Brakes? What brakes?
Being a boy on a bike, the faster the better. Of course, boring stuff like maintenance only happens when something actually breaks. And then only if you really need it. So when one of the brake cables snapped, I just tied it out of the way and kept riding. After all, I still had one brake left.

So here I was, belting down the longest hill in the area, the one which the council had to resurface every couple of years because being a major road that steep, the road surface used to crack and slide down the hill. At the bottom, the road levelled off for a bit, past some of the shops, climbed up and over a level crossing, then into a roundabout with the major road that ran alongside the railway line. I pedalled like mad down the hill, in top gear, the wind going through my helmetless hair, and then, as I reached the shops, gently touched the brake to prepare for the railway crossing.

The handle just sagged. No braking happened. The other cable had snapped.

Fuck. I'm now blasting past cars which are slowing down for the roundabout on the other side of the crossing.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! I may have screamed a bit at this point.

First, the level crossing. Slabs of concrete that don't quite line up with each other, with two sets of rails in between the gaps. Rough as guts to go over slowly, at this speed, I am well and truly fucked.
Except, the road goes up a bit to meet the concrete slabs. I'm going fast enough that I launch into the air, sail not quite gracefully over the first set of rails, and hit the ground between the second set with a mighty cry of "Oooooohhhhh shiiiit!" Bounced over the last rail, and back onto tarmac, still upright, and having lost a little bit of speed.

But now I'm about ten feet from a crowded roundabout, full of cars crawling at walking pace around each other. I can see one small gap between the cars immediately ahead of me, and manage to dive through that before the drivers have time to react, cross the inside of the roundabout, swerve like mad, and pick another gap that lets me out the other side, while behind me I can hear brakes screeching as the drivers notice me after I'm already through.

Coast down to a stop over the next block, get off the bike, and collapse on the grass shaking.

When I could stand up and grab the bike, I walked the bastard home.
(ShowPony, Wed 18 Feb 2009, 10:58, 1 reply)

Mmm reminds me
of the 125cc hired motorbike in one of the Greek islands. As we approached a hairpin lefthander with lots of rocks and sea about 100m below the small wall ahead, I grabbed a hand full of front brake only for the cable to go ping. The foot operated rear brake had never worked and the little wall is getting soooooo neaaaargh. Lucky patch of gravel to the right so I lay the bike down. Getting gravel out of girlfriend's leg took a while;)
(SBCkittencure, Wed 18 Feb 2009, 15:05, closed)