Luck and biker instincts

[madbikeboy]

I had a horrible experience this afternoon, or more accurately, this evening as I was coming home. I was heading home from Parnell, and I went straight through a roundabout instead of turning left to head up my street so I could turn into the gas station and check tire pressures.

There was a jogger, a woman, fit, slim, and she was heading across the road, obliquely, facing me. I had my lights on, but as I approached her, I suddenly got a bad feeling and hit the brakes, biker instinct and nothing else.

So, instead of looking back to her right to see the road was clear, she ran even harder, and looked down at her feet. So, she stepped out right in front of me, with about 6-8 feet to go. I was already braking, and she looked up, and – this is the truly awful bit, she tripped and fell directly in front of the Mini. I came to a stop, I didn’t feel an impact, and the car behind me ended up screeching to a stop, luckily he managed to avoid hitting me... I pulled off my belt, and did the mental preparation, and as I opened the door, she put her hand on the bonnet, and started to get up.

Turns out I didn’t hit her, but stopped about a foot from her.

She was cut up and grazed, and she was shaking like you wouldn’t believe, and she burst into tears, and started to apologise. I ended up sitting on the side of the road with her for a few minutes, and some other people who had witnessed it couldn’t believe her luck, or that I had managed to stop in time.


Such a close call – I think that was the best piece of driving I have ever done, and I’m sure that it was only the biker instinct that saved her from me running her over…

[Mikkel]

The gut feeling is something that should never been ignored!

[Blatman]

Well done! I like to pick up chicks too, but not in pieces :rolleyes:

[gijoe1313]

yep, biker instincts at play there ... well done MBB and at least you aren't going through the process if you did actually hit her! :pinch:

[Taz]

So was she hot?

[Ixion]

Give y'r spidey an extra fly tonight.

[madbikeboy]

Yeah, we were both really shaken. She was literally in hysterics and hyperventilating for a minute or two.

Sooooo close.

Ironically, on Scoot, I would have had enough room to ride around her easily, but the traffic islands that were supposed to be for pedestrian safety meant that I had no room to move...

[madbikeboy]

One more thought hit me about 20 minutes ago, if I had been driving the other car, an Alfa with more frontal overhang by about a foot, instead of the mini with no overhang - I would have hit her...

[SixPackBack]

What happened after you shagged her:cool:.......you did shag her?

[fireliv]

You really just get that feeling sometime, a classic case of listening to it paying off. Glad she wasnt hurt and you aint bearing the guilt of running someone over (not that it would have been your fault)

[gijoe1313]

As was mentioned before, you got her phone number right? ... and this thread is useless without pics! :msn-wink:

[jrandom]

Bears out the wisdom of the words of an old colleague of mine: "Running is for emergencies".

So I hope you talked her into getting a bicycle.

And well done with the instincts and reflexes.

[madbikeboy]

She was your sister, your girlfriend, your daughter - not someone who was getting rated. Too close a call to take the mickey for me tonight. Jesus, I hate driving.

[jrandom]

...you did shag her?

Have you met MBB's missus?

I doubt the runner was much temptation.

[SixPackBack]

Have you met MBB's missus?

I doubt the runner was much temptation.

Huh?.......sweety and cryin miss jogger was easy meat...........c'mon Dan being Kaptaine sensible is not like you:baby:

[Headbanger]

You drive a mini? :confused:

[CookMySock]

Good save, mate. Thats a bad fright. Poor thing, her.

I submit that its easy to think we can read minds and predict the future, where the reality is that is impossible, so whatever it was that alarmed you is finely tuned.

Steve

[Mikkel]

You drive a mini? :confused:

Well, I guess hairdressing can be a hobby too :devil2:

(that is of course provided it's one of the new minis...)

[madbikeboy]

You drive a mini? :confused:

Okay, the Mini is the best kept secret. You can drive using almost the same lines and braking points as a bike, it's small, you can fit it anywhere, (I work in town), it doesn't use gas or tires - I've owned all sorts of shit over the years, from fast Audi's to Alfas, Holdens to MR2's. The Mini's are good fun, this is the second one I've owned.

[MsKABC]

You can drive using almost the same lines and braking points as a bike, it's small, you can fit it anywhere, (I work in town), it doesn't use gas or tires

And when it runs out of gas, you can just pop it in your pocket and walk to the next gas station :niceone:

Hey, good save with the jogger. :) Being a biker certainly does fine tune road instincts, of that I'm convinced.

