The brake lights didn’t flash, nothing did. It was not until I noticed the distance between us closing quickly that I applied the brakes, it was too late.
I slammed into the back of her bike, tumbling from my clipped pedals, introducing my left knee, hip, and shoulder to the pavement. Why? Why did this happen on a designated bike path?! Why stop?
Geese.
The large avian life forms, named after our native land, waddled pleasantly from clipped park grass to, more, clipped park grass. Geese have struck fear into the hearts of many, hissing like 100 cobras, wings spread with malice as they chase you with their serpent necks extending from a potentially delicious roast. At this point, the human enters the state of mind known for its catchy primal ring “Fight or Flight”.
The gaggles of geese crossing the path, may be intimidating, but they are not crossing in continuity, in fact, one may view the event a bit like Frogger. An active gap, a distance per se, moves in the absence of geese, just as in the absence of letters there is . Yes, space. Here is where “Fight or Flight” instincts come to play, does one wait for all the geese to cross until one can ride by safely or does one locate the dynamic gap in the geese and shoot through it like the Millennium Falcon?
I’m 100% a Millennium Falcon goose gapper and my method is as follows.
If the geese are moving perpendicular to the rider and there is an appropriate sized gap for a bike, then why waste an opportunity to continue the ride uninterrupted? In fact, if I ride faster, the distance between the geese will appear more stationary than if I were to slow down because of our relative velocity.
If you don’t want to watch the video, I understand, but, basically, the faster you travel relative to another moving object, the greater your relative velocity.
Bike @ 30km/h //\\ Goose @ 1.3km/h //\\ 30km/h - 1.3km/h = 28.7km/h //\\
Therefore I would be moving at a relative speed of 28.7 km/h to the basically stationary geese.
You can guess the opposing strategies employed by my spouse and I. Discussing the goose scenario before riding with your partner is crucial to communicative and dermatological well-being.
Next time you ride into goose country with your riding partner be sure to ask,
Do you ride or step aside?