Sasha on the Street

According to my bf yesterday I became a ‘real’ road rider. I had my first accident – It involved the streetcar tracks at Dundas and Ossington, my front wheel, which resulted in me lying on my back after being catapulted over the handle bars. Fortunately other than a few minor scrapes and bruises I walked away relatively unscathed. In reality only my ego was really bruised.

It felt like it happened in slow motion and with in microseconds of me hitting the ground a woman, who happened to be enjoying a pint at the Lakeview Tavern, was at my side picking me and my bike up. Shortly afterwards I was sitting at a table, glass of water in hand trying to shake my fall off.

The Karma Circle

The woman, who I’m calling my urban angel, recounted the story of the first time she fell off her bike because she had fallen into a streetcar track. Someone else, her urban angel, was there to help her up, get her bike and calm her down. It’s a karma circle – she had passed on the good karma of the person that had helped her.

As I waited to be picked up I could help but think there was a group of these urban angels that helped cyclists everyday. I certainly was the only victim to fall prey to those streetcar tracks. I wonder how many other urban angels there were yesterday? And already today?

I don’t think I’ll give up riding in the city anytime soon; I really enjoy starting my day with my ride into work. But I will definitely be on the lookout for those streetcar tracks and a little more cautious when entering an intersection that has them. I will, whenever I see any cyclist, pedestrian, inline skater, etc fall down, be there to pass on the good karma, because I never know when I’ll need it again.