I took a friend of mine out for a blast on the back of my RSVR on Saturday. He'd never ridden pillion before and had never been on any two-wheelers with anywhere close to the BHP of the Aprilia. It was slightly challenging at times because I could really feel the added weight (much more so than when my wife is on the back) and to begin with, he was instinctively trying to keep himself upright when I leant the bike over, making the handling a little unpredictable. Anyway, he eased into it and it was a great ride overall. He really enjoyed it, even though he was pooing his pants slightly and he held on with such a vice-like that his hands went numb. He's even seriously thinking about doing the bike test himself now :thumbup
About half way into the ride on the B4011 near Bicester we were sweeping along at a comfortable 75-80 when a spotted a couple of MAMILs (middle-aged men in lycra) cycling along our side of the road, a couple of hundred metres ahead. With no other vehicles infront or behind us, I slowed to about 50 and pulled right across to the edge of the solid double white lines. About a second or two before I passed the cyclists I'm not totally sure what happened but the tailing rider wobbled and was launched clean off his bike, diving right across the whole width of the side of road we were on. At the same time, there was an oncoming van almost on top of us...
mg
It sounds like a cliché but it all seemed to happen in slow motion and before I even had a chance to process what was going on, I had calmly zipped across into the path of the van, narrowly avoiding the cyclist's flailing body, before pulling back across to safely. There was absolutely no time for braking! I didn't stop or look back but I can only assume that the cyclist got away with just a few scrapes and bruises. I guess the van driver must have realised what was happening and anticipated that I would briefly be heading straight for him because I was not aware of any screeching brakes or squealing tyre noise. I really wish I'd had a GoPro because if I'd caught it on camera it would seem almost unbelievable that it could have been anything other than a very serious, almost certainly fatal accident. Without doubt, if we'd been in a car the guy would have had no chance and I hate to even think what could have been!
So, next time you have to pass a cyclist, make sure you give them as much room as possible - it's always a good idea to have an exit strategy!
About half way into the ride on the B4011 near Bicester we were sweeping along at a comfortable 75-80 when a spotted a couple of MAMILs (middle-aged men in lycra) cycling along our side of the road, a couple of hundred metres ahead. With no other vehicles infront or behind us, I slowed to about 50 and pulled right across to the edge of the solid double white lines. About a second or two before I passed the cyclists I'm not totally sure what happened but the tailing rider wobbled and was launched clean off his bike, diving right across the whole width of the side of road we were on. At the same time, there was an oncoming van almost on top of us...
mgIt sounds like a cliché but it all seemed to happen in slow motion and before I even had a chance to process what was going on, I had calmly zipped across into the path of the van, narrowly avoiding the cyclist's flailing body, before pulling back across to safely. There was absolutely no time for braking! I didn't stop or look back but I can only assume that the cyclist got away with just a few scrapes and bruises. I guess the van driver must have realised what was happening and anticipated that I would briefly be heading straight for him because I was not aware of any screeching brakes or squealing tyre noise. I really wish I'd had a GoPro because if I'd caught it on camera it would seem almost unbelievable that it could have been anything other than a very serious, almost certainly fatal accident. Without doubt, if we'd been in a car the guy would have had no chance and I hate to even think what could have been!
So, next time you have to pass a cyclist, make sure you give them as much room as possible - it's always a good idea to have an exit strategy!
