I looked round. There was my bike, with its wheels splayed out, being crushed by the balance beam of the lift bridge. I was still pressing the "open" button, and Serendipity was moments away. What should I do? If I stopped lifting the bridge Serendipity could crash into it. If I didn't stop lifting the bridge my bike would be wrecked.
In the fraction of a second that it takes to process these thoughts, that fraction of a second which seems much longer, I noticed the driver of the first car in the queue for the bridge just watching my bike submitting to the pressure of the bridge. Did he not see it about to happen? Could he not have warned me by sounding his horn or something?
Thinking "boat before bike" - any damage to the boat will cost hundreds of pounds to fix; I need a new bike anyway and this will force me to get one - my finger lingered on the button. My bike complained some more. Then the bridge stopped opening. A sensor must have detected an obstruction, as the bridge wasn't fully up. Serendipity continued through, its steerer unaware of the drama taking place.
We'd been following Serendipity through the last few locks and lift bridges on the LLangollen Canal; I'd cycled on ahead to set Wrenbury Lift Bridge for the steerer as she was single handed. I lowered the bridge and walked round to inspect my bike before opening the barrier to let the road traffic (grrr) through. Grrr again. The driver, the one who must have seen what was going on and did nothing about it, ignored me, and drove off across the bridge as soon as I opened the barrier.
Yes, I'd been stupid to lean the bike up against the fence, in the area hatched in white on the ground, under a notice warning pedestrians to keep clear (you can see the edge of the sign in the photo). But it didn't say anything about bicycles! I had no idea there was almost no clearance between the balance beam and the fence, and I just hadn't considered that there might be an extremely heavy weight coming down almost to ground level - certainly beyond bike level - as the bridge came up. I'll certainly be more circumspect when operating an electrically assisted bridge in the future.
I wheeled the bike to a safer place and waited for Shadow to come through. I was concerned for the bridge: would it work properly after its recent pressing into service as a bike crusher? Thankfully there were no problems.
My bike, amazingly, seemed to have suffered no damage beyond the saddle, but that was a mess. The innards of the gel saddle cover were spilling out. Yuk. The wheels seemed still to be approximately circular and pointing the right way, so I cleaned up the remains of the saddle and tried riding it. It worked! But the ride is now less than comfortable as the saddle is somewhat deformed. Oh well, it could have been worse.
5 comments:
Oh dear what an awful experience, and a warning to us all. Now will you be getting a new bike or make do with a new saddle?
Alan, it's really time for a new bike as the current one doesn't owe me anything. I've had it for more than a quarter of a century, did about 40,000 miles on it in its first 15 years and it's almost complete wreck. But it still goes, just, and so I continue to "make do".
I have replaced the saddle.
Poor old bike! I didn't deseerve to go that way, so I'm glad you've revived it. Still 40,000 miles is a good track record for any bike, so when you finally pension it off, it will have deserved its retitrement.
You should buy a mountain bike for off road and keep your existing bike for on road. That way you can feel comfortable and justify a new bike. We are the last generation that finds it difficult to replace old things that are still working, but hopefully this attitude may return.
Alan, my brother recently bought a Dahon folding bike which he takes with him when boating. I'm thinking I should perhaps do the same. It's a lot easier to put in the car than my present bike.
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