[jacquesm]

I went ass-over-teakettle once on a tenspeed in Amsterdam traffic, I was very much in a hurry (trying to catch the train to work) and rode faster than the car traffic, a guy turned right into my 'lane' and I hit the front brake in a reflex. Too hard, I flipped right over and bounced off the pavement after doing a salto. Bad scrapes everywhere, fortunately nothing more serious than that (I used to be made of elastic, if I tried that today I'd be dead). I never realised that you could do that until it happened.

I was 'right' too, but since swerving wasn't an option and my front brake worked a bit better than expected I wonder if there would have been a better way to handle this (sliding sideways for instance). Accidents lurk in remarkably small corners. My nightmare scenario for a fixed gear cycle would be downhill at a good speed with a sudden obstruction. That would be the 'perfect storm'.

Glad to hear your wife is fine, bicyclists are on the bad side of any close encounters of the third kind with other traffic.