i was going to talk about feeling safe

i meant to write this post several weeks ago, but got sidetracked by the beautiful weather and ranting about track bikes.

i was going to talk about how riding upright makes me feel safer in traffic. i've already talked about how much upright riding improves your field of vision. you can look over your shoulders with ease. add a rear-view mirror and you have even more visual range than you do in your car (almost no blind spots).

and while we're on the topic of seeing cars, what about drivers seeing you? i don't have a scientific study to back this up, but i strongly suspect that a driver that can make eye contact with you is less likely to ignore or overlook you.

try standing in front your bathroom mirror. it's quite easy to make eye contact with your reflection. now, take a step or two back and put your hands on the counter. hoist your head up to a position where you have the same amount of eye contact. you can't really get the same level of direct visual contact. and even though you get close to it, how long can you hold your head at that angle before your neck protests?

finally, i feel safer when i'm upright because even if i do crash, i'm in a much better position to avoid serious injury. when your torso is laid low over your handle bars and you crash, the forward momentum takes you right over your bars and onto your face. when you're sitting upright, that's very unlikely. more likely, your feet will hit the ground and you'll skid. or you'll lay out to the side and take most of the impact on your hip or leg. and you're sitting lower to begin with, so you don't have as far to fall.

i don't know if it's just coincidence, but i was hit twice and crashed without any help several times before i started riding upright, but not once since.