That Time I Nearly Died

I was fairly consistent over January apart from one weekend - what happened was the weather report suggested no wind on a Saturday so I swapped my ride from Friday to Saturday and the wind did the same so I hit the indoor bike instead. Keen not to make the same mistake I ventured into the wind last Friday, almost froze on the bike and scraped myself back home. This week I was treated to a calm, semi-warm ride and was counting my blessings before I came across some other people making the most of the good weather.

The first was on a busy roundabout at Penzance. I was crossing during a lull and encountered a guy who approached the junction at full speed and slammed his brakes on just in time to miss my front wheel. He should have been checking for cars anyway so had no excuse for pulling out like he did and almost had a human milkshake to explain to the children in his car.

Lo and behold, on my 28th mile, I came to an easily sighted junction that joined the road I was travelling on. One car crossed my road in front of me and one pulled out of the junction as both realised they had plenty of time to do so. Another car at the junction hesitated big time and went to pull out as I was almost in front of her, again slamming on her brakes just in time. 

What really struck me about both of these incidents is that I went to put my hand up to both which would have looked like an apology, however neither saw this because they both looked away as quickly as possible in embarrassment. I know this all sounds a bit preachy but I will admit, as a driver, cyclists can be annoying. They're slow, can be unpredictable and take time to pass on the road. That said, both of these drivers had to wait less than five seconds before I was out of the way and they could carry on. Five seconds! Is my life really worth less than that? Actually, don't answer that. It doesn't take much to allow cyclists a bit of courtesy, especially since they're possibly building up mileage and therefore knackered.

The good news is that I didn't die; this isn't some American Beauty style post with a big twist. Also, training is still going well.