Giving bent riders a bad name

[Gumbo Robot]

Was it Steve Abraham? 3 months and 17000 miles into his attempt to beat Tommy Godwin's 1939 record of cycling over 75000 miles in a year, he has suffered a serious setback when a careless moped rider knocked him off his velocipede, breaking his ankle. He's had it pinned, and is going to carry on on an adapted trike until his ankle is recovered.

75000 miles in a year, that's 205 miles a day.

And I thought I was doing well with 100 miles a week during January

[BrilloPad]

Like most of the rest of us.

opinions are like arseholes....

[Doggy Styles]

No kidding.

Good riddance, formulaic, not funny, very rarely even mildly interesting to read.

Like most of the rest of us.

[TykeMerc]

I think most of us had enough of this sockie many years ago.

No kidding.

Good riddance, formulaic, not funny, very rarely even mildly interesting to read.

[Sausage Surprise]

So, one minute I'm walking down a drumway rocking out to Walk in the Park by the Nick Stroker Band...



....

Nick Straker Band IIRC

[Gumbo Robot]

[Dactylion]

I think we've most of us had enough of this sockie many years ago.

ftfy

[mudskipper]

I think we've had enough of this sockie.

[Bunk]

I think we've had enough of this sockie.

[cojak]

I think we've had enough of this sockie.

[mudskipper]

Was it Steve Abraham? 3 months and 17000 miles into his attempt to beat Tommy Godwin's 1939 record of cycling over 75000 miles in a year, he has suffered a serious setback when a careless moped rider knocked him off his velocipede, breaking his ankle. He's had it pinned, and is going to carry on on an adapted trike until his ankle is recovered.

[gricerboy]

So, one minute I'm walking down a drumway rocking out to Walk in the Park by the Nick Stroker Band...

A walk in the park, a step in the dark

...the next I find I've taken taking a step in the dark of a very different kind. Right into a pile of dog dirt, I regret to say.

So, what happened in the intervening seconds to find me in this fulsome situation?

Well, in the first instant I was aware of hearing an aggressive trill! trill! over the music in my headphones and then a flash of yellow followed by an array of multicoloured plumage fluttering in the wake of the object that sailed past at breakneck speed.

An early exotic avian visitor perhaps? One of those Himalayan parakeets?

No, somebody on a 'bent waterproofed to the nines with more pennantry than I'd consider tasteful adorning the flagpole on the back of his bike.

Now, I'm a 'bent rider myself and I'm not normally one for altercations but in this occasion, altercate was what I was going to do as this selfish individual had just caused me to foul my new retro Clarks "cornish pastie" shoes.

But as I caught up with him waiting to join the traffic at the end of the path, I noticed that he was propelling himself by rotating what looked like the wheel from a Singer sewing machine. It turned out he no longer had use of his legs and this was his only available form of propulsion so I rather cravenly backed down from my planned confrontation.

Now I can't help wondering if I was right to let him get away with this. There are signs at both ends clearly stating that cycling is forbidden. I mean, couldn't he have taken the long way around? Or is he really any different to the invalid carriage users that one sees on the path all the time?

Your thoughts please....