[awayatc]

And when it runs out of gas, you can just pop it in your pocket and walk to the next gas station :niceone:

.


It has seat belts....so you can wear it like a backpack....

Good save!

[madbikeboy]

And when it runs out of gas, you can just pop it in your pocket and walk to the next gas station :niceone:

Hey, good save with the jogger. :) Being a biker certainly does fine tune road instincts, of that I'm convinced.

You actually need a pair of them, you stand with one foot on either roof, and use them as rollerskates...

Yep, I reckon bikers, with some exceptions, make the best drivers...

[MsKABC]

You actually need a pair of them, you stand with one foot on either roof, and use them as rollerskates...

Yep, I reckon bikers, with some exceptions, make the best drivers...

This is probably wildly inappropriate, given the subject matter of almost running pedestrians over, but what the hell...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GR1tUzd-ro

Actually, it reminds me of the time when I was at school that the rugby boys picked up the deputy principal's mini and put it in the seventh form common room just before school assembly one day. A request was then made at assembly for the owner of a light blue mini to please remove it from the common room. He actually took the joke really well!

Damn it, now you've made me want to go and buy a mini.... :lol:

[vifferman]

Good work, MBB!
I doubt that it was biker instincts so much as the observational skills and general awareness you have to develop if you want to stay alive on a bike.
You probably intuitively decided (without being conscious of it) that her movements signalled that she wasn't aware of you and had decided to go straight across the road without pausing. This triggered an "Uh-oh - something's not right here!" kind of reflex. Good work acting on it - it's easy to go the other way and think your way out of it.

[Dave-]

good shit mate ,I know what you're talking about, you get that creepy feeling, you've checked out plenty of lycra clad jogging women in the passed but this one feels different? this one doesnt move blood like the others do...

personally I've had a number of times where I've done something out of character while riding that has lead to me not dying.

coming home from a BBQ a bit out of town (would've been 9 or 10 oclock) I was heading down a straight road, lights on, 2 big trucks and a car were coming towards me in the other lane, as soon as I saw the car I thought "he's gonna pull out and pass the trucks without seeing me" so I moved to the left side of my lane in preperation for it, he pulls out, I flash my lights and toot my horn, I ride off the road onto the grit at 70-80kph (oh yeah I slowed down too) car goes screaming by like a pod racer (boy racer) and I carry on, how I didnt get clipped by the car, how I didn't hit a cyclist, a road sign, a marker, or a patch of looser gravel, a bottle or something is beyond me...devine intervention?...doubt it

going around corners I'll opt for a different line without thinking, as I'm in the corner I'll see a dead possum (or some other hazard) right where I would've been if I'd taken the corner how I usually do (in my defense I'd have been able to dodge it but it'd be hairy...or furry? lol)

police too

and i talked to my mum about it (as you do after a near death experience, which ironicly led to my mum nearly having a near death experience bought on by worry) and she said I've always had strange instinct, seeing things before they happen, I figure it to be luck, I've never won a competition or lotto so surviving is a welcome trade off.

there's been 7 times where it hasn't kicked in, so it's not full proof and sure as fuck doesn't make me invincible.

[Burtha]

Mini's are the bees knees - I have one too - and good instincts matie!
I think she owes you dinner for sure.
Congrats on intuitive driving skills. :niceone:

[madbikeboy]

personally I've had a number of times where I've done something out of character while riding that has lead to me not dying.


there's been 7 times where it hasn't kicked in, so it's not full proof and sure as fuck doesn't make me invincible.

I'm a big believer in gut feel, and to be honest, I always listen to my gut and I react based on that alone. It's saved me more times than I can count.

[saltydog]

I'm a big believer in gut feel, and to be honest, I always listen to my gut and I react based on that alone. It's saved me more times than I can count.

Woman are always going on about 'female intuition' (espicially when accusing you of having an affair or 'leaving the stove on')
This must be a case of male intuition.....I just knew it.
Well done MMB....sphincter clenching stuff indeed!

[vifferman]

I reckon bikers, with some exceptions, make the best drivers...
Speaking of which....
My wife mostly buses to work, and because of this, she rarely drives (except on weekends).
Usually, I drive when we're in the car together, and have had 'lots of fun' with me noticing potential hazards, assessing and dismissing them, only to seconds later have the vifferbabe notice, react, and freak me out because her reaction led me to believe there was some new unnoticed hazard.

However, my back is currently 'ted, so I've been demoted to co-pilot, and she's had to re-acquaint herself with spotting hazards from the driver's seat. She got caught out a couple of times on the weekend (thankfully, without consequence) with cars disappearing into the blind spot, not noticing hazards, not planning ahead for lane changes and then not being able to change lanes.

Bus passengers make the worst drivers?

[MsKABC]

Bus passengers make the worst drivers?

Nah mate, bus drivers do.... :whistle:

[Headbanger]

Okay, the Mini is the best kept secret. You can drive using almost the same lines and braking points as a bike, it's small, you can fit it anywhere, (I work in town), it doesn't use gas or tires - I've owned all sorts of shit over the years, from fast Audi's to Alfas, Holdens to MR2's. The Mini's are good fun, this is the second one I've owned.

Yeah mate, I wasn't knocking your car, Just figured I'd ask ya about getting me hair cut.:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

[madbikeboy]

Yeah mate, I wasn't knocking your car, Just figured I'd ask ya about getting me hair cut.:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

My friends are watching me closely, if I start wearing pink shirts, or if I start being able to tell differences between shades of pink, then I'll be going on a man course, complete with a V8, beer drinking, woman chasing, and hours of rugby watching.

Mini + blower + mods = fun. Like owning a GSXR600, except much slower, and less wet during rain.

[jaymzw]

My friends are watching me closely, if I start wearing pink shirts, or if I start being able to tell differences between shades of pink,

My personal fav is coral,

It looks just delicious with my great leather pants :gob:

[madbikeboy]

My personal fav is coral,

It looks just delicious with my great leather pants :gob:

Son, you're now enrolled in the Man Course.

Meet at the Tui Glen, make sure you prepared by bring a dead sheep or deer and drape it over your shoulders.

[Mikkel]

Real men don't do courses ffs. We know all there is to know already! :headbang:

(sometimes we forget though... e.g. that if you haven't headbanged for a few years you should probably ease into it :rolleyes:)

[Brett]

I had a horrible experience this afternoon, or more accurately, this evening as I was coming home. I was heading home from Parnell, and I went straight through a roundabout instead of turning left to head up my street so I could turn into the gas station and check tire pressures.

There was a jogger, a woman, fit, slim, and she was heading across the road, obliquely, facing me. I had my lights on, but as I approached her, I suddenly got a bad feeling and hit the brakes, biker instinct and nothing else.

So, instead of looking back to her right to see the road was clear, she ran even harder, and looked down at her feet. So, she stepped out right in front of me, with about 6-8 feet to go. I was already braking, and she looked up, and – this is the truly awful bit, she tripped and fell directly in front of the Mini. I came to a stop, I didn’t feel an impact, and the car behind me ended up screeching to a stop, luckily he managed to avoid hitting me... I pulled off my belt, and did the mental preparation, and as I opened the door, she put her hand on the bonnet, and started to get up.

Turns out I didn’t hit her, but stopped about a foot from her.

She was cut up and grazed, and she was shaking like you wouldn’t believe, and she burst into tears, and started to apologise. I ended up sitting on the side of the road with her for a few minutes, and some other people who had witnessed it couldn’t believe her luck, or that I had managed to stop in time.


Such a close call – I think that was the best piece of driving I have ever done, and I’m sure that it was only the biker instinct that saved her from me running her over…

I have to spread more bling around before I can give you some, but good work! You undoubtedly saved that women a lot of time in the hostpital or worse.

[Brett]

[QUOTE=vifferman;2036065]

Usually, I drive when we're in the car together, and have had 'lots of fun' with me noticing potential hazards, assessing and dismissing them, only to seconds later have the vifferbabe notice, react, and freak me out because her reaction led me to believe there was some new unnoticed hazard.
QUOTE]

Shit, so I am not the only one who gets that...the sudden 'watch out' makes me freak out like I missed something and am about to kill us both when it is merely something I noticed a bit before her and have assessed and judged to be fine. puts the shits up me.

[Swoop]

Nah mate, bus drivers do.... :whistle:
The Taxi driver should be considered in this statement...:whistle::ar15:

[MsKABC]

The Taxi driver should be considered in this statement...:whistle::ar15:

Yep, taxi drivers are right up there too. A Welly one nearly killed me one day by running a red light. Then he got shit-faced because I refused to pay him! :lol: