Max Speed = 40 mph (65KPH)

I took this when I finally made it home after my ride tonight. Ten miles in I was bombing down a hill in Belgium when I car in front of me pulled into the left hand lane then hung a sharp right to go into their garage. They put their blinker on while they started to turn right. They were taking up the entire road and I had no choice but to TRY and stop. Luckily I had just tightened my brakes last night and had allot of stopping power, but I had no hope of stopping before coming into the path of this car.

They continued to pull into their garage unaware of me and I thought I would hit the hood and fly like a blue-clad projectile over their hood. I got my speed probably down somewhere in the area of 20mph and turned at the last second so I plowed into the passenger side door at a glancing angle and I'm quite sure I gave the passenger a heart attack. Their car suffered probably the most damage, a good long scrape from my front wheel skewer and some good dents from me and the bike. Luckily I only have a semi-sprained slightly cut ankle which probably occurred when my bike flew into my lead foot when I hit the car. My handlebars ended up 90 degrees from straight, but I fixed that and after a half an hour of so with this Belgian couple who spoke pretty much just french (little German, no english) trying to make sure everything was OK, I limped my way back to Aachen extremely grateful for my luck and that I ALWAYS bike with a helmet, because you can not control what other people do on the roads.

[Melissa Pike]

OMG! I'm glad you weren't more seriously hurt. I'm sure you would have been more seriously hurt if you'd gone over the hood, so good thinking to swerve at the last second. So scary!

[cheryl green]

So sorry to hear about your accident...but extremely grateful you didn't get hurt worse...I'm sure it doesn't feel so good now though...

[Justin Davidson]

Damn Steve, good work at coming out of that in one piece.

[Hanna D]

40mph, that's pretty fast! but i'm sorry about the accident. sounds like a very scary experience. i'm glad you're okay! and thanks for the reminder to always be alert on the road, if you're a driver or a biker

[FaerieMoon]

Whoo! The fun of biking, I've done the same on my moped (or should I say, "been done to"). Glad you have only a sprained ankle.

[Tanya]

OMG Im glad you're ok. Cyclists certainly get a bum rap when it comes to most city roads. I have a friend who cycles a lot here and some of her stories are pretty hairy.