It might be time to give up fixed riding....(possibly road cycling altogether)

this is a sign that you are becoming an old man

Yeah it was her fault for being in the street when you had a green.

This story does make me think about my riding habits though.

You need to step back and think about who really gets hurt in a given situation. In this case the pedestrian got hit/injured for doing something stupid. You physically hit someone/got injured/got hit financially for not recognising said pedestrian could do something stupid. Or if you did recognise the posibility, you didn't give enough space/time to compensate.

This is one of the biggest problems with young drivers. They don't take the advice of driving instructors to drive defensively. Assume that person will do something stupid, then give yourself a chance to get out of the situation. Bottom line is that regardless of who's at fault, an accident will cost you. It could be time, money, psychological, all of the above.

Same can be said for cyclists.

Same can be said for pedestrians.

In your case it was 100% her fault, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have avoided it. You saw her plenty soon enough and made your choice. Unfortunately you chose poorly.

dismounts soap box

Regardless of whose fault it is good on you for facing up to it. Its a wake up call and it seems you have got the message.

I remember talking to a guy who had a similar experience while he was messengering. He rode super aggressive and was always pushing it. People were telling him to take it easy and he wasn't listening. Apparently on day he was blasting through the down town on day on a rush and someone came out on a crosswalk, he had not time to do anything and he hit them square on. The pedestrian's arm got broken and the guy quite messengering the next week. It was brutal, he teared up as he told me the story.

It happens.

My advice would to be file this away, we all have moments we are ashamed of. Its part of being human. Talk the lesson and either slow down totally or find a velodrome. But at least I think you can be proud of facing up to it, taking the lesson and feeling something over it. The road rage incident in Park's thread is a great example of someone else who has failed to respond in the admirable way you have.

The couriers here is Vancouver often run a front disc on their fixies. What makes you so gnar-core that you can't run a proper brake that would keep you out of this trouble? What makes you so special? Want thrill seeking - go base jumping. ant transportation, closed course athletics in a velodrome or a job if you're a courier, then get a fixie. The sooner you pic one and don't confuse the two, the better off we'll all be….

sorry, but i just call em like i see em and didn't think you needed the sugar coating.

I'll finish by saying that you handled the post-crash situation honourably.

The couriers here is Vancouver often run a front disc on their fixies. What makes you so gnar-core that you can't run a proper brake that would keep you out of this trouble?

a brake wouldn't have helped. Even with a disc you can't come to a stop going over 30 km/h in less than one metre.

little bit of a wake up call there 'kake . . . .

time to take a step back and take a look at how you have been handling yourself on a bike .

you get to decide where to go from here .

for me , i would think the important thing is " how long do i want to keep riding ? " i would like to keep riding for a long time so i would re-think my riding habits . the equipment choice is up to you .

with respect to the pedestrian , i assume she is a local and knows the hazards so she took her own risks and you just happened to be the sap that nailed her . maybe this will be a wake up call for her too , and shes' lucky it was a bike and not a dumptruck that taught her that lesson .

maybe things do happen for a reason . . . .

Then I guess you do have a choice to make.

I used to be into sportbikes. A few large speeding tickets and a couple of close calls left me with a choice. I either tone it down or quit because like you say above, I was using the public roads for a playground. Riding slow and legal wasn't fun to me so the bike got sold and I started mountain biking more.

I know a few other friends at the time that had the same choice to make. They actually kept their bikes and started racing. Getting the adrenaline fix in a controlled environment worked for them and they had no desire to ride recklessly on the public streets an longer.

There's lots of choices you can make, it sounds like you've learned a lesson though.

I know I bust your balls alot about the fixie, but read this man's post again.

As you well know,the streets arent a playground…when you get home maybe you need to start riding that fixie where it belongs.

Oh god this one is perfect. traffic here is something you have to see to believe, it's really strange:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj4LrSxjTIM

are these people making legal driving manuevers? holy hell! just the left turners alone, slowly crossing in front of an on coming bus. i wouldn't drive there either.

The couriers here is Vancouver often run a front disc on their fixies.

No.

There are exactly two couriers out of the 120-130 in Vancouver who run a front disc on their fixed-gear bikes, and most of the time, both of them are flip-flopped to the freewheel side.

Also, fuck a ped. You're a good person, Mike, and you did the right thing.

Hit the 'drome, BMX track, or race 'cross when you get back if you need to build your confidence back up in a controlled environment.

I know I bust your balls alot about the fixie, but read this man's post again.

As you well know,the streets arent a playground…when you get home maybe you need to start riding that fixie where it belongs.

I don't even want to ride a regular road bike on the streets now. The brakes would probably make me push things even more. Beijing Olympic drome is going to be open to the public soon. Might go give it a try.

this thread is depressing

Also, fuck a ped.

Way to have a dick attitude.