The forecast is calling for rain tomorrow. Today, it's clear and sunny but the surf is up. The waves are making its way around the breakwater and into the Ballona Creek channel...
I had a close call on the bike path. In a relatively empty section of the path, someone on a rented electric scooter stopped on the bike path and crossed the path to a rest/park area, just as I was passing (crossing both lanes of the bike path). I made a glancing but substantial contact with the person/scooter and nearly crashed.
For a split second, it was looking very bad since the impact caused me to head towards a low rock wall! I had about two feet of space between the impact point and the rick wall. But, somehow I didn't fall and was able to stop without crashing into the rock wall or on the ground. It seems almost an impossibility that I didn't crash!
Incredibly fortunate "save." My phone flew off it's holder on the handlebar and hit the ground but wasn't damaged (it landed on the phone case side instead of the display side) . The chain came off the big chainring from the impact but otherwise, nothing else was disturbed.
I put the phone and the chain back on and completed the ride without further incident. It could have been a very bad crash but I was very fortunate this time (a couple of years ago, I wasn't so fortunate... ambulance ride, UCLA emergency room, CAT scan... the brain was no more damaged than usual, just a mild concussion from my head [in a helmet] hitting the blacktop... the helmet cracked in several places...).
On the weekends, the Ballona Creek bike path is very crowded with people with many not paying attention to other people around them. Since there's such limited "open" outdoor places right now, the Creek trail has been more crowded than ever (at least double the usual traffic if not more...)
It's not too surprising that people are not aware of the issues that they may be causing by not paying attention to their surroundings. It calls for extra care around such times/situations... |
