The Power of Wind: A True Story of How Lucky I Got on a Bike Descent
The other day I came across a short YouTube clip showing a cyclist crashing literally out of nowhere on a flat road. There are plenty of videos like that online, most ending in serious injuries, yet this one felt more like a cautionary tale – it immediately reminded me of a ride of my own where I came one step away from a high-speed crash.
Downhill ride holding a 1.5-liter water bottle in my right hand
Sometimes a dangerous situation starts with the simplest oversight – like an extra 1.5-liter bottle of water with nowhere to store it on a long ride.
150 Kilometers Behind Me and a Bottle in Hand
A couple of days earlier I had set off by bike to visit friends. Around 150 kilometers were already behind me when I stopped at a village shop to buy water for the second time and grab an ice cream. After eating on a bench and catching my breath, I got ready to push on.
The trouble was that I was riding completely light: no backpack, no bag, and no bottle cage on the frame. I picked up the 1.5-liter plastic bottle of mineral water in my right hand, figuring I would finish it over the next five or ten minutes. I hopped back onto the bike and rolled off – steering with my left hand while barely resting my right fingers against the grip.
A Long Descent, Roadside Vendors, and a Headwind
Bad timing followed almost immediately: the highway pitched into a long, steady downhill and the bike quickly began picking up speed. Steering one-handed grew more awkward by the second, and I could not brake properly either – the rear brake lever sits on the right side, where my hand was busy clutching a heavy bottle. Squeezing the left front brake alone at high speed was out of the question unless I wanted to flip right over the bars.
Speed kept climbing. For a split second I thought about tossing the bottle onto the shoulder and grabbing the bars with both hands, yet along the roadside sat villagers from the neighboring settlement selling chickens, honey, and corn. Plenty of people had gathered there, and hurling a big plastic bottle right next to them felt wrong.
Just as I decided I had one last second before dropping the bottle and slamming the brakes anyway, a strong headwind hit straight down the road. The gust physically pushed back against the bike and bled off enough speed to bring the descent down to a manageable pace. Slowed down by the wind alone, I rolled safely to the bottom of the hill, shifted gears, and climbed back up to continue my trip.
A Lesson Worth Remembering
At the bottom I stopped right away, finished the water, and swore off ever taking a risk like that again – at that speed, going down would have ended far worse than the YouTube clip. A simple frame cage or a light backpack on the highway beats pure luck every single time.
Thanks to that headwind for bailing me out on the descent :-)