It’s a tremendous sensation when you roll down a steep slope with literally no control on the bike. All you know is you have the disc brakes to protect you and that there’s no traffic coming head on. But for the whizzing sound of the wind cutting across your helmet and the wheels slicing through the mist you have just nothing for company. And then…THUD!!!!
The next moment, I realise I’m on my way down to hug the ground. The handle swirls across and as my 65kg body floats up in the air. I instinctively stretch my hands reaching out for my head, as I see the ground close approaching. Just moments before, it was the wheels that was rolling down the slope. Now its me! My gloves protect my palms from getting scraped and the helmet my head.
The human brain is just stupendous. In split nano seconds it takes snapshots of the accident and the analytical part tries to figure out what the cause of the brutal fall could have been. Well, that was one good news. Not that I knew the reason why I was on the ground instead of on the saddle, but because I at least knew my head was safe! I was thinking, I was analysing and damn I was enjoying it - In fact relishing every moment of it!
Back to my real holistic senses, I put up a smile on my face, rise from the ground and limp back to my bike and as I head back it looms on me why I had that heavenly experience. There was a ridge on the road about half foot wide at the end of the slope and the front wheel couldn’t just bypass it.
There’s a sense of pride when you fall down. And believe me, you need to experience it at least once-More so if you’ve just started riding. My first accident at St.No.8 has left me humbled. From that day, I’ve never taken steep turns, I think thrice before I speed on a city road and I wear my helmet whenever I ride; however short the distance be.
Accidents, I guess are a part and parcel of this sport. It’s not a question of why it happened. Just a question of how dearly you hugged nature :-) !