You know there's a major campaign right now against plastic bags? Well they're fighting back. Twice in one day I was attacked by a plastic bag while out cycling. Not the same plastic bag, obviously -- that would be too Doctor Who for words. Different location, different times, different bikes. But same menace.
The first came as I rode my wife's commuting bike past a builder's skip and a five-yard tendril of bubble-wrap came looping out and tried to strangle me. I batted it off and it attempted to wrap itself round the front wheel instead. My wife's machine -- a bit like a Dutch-bike in design -- shrugged it off but it was a nasty moment.
Then, heading back from a run to Richmond Park, I spotted a huge, blue plastic bag in the middle of the road. It didn't move until I was about six feet from it, then it suddenly leaped across the road and enveloped me and my bike. In the space it took me to stop, it had become entangled in the rear wheel, the cassette, the right hand quick-release, the back brakes, the chainring and the left-hand pedal.
Much to the amusement of a nearby bus queue, it took me ten minutes to remove the blue monstrosity -- at one point I had to take off the back wheel and hang the rest of the bike on the fence while I pulled and struggled.
Two attacks in one day. Coincidence? I think not.
2 comments:
Just stumbled into your blog and enjoying it! So what's the status with your trip to Roubaix? Are you planning for 2010? I'm thinking of making the trip myself.
Thanks. Not much happening blog-wise at the moment -- I'm in Sweden and not with a reliable broadband connection.
I'm supposed to be doing Roubaix in 2008 -- but work and house move pressures are making my training pretty erratic at the moment.
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