I went for a ride up the river north of York this afternoon. There’s one of the national cycle routes along the river which is quite nice to ride on… until it dissappeared underwater.
It’s rained lots, and a bridge over a small creek near the river was only just above the water level at one end… but dissappeared under it half way across. Not only that but the path for a distance after that was also underwater.
I pondered it for a while… well, I’m on a muni… it’s probably not very deep… basically it all came down to “Are you feeling lucky, punk?”
And the answer was… no. I chickened out and turned round. While the water may have been very shallow, the metal bridge was very slippy (when dismounting I nearly dropped the uni over the side into the brown water…) and I didn’t think cycling back while covered in muddy water was worth the risk!
Not far from where I live, there is a wall which acts as a retaining wall - it is only 2 metres high on one side, and 5 metres on the other. On the low side, there is a busy main road, and on the high side, there is a back yard where there are three unchained Rottweillers. The top of the wall is castellated, and quite mossy.
I have never ridden along this as it’s dangerous.
Do any other writers have fascinating stories of things they haven’t done?
The wall is of course entirely fictitious, a product of my deceased mind generated for the purpose of ribbing a fellow unicyclist.
As it happened, Muggins here did fall off a wall only yesterday - a wall only about a foot high. I came to a 45 degree bend in the wall, mistimed the turn, the tyre slipped and I fell, landing with half my weight on my sternum on the top of the wall, and half on my right wrist which is now out of action for a few days. Fellow batchelors will know how frustrating this injury can be.
Anyway. My pseudo-point was, in an extremely vague and round-the-houses way, wondering whether anyone else would have just charged straight through said flood. How easy is water with mud at the bottom to cycle through?
I realise you, Monsieur Fule, would laugh at such a piddly depth with your coker monstrosity and charge through at approaching light speed, but us nearer the ground 24" riders, especially ones like me, really don’t want to cycle through the middle of York while dripping and covered in mud…
This happened to me once, I was just coming back from a night-ride, had just come down a very big hill that I had absolutely no chance of riding up. I had a train to catch to get home.
So I get to the bottom of the hill and head to the bridge over the river, only to find that it’s flooded about 5 or ten feet either side of the bridge. Now I was ten minutes ride from the train station over the bridge, or about an hour if I rode back the other way, so I didn’t really have much choice. I looked at it and thought it didn’t look too deep, rode into it, la di la di la no problems I’m thinking when suddenly it drops about a foot down and I’m standing in water right the way up my legs. The same on the other side, although I was expecting it so I think I just walked that bit. I was one very wet bunny that night.
> The wall is of course entirely fictitious, a product of my deceased mind
Unicyclists really are brain-dead?!
> generated for the purpose of ribbing a fellow unicyclist.
>
> As it happened, Muggins here did fall off a wall only yesterday - a wall
> only about a foot high. I came to a 45 degree bend in the wall,
> mistimed the turn, the tire slipped and I fell, landing with half my
> weight on my sternum on the top of the wall, and half on my right wrist
> which is now out of action for a few days. Fellow bachelors will know
> how frustrating this injury can be.
>
> Undoing jam jar lids and that, I mean.
I’ve never heard it called that before. Brits are weird.
> Anyway. My pseudo-point was, in an extremely vague and round-the-houses
> way, wondering whether anyone else would have just charged straight
> through said flood. How easy is water with mud at the bottom to cycle
> through?
Of course they would, mountain unicyclists are insane.
If I can be totally serious for a moment, I have far too much respect for the power of moving water to do that. I have done scuba diving, boating and white water canoeing. I deal with insurance claims for a living and have had to assess claims for flood damage. I know how much damage fast moving water can do.
As I write, storms are lashing much of the UK, and many rivers are up. Please, everyone, do NOT be tempted to test your riding skills against deep or moving water. You might die very suddenly.
I’ve got a story that ties in with this i guess. I’ve just been out riding, and was on the sea wall in Southport trying to psyche myself up to do a gap, maybe only 3-4 feet, dropping onto something say a foot lower. No problem, normally. However, as Mikefule has pointed out, storms are indeed lashing the UK, and gale force winds were forecast for my area, so it was too unpredictable as the steadily strong wind coming straight off the sea took great pleasure in gusting VERY strong occasionaly, causing me to struggle at times to stay standing. OH well, i’ll save it for a quieter day.
BUT the consolation was that a photographer from a local newspaper turned up and got some pics of me, just doin lame stuff like riding on a section of pavement in a straight line, which was really hard given the wind, and goin up and down the sea wall.
Just my little bit, cya
