When Your Gut Talks, Listen

We’ve all heard them; stories of people who get a funny feeling right before a flight and so, decide to take the next one, only to learn that their originally scheduled plane crashed into the ocean. Or maybe it’s happened to you; for some reason you take a different route to work learning afterward of a horrible car crash on the road you avoided that one time. What you don’t often hear are the other stories, the tale of someone who ignored that gut feeling and ended up at the bottom of the sea. So here’s one for ya:

A bit more than three years ago I was out for a training ride with my buddy Dave. Approaching a steel bridge at the bottom of a steep hill, I moaned “Man, I really don’t like this bridge.” “Ahh, don’t be such a baby” was Dave’s retort as he sprinted off. Ignoring my own gut instinct, I chased after him. As soon as my tires hit the wet steel I began to drift uncontrollably. I hit the guard rail hard, flipped into the air and landed face first, sliding to a bloody halt. With about 70 sutures to my chin, lip and knee, I left the hospital several hours later and in much pain. I’d learned my lesson; listen when you get that funny feeling.

Here’s another story: Yesterday I stopped for lunch in the town of Tongue after about 50kms of riding. While I ate, I watched a bunch of novice motor-bikers arrive, all on bikes way to big for their skill level. They stopped and started trying to park in an near-empty lot. Too much clutch, too much throttle, not enough brains. One of them even stalled while trying to reverse and nearly backed into the only car parked nearby. Watching this spectacle I thought to myself what a bunch of idiots. Soon enough I was back on the bike and looking forward to another 40-50kms.

For the next hour or so, it seemed as though people were driving a bit too fast for the twisty, hilly single-track roads. The major menace involves the case of pressure in the bile duct resulting in buy pill viagra pain, inflammation, and indigestion. These days a lot of people are cottoning onto Ayurvedic Medicine for Sex to crank up generic levitra their libido and sexual energy over time. It also comes at a more economical discount sale viagra option. Strategy order viagra to Use: The course mostly ranges from 1-2 months, depending on the wellbeing conditions and prerequisites. A little later I came to an impasse; a herd of cows were in the middle of the road blocking traffic in both directions. Ringing my bell to clear a path, I left the cows and the cars behind me. Around the next corner a driver had pulled over, seemingly to chat on his mobile phone. Thinking I would warn him of the bovine blockade around the corner, I pulled up and indicated that he roll down his window. Instead, he scowled and waved me away, like I was a beggar asking for change. What a jerk I thought.

Less than five minutes later while descending, three large camper-vans came hurtling towards me, forcing me off the road and onto the very rocky and narrow shoulder. Fortunately I stayed upright, got back on the road, gestured my displeasure and continued on. By now it was clear; the road was full of idiotic and dangerous drivers.

Another mile or so down the road and riding close to that same rocky shoulder, I sensed a car coming up behind me. Then I heard one of the most terrifying sounds to a cyclist; the sound of the car approaching but driving on the shoulder! “Man, what are you doing?!” I yelled. Waving my arm telling him to go around me, the driver did go past. The vacant look in his dopey, aged eyes told me all I needed to know: Alex, get off the road! Seeing a sign for a campsite about 2miles down the road, I made up my mind to get off the bike for the day. But even as I approached Bettyhill and the campsite, I noticed yet another idiot on the road. This time it was an other motor-biker who had parked his bike on the inside of a blind corner, just so he could take a couple photographs. Yup, no doubt about it; the road was full of dangerous idiots and I wanted nothing to do with them. A minute later I was off the bike and setting up camp.

Sure, maybe I did only do 70kms, 20-30 less than I had intended and chances are nothing would have happened but, touching the nasty scar on my chin, it was a chance not worth taking.