Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
I once changed down too late on a steep country road, stopped moving forward and toppled to my right under a closely following car to find myself looking up from under its bumper.

The experience did wonders for my cleat extraction technique.
It can be equally alarming for the driver of the vehicle too Graham.

I was driving a Bedford MK 4x4 truck on a road within the RAF St Athan base on a damp drizzly morning and approaching a sharpish bend around 20 mph. I glanced to my right across the open grassed area to get a view and saw a cyclist coming rather quickly in the opposite direction.

I could see exactly what was going to happen, so by the time the cyclist entered the bend I had brought the truck to a halt. Three quarters around the bend his wheels lost contact with the road and he slid towards me and disappeared under the front of of my truck. I did not hear or feel a thing.

I jumped out of the cab and fearing the worst looked under the front of the truck but couldn't see him. I then heard a groan and on crouching down could see the rider, still astride his bike jammed under the rear sump.

I dragged him out and fortunately, apart from a few grazes, ripped clothing and a few scratches to his bike he got away without serious injury, mainly due to the height of the vehicle off the ground and, of course, my anticipation of the situation and coming to a halt.