Yesterday I crashed my bike!
It started the night before when I was about to leave centrum for home after a few joints (of course). I adjusted the tension on the rear brake and the first time I tested it, the cable broke!
I was left with a front brake that has been locking up lately due to the rain/rust meaning I have to reset the cable after each use with my foot.
Anyway I made it home alright and rode back into centrum with no problems yesterday.
That is, until I was one minute away from the bike repair shop. I saw a pink scooter coming the opposite direction and I was beside my friend so I overtook him to leave room on the left of the bike path for the scooter.
But the dumbass scooter rider decided to turn left without indicating. At one point all I saw was the scooter ahead of my bike and we were sure to collide.
But somehow I swerved and me and the bike hit the ground. It turned out that the remaining brake cable also broke (damn old bikes!). Luckily I was OK with only a scraped knee (incredibly my jeans were untouched!) and a bruised shin. My hands were fine and the bike was otherwise undamaged apart from a bent mudguard I bent back into place.
I haggled with an Indian guy in a bike rental shop to replace the cables for 20 Euro. Not bad, all in all.
Be careful on your bike in Amsterdam and don’t take any dumb risks like me!
3 responses so far ↓
1 Toby // Nov 23, 2009 at 4:30 pm
It’s a wonder how that knee-skin tears but the jeans are unscathed.
Scooters are the lesser of the two great evils of Amsterdam traffic: Taxis and scooters.
That’s speaking from the biker perspective obviously.
Someone should make a collection of the great bike crash tales of Amsterdam, everybody has a few.
One thing you may not have seen yet is when the bridges get iced over, and become totally impassable (think: perfect ice shield: the cars and bikes get halfway up, then slide backwards back down again).
Be safe out there!
2 sd@sd.com // Nov 24, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Jammer over je fiets ongeval.
Ik vond je video met de junkie erg grappig. Altijd blijft Amsterdam het zelfde.
3 Chris // Nov 25, 2009 at 9:46 am
Yes I am thinking of getting a scooter myself. The grachts feature deadly bridges the further north you go. Deadly even in the rain, I will avoid them like the plague come winter!
Ik moet heel rustig zijn wanner rijd ik mijn fiets! Ja altijd zeker!
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