autoevolution
 

Bicycle Accident Hides an X Games Champion in the Making

It’s hard to look at this clip without laughing. You’ll feel bad about it as its main character is a really likable old man, but you’re still going to hit replay and rewind time and time again to see his stunt. And you’re going to laugh each time.
Bicycle accident in Russia 1 photo
Photo: Screenshot from LiveLeak
It’s just one of those situations where you might have struggled a little harder to keep a straight face, but since the man picks up immediately as if nothing happened, you feel it’s OK to have a giggle.

And it’s not like the old cyclist didn’t have it coming. He approaches what was about to become the accident scene from the opposite way, crossing the three-lane gridlock on his bike and, quite frankly, without even lifting his eyes off the road. He passes two of the lanes and has only one more to go to reach safety when disaster strikes.

Well, not as much disaster as a car minding its own business, crawling along together with the others. The old man keeps his head down - the cap he’s wearing doesn’t help his restricted field of vision either - and you get the feeling he first felt the car, and only then saw it.

As bad as his awareness was, he makes up for it with grip. The bicycle bounces off the moving vehicle and performs an almost complete 180, with the man stuck in the seat as if it had glue on it. It’s just the landing that lets him down, but all X Games riders will confirm that that’s the hardest part.

Like the ambitious sportsman that he is, he gets up in no time, shrugs off the embarrassment with a quick move and is ready to get back on his bike. The driver doesn’t even know what to say. His car has probably got a pretty nasty dent where the bicycle hit it, but he’s so mesmerized by how fast the old man recovered from the incident that he’s forgotten all about it. He does the nice thing to do and checks to see if he’s OK, but the elderly cyclist doesn’t even look him in the eye. He knows he will need to practice some more if he’s to pull that 180 some day.

They don’t make them like they used to. The bicycles either.

[LIVELEAK=http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a07_1454090617]
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Vlad Mitrache
Vlad Mitrache profile photo

"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories