I like people. People are cool.

Aoife O'Riordan

A little antidote to my habit of blogging about things that I find less than excellent:

The other day I was driving to roller derby training in the rain. This was partially excellent, and since I drive the kind of thing that has two wheels (and is super cute), I was pretty damn eager to get out of the less-than-excellent bit, cube my quota of wheels and see about hitting a few people (this is what I do for fun). The thing about rain, though, is that it makes the ground a bit more slippy than it would otherwise be. And the thing about traffic, as I’m sure you know well, is that it means you don’t really get to look at what precise bits of ground you’re driving over. This, combined with three manhole covers right on the turn in the road, led to the kind of rather unfortunate situation where I found myself a bit more horizontal than I would generally prefer. At least, than I’d prefer while I’m commuting. 

Okay, so that was less than excellent. But you know something? Within seconds, some total strangers had helped me to the side of the road, another had gotten my bike to the path as well- and taken the keys out and brought them over to me, just to be safe. Once I’d worked out that I hadn’t broken anything, they were regaling me with stories of all the times they fell off their bikes, making sure I was okay to drive home, and filling me up with advice on RICEing up my leg.

And you know what’s even better than that? The fact that you knew that was what would happen next.

Because people, on the whole, are pretty great.

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I like people. People are cool.

About the author

Aoife is located in a small town in Ireland, and she won't let you forget it. She gets paid to teach, but will default to roller derby and social theory if given half a chance. She's quite likely (but not guaranteed) to be writing about: feminism, queerness, wheelyshoes, Ireland, what she cooked last week, or any combination of the above. She will tell you how to pronounce her name, but only if you ask very nicely.
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One thought on “I like people. People are cool.”

  1. James Power
    Reply
    1

    We are everywhere… one of us…

    It’s important to get your first fall out of the way early. 🙂 Hearing the description of what happened I can offer this nugget of slightly unbelievable advice from my experience of slippery slidey dirt bikes. MOAR POWER! Keep the power on through a corner, a little too much is better than not quite enough. That keeps weight off the front end and allows it to find turning grip without having to also provide slowing down grip. If the back end slides out on you you’re more likely to stay on. You’re also moderately more likely to high side, which will sting a bit if it happens, but with the auto gearboxed scooter I think high sides are a rarity (I’m open to correction on that last point by anyone who knows more about auto gear box bikes).

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