A bit of plastic saved my life this morning.

[Headgardener]

Sorted.

Does that say farted on the jacket?

 

[snorri]

I think before anyone gets on a bicycle it should be a legal requirement that they take a drug which will have the effect of limiting the outrageously exagerrated claims they may make about some trivial incident that took place during their cycle trip.

 

[subaqua]

I always carry a hip flask of the finest single malt in my breast pocket for this very purpose.

bad idea. if the hip flask does get damaged you lose good single malt. I suggest cycling top made from armour plating . might not be popular with the weight weenies

 

[ufkacbln]

Go-one!

 

[Fiona N]

I sometimes wonder how strong cycling glasses are when it comes to being hit by a stone. ...

Having seen the Oakley test videos, I'm pretty sure their lenses are strong enough to survive anything which doesn't actually take my head off.

I've also got a pair of Oakleys with a chip in the lens due to flying debris from a passing car (inevitably a speeding BMW). Unlike helmet anecdotes, I think cycling specs anecdotes are convincing - 'if I hadn't been wearing my specs, I'd have lost an eye' as there's not much doubt about the ability of your eye to survive an impact - and always wear protective specs.

 

[skudupnorth]

Once during the winter something hit me hard in the mouth, similarly it was most likely a chunk of grit or stone off the road flicked up by a passing car. Fortunately I was wearing a buff - otherwise it would have almost certainly gone into my mouth, causing me to choke and die whilst swerving all over the road causing an enormous pile up, fire, and eventually the apocolypse.

PMSL !!!

 

[Fiona N]

If you've ever been climbing too late in the day in the Alps, falling stones make an interesting variety of buzzing noises as they spin while travelling at 120 mph past your head.

And I always wear a helmet in the ALps

I know what your brother experienced as a few years ago my brother picked me up from the airport and as we were driving back along the M1, a car passing in the fast lane picked up something of the road surface and our car windscreen intersected it at 70mph leaving a 2 foot hole right through the centre of it - there was a tyre jack handle in the rear seat when we stopped. Ian and I were sprayed with glass chunks but otherwise unmarked

Short of a serac falling on my footsteps immediately after I passed, I think this is the closest to death I'd come at the time (later superceded by being swept up on the front bumper of a truck and trundled down the road).

 

[yello]

What's a "serac"? Other than something that kills you if it falls on you sort of thing.

Last week, I was riding some long hilly climbs in the Vercors region of France where there was a very real danger of falling rocks etc. They were probably more of a hazard on the road surface in reality (making descents less than full throttle too) but I wouldn't have wanted to be sconed (or is it sconned?) by one either.

 

[Fiona N]

What's a "serac"? Other than something that kills you if it falls on you sort of thing.

...

A large chunk of ice basically - usually formed where a glacier descends a steep section of terrain and the ice breaks into huge blocks over the lip of the drop and then reassembles at the bottom. Given that the whole glacier is trundling downhill, it's obvious that the seracs will fall over at some stage so if you have to climb around them you do it as quick as possible, preferably at night (everything frozen as far as possible).

 

[yello]

Wow! You live and learn. I'm not sure what the likelihood is of me ever hearing/reading that word again, let alone using it, but should that occasion arise I am now prepared!

But, yes, I think it'd be pretty darn spooky to have something that would undoubtedly splat you dead land just where you were but a few moments ago!

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

Descending into a valley one day I passed a truck at speed and felt a small ping on my chest.

Upon returning home and retrieving the pocket-sized edition of God Delusion from my breast pocket I found a sharp stone embedded all the way into chapter seven. Of course he would deny it but I now worship Dawkins as a god.

 

[Hip Priest]

I was riding the other day and felt something hit my shoulder. I thought someone had chucked something at me, but I looked back and it was a piece of toast with a small hole in it, dropped from above by an over-ambitious bird.