Steady now!

[in4]

Just something to ponder over as you down a cleansing ale before riding that last mile home

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-44865790/cyclist-falls-into-drawbridge-gap

[Danneaux]

Oh! Man! 

Yikes!!!

Best,

Horrified Dan

[jags]

idiot

[Oggi]

Almost a recipient of a Darwin Award.

[Andre Jute]

I don't think the Darwin Awards are given posthumously; that would make them too common.

[John Saxby]

Drawbridge politics for a niche market.

(Oooooh, bad taste.)  (Sorry George, just couldn't resist the opportunity for a bad pun, one of my weaknesses, I freely admit.  No more mention of the p-word, I promise...so long as people stop riding into holes where the road would normally be.)

[mickeg]

That happened in Wisconsin, which is the state where I live.  But fortunately no draw bridges in my community so I can have that last ale if I want it.  Or maybe two?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_breweries_in_Wisconsin

[Andre Jute]

No more mention of the p-word, I promise...so long as people stop riding into holes where the road would normally be.)

Yes, but what about the Kerryman who got so drunk, he cycled his bike into a pothole in the road and drowned in it? It just isn't politically correct to make fun of Kerrymen, so how do you report it?

[John Saxby]

Reckon he was just obeying the well-established adage, "Kerry on regardless"... 

[John Saxby]

fortunately no draw bridges in my community so I can have that last ale if I want it.

Yep, we had several ales on this day a couple of weeks ago.  Now, here's a bridge (first photo below), the lift bridge in Port Colborne, the southern terminus of the Welland Canal.  We'd had an easy ride of 100 kms or so into Pt Colborne, and had found food & lodging at the suitably named Canalside Bistro across the street.  Bikes all locked up safely, riders fully fed and watered, what more to do but watch the street go up and down, controlled by that monster great cement counterweight on the left of the superstructure?  No cyclists tried to cross the road while it was in mid-air: I reckon that the daredevil fringe has been thinned out considerably over the years.

What goes under the lift bridge, you ask?  See the second photo below. A couple of hours earlier, the 'Algoma Sault' was docked for loading -- you can see that the vessel is riding high. Hidden by the freighter's bulk are several dun-coloured pyramids, which we reckoned to by gypsum.

That's what is looks like from the POV of passing cyclists -- but what do lockside regulars talk about? Here's Stan Rogers' imagined conversation between a lockmaster and the skipper of an ocean freighter laden with "oriental oils/and tea brought down from Singapore": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0d4cTIPdOo

[mickeg]

I rarely see a lift bridge. 

The first photo I was on the ferry from Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior to Northern Michigan as we were approaching a lift bridge.  I was inside the ship taking the photo through a window. 

Second photo, I was already on board the ferry when National Park Service staff were carrying my kayak into the hold for the trip.  I might do crazy things on occasion, but I am not going to try to kayak across Lake Superior, instead take the ferry.  I used to know someone that did kayak across Lake Superior, he got terribly sea sick in the fog.

Third photo, my kayak and a canoe waiting for loading onto the ferry.

Speaking of the fog, the fourth photo.  Those of you in the UK, you might recognize a Valley kayak and a Lendal paddle, both made in the UK, but I am not sure if either company is still in existence.  The store here where I bought them no longer carries those brands.

[John Saxby]

Nice bridge, George.  Serious fog, too, and an oily calm -- and you're right not to try to paddle across Superior.  Too cold, too far, & too bloody dangerous.

In my journal of my mini-tour from Orillia to the Erie Shore and back, I have a nice sunny photo of a placid L Erie (below).  As you know, the lakes can be highly changeable, and dangerous.  Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is well known, but I prefer Stan Rogers' "White Squall", because it's more direct and personal. (Link to cycling is Lightfoot being born in Orillia, the start and end point of our wee safari in South-Central Ontario, as well as to our warm'n'easy ride along the Erie Shore.) Stan's song is about disaster from a summer storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ4ddAgykfk 

[Andre Jute]

Reckon he was just obeying the well-established adage, "Kerry on regardless"... 

Heh-heh. A tad sub-Joycean but I can remember when that sort of joke would inspire some old chappie to lean over and enquire confidentially, in a hoarