After reading about all that happened to clarion in the past few days this all seems a bit less important, but here goes anyway:
Yesterday, when cycling home from the cinema (fairly late), I came off the bike. I landed on my hands and right hip, and apart from a few bruises I'm fine, as is the bike. I found myself in the middle of the road, on a roundabout. Some cyclists (who stopped) asked if I was ok. They then proceeded to wave at a car (that had also stopped) to keep going, while I was still busy picking myself and the bike up. Adam, who was a little way ahead, came back and shouted at the car driver to stay where they were until I was actually off the road.
None of this is particularly worrying, I know that people on the London roads are usually more likely to stand around, gawp and/or do stupid things than lift a finger to help, and in compensation there is always someone who does stop to actually find out if you're ok rather than just ask by way of formality. What does worry me is that I don't remember what actually happened.
I remember Adam being cut off by some car getting onto the roundabout and myself, behind him, slowing down for that, then getting onto the roundabout without having to stop. Then there is a blank, and then I remember losing control of the bicycle just before turning off the roundabout at the second exit and flying off the bike going rightwards.
From what Adam remembers and where everyone ended up stopping after this happened, we deduced that I was probably trying to stop because he had to slow down for a car, and the other two cyclists must have been pretty close to me when it all happened. It could have been that one of them was so close behind me that I felt I couldn't stop and went for an evasion manouevre to not crash into Adam, and lost control in the process. Or maybe one of them got onto the roundabout in front of me at the first exit, not leaving enough space. Or maybe I was just being a numpty, trying to indicate and brake and turn all at the same time when on a slippery white stripe.
The thing is, I don't know, and what bugs me about that is that I have no way of evaluating my own actions and learning from that because I have no idea what my actions were. It's always reassuring to know that my immediate reactions are in order (land on hands, get off road) but I can't tell if I did anything particularly stupid to cause it, and I'd really like to know. I didn't hit my head so it's definitely nothing physical either, just the shock.
Oh and before anyone asks, I was completely sober...
