On Bicycle Safety and Letting Things Go

“Look how he abused me and beat me. How he threw me down and robbed me (and wrecked my bike). Live with such thoughts and you live in hate or abandon such thoughts and live in love.” – the Dhammapada

On July 31, 2009 as I attempted to cross an intersection at which I had the right of way, a dairy truck turned the corner in my direction. I had just enough time to get off my bike before it was crushed under the weight of the truck. I escaped with a minor scratch.

This is the truck that hit my bike. I still see it a couple of times each week:

An hour after the accident, I had my crushed bike and some dairy back at home:

This was my first “real” mountain bike. I had become quite attached to it. I had even made plans to upgrade it’s components in the following months.

It took many months before I finally was able to let the bike go:

It was a lesson in accepting the impermanence of all things.

I got a replacement bike pretty quickly:

 

For many months I seldom rode it.  I had loved biking. It was one of my joys in life. And at the time, I felt like it had been ruined for me.

I was angry at the driver. Angry at the loss of my bike. Angry about having something I enjoyed being “taken” away from me.

I let anger and fear keep me off my bike until one day, I had enough.  I spent an entire morning reading about bicycle safety and the state and local laws at they apply to bicycles.  I thought about the driver and how freaked out he was and how he confided in me that he thought he had killed me when he saw the bike under the truck. I let myself have compassion for him and just decided to let it go.

These two actions brought about a great relief. I wasn’t feeling like a victim any more. I also learned about what actions I could take to ride as safely as possible and what my rights were if something should go wrong again.

I ride with confidence now, and more safely too. For those of you who are interested in riding safely and confidently, this was the best resource that I found:

I am once again a happy, confident, and safe as can be biker:

And don’t worry, this picture was taken in an empty parking lot at low speed.