?
- I wonder whether the dog will be injured when I hit the dog?
- After I have hit the dog, and I am on the ground, very possibly injured, will the dog, very probably angry, take the opportunity to bite me?
- After I have hit the dog, and I am on the ground, very possibly injured, will the dog's owner, very probably angry, take the opportunity to bite me?
It was a large, reddish deaf dog, with two large dog-friends. The other two had heeded my bell and swerved away to avoid collision, but the third veered directly into my path. I did brake hard, and can't have been going very fast when I hit it for it yelped, loudly, and then it ran off. Swiftly but gingerly, I picked myself up off the path and got to my feet.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see the beast's owner running toward me; so I leapt smartly back on to my bike - time enough to look for grazes later - and pedalled away.
As I escaped I heard, behind me, the breathless owner yell at me: 'Sorry!'
3 comments:
Ouch ouch Botogol! That must have really hurt - speaking for the dog;-) Hope you’re okay. Keep going! You’ll get it right when you’re fifty I think;-) This one is for you:-) Have a nice day!
PICK YOURSELF UP
From the Film: Swing Time 1936
(Lyrics by: Dorothy Fields / Music by: Jerome Kern)
Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
(He)
Please teacher, teach me something,
Nice teacher, teach me something.
I'm as awkward as a camel, that's not the worst,
My two feet haven't met yet,
But I'll be teacher's pet yet,
'Cause I'm gonna learn to dance or burst.
(She)
Nothing's impossible I have found,
For when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up,
Dust myself off,
Start All over again.
Don't lose your confidence if you slip,
Be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
Work like a soul inspired,
Till the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you'll be a man, my son!
Will you remember the famous men,
Who had to fall to rise again?
So take a deep breath,
Pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
(He)
I'll get some self assurance
If your endurance is great.
I'll learn by easy stages
If you're courageous and wait.
To feel the strength I want to,
I must hang on to your hand,
Maybe by the time I'm fifty
I'll get up and do a nifty.
(Both)
Nothing's impossible I have found,
For when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up,
Dust myself off,
Start all over again.
Don't lose your confidence if you slip,
Be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
Work like a soul inspired,
Till the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you'll be a man, my son!
Will you remember the famous men,
Who had to fall to rise again?
So take a deep breath,
Pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
Me thinks this Dog/Cycle incident was deja vue, n'est pas Botogol? ;-) Last time you must have been bitten...so this time you hit and run (well cycled). I hope that Dog was OK!
the truth will out - it was not my first two-wheeled encounter with a dog - but it is the first time I have hit one.
A year or two a go a much smaller dog ran out from nowhere and chased me, when I slowed down a little it bit my foot... while I was pedalling! It must have wanted very badly to bite me.
This dog was calmer, luckily, I have been search google images and I think it was some class of mastiff. Not the sort of beast you normally want to mow down, while wearing lycra.
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