To the woman who is so darn concerned with sidewalk safety: Thank you for stopping next to me and my bike. Seriously, thank you sooooo much for glaring at me as you spit out, “You know, you’re not supposed to have your bikes on the sidewalk.”
If you stopped for a minute and actually looked, maybe you’d notice the blood streaming from my hands and knees, and the concerned pedestrians around me?? Maybe you’d realize that yeah, it WASN’T MY IDEA TO BE ON THE SIDEWALK EITHER. My brakes failed while going down a hill, forcing me to bail to the side and avoid crashing into a car or killing myself.
Maybe next time take a minute to look around, and ask a question or two before you make your self-righteous claims. And by the way, if my bike and I are WALKING together, we have as much fucking right to be on the sidewalk as you do. Pompous ass.
Oh, and to the sweet woman who held my bike and the cute biker who offered me his gloves post-crash?? So much love to you. So much. —The Brakeless Bitcher
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2012.
Was this your first day on a bike? Why wouldn’t you use your foot on the back tire, jamming it between the tire and the frame? That way, you wouldn’t have ripped up your hands and knees, also, not depositing you on the sidewalk. Also, using both of your feet on the road makes good use of friction, slowing your momentum.
Bikes are pretty simple machines, how the fuck did you manage to get one with ‘faulty’ brakes? Seriously? Great, now I’m like the regulars who crap on a Bitcher for their own obvious stupidity.
http://bicycling.about.com/od/allaboutyour…
I sympathize.
Bailing is the lesser of the shitty evils.
Good, Good, Young Skycranker. Come to the Dark Side of the Bitch:
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/178…
That sucks OP. I hope you are ok.
Exactly what do you mean by “my brakes failed ” ?
Did something mechanical break ?
like a brake cable ?
&
Don’t bikes today have 2 in case one fails ?
Or did the shoes or spring mechanism let go ?
Which brings me back to ….bikes have 2 sets of them, so you have a back up.
Or is your bike a mechanical P.O.S. & you don’t maintain it & the whole damn thing is your fault !
Tell me again why we should give a shit if yer to busy/lazy to maintain you bike ?
I used to bike extensively when I was younger & have had tires blow out, which can happen to even new tires. Had brake cables snap unexpectedly, but there was the other set.
Had chains break, even had the quick change lugs on my front tire back off on bike ride from Dartmouth to Annapolis valley.
But until today I have never heard of anyone losing both brake systems at the same time.
More, It’s obviously one of those old-school hipster bikes; Half rust, have antique.
Probably the reverse pedal brakes too, not cable. They makes you look like a Granola when riding one, and makes your hands look like Granola when they fail.
the op fell and hurt herself, shouldn’t matter why, one person was a set, the rest were helpful
Real hipsters buy bikes without brakes, or take them off if they have them. The cutie on the bike wanted into her american apparels, why else would someone offer gloves AFTER a crash…
Hope you’re OK, OB. I’ve had the same issue. Mine was when a cable snapped when going down Blowers towards a rush hour Barrington on a rainy day. It was pretty intense. No matter how on top of maintenance you stay, there is always the potential for mechanical failure. It happens. Again, glad you’re OK.
It’s always nice that in times of need people will pull their car over and say things like “You know, you’re not supposed to have your bicycle on the sidewalk!” and what’s all this obsession with her brakes from the peanut gallery? He was going downhill, her brakes malfunctioned in some manner and to avoid hitting a car, she crash landed on the sidewalk.
Give her a break, some of you are as bad as the lady in the car.
Now if only bikes were like normal transportation, taxed and licensed and insured up the haemorrhoids, the dilwanker would’ve failed her bi-annual MVI inspection, brakes would’ve been attended to and she wouldn’t have minged on the sidewalk.
I DEMAND another level of bureaucracy, we DO NOT have enough Government in our lives!
speaking of which – what a career ender is being transferred to the Uber Shithole Glace Bay/New Waterford/Sydney as a Maintenance Enforcement dude. The NDP are sharing the spoils by sending normal people to abnormal places. Pass the Oxy/Dulatin.
i have said this a million times before, they should have safety inspections for fucking bikes too. maybe then, all these idiots will be safer for them, and us walking people.
I’ve biked all my life and I’ve never heard of shoving my foot in the back wheel to brake. Not saying it’s impossible, but that it sounds like some high level ninja shit.
Sometimes these types of things happen so fast there’s no time to think. Once I was biking along and something I was carrying got sucked into the front wheel and I was up and over the handlebar and on the ground and it was over before I even had time to comprehend what was going on. Thankfully the most I suffered was a bruised ego.
Or for a rather spectacular accident, in three words;
shoelaces, pedal axle.
The traditional “thin racing wheel meets lined-up sewer grate” also tends towards causing nice dives.
Correct me if I’m wrong here…
but if one cable snaps, don’t you still have the other brake to stop?
there are two brakes and thus two cables, accordingly…
again unless you’re riding some shitty 10 year old’s ‘pedal brake’ bike because apparently you either can’t figure out how to use the two grips on the handlebars…
or haven’t learned how to squeeze yet.
You’re lying op.
You were driving on the sidewalk. You write with the indignation of someone who knows they did something stupid and is telling a boldfaced lie in order not to look like a douche.
Stay off the sidewalk.
And by the way if your story is actually true, which i highly doubt, you really should learn more about the vehicle you’re piloting. “Failed breaks” don’t just happen willy nilly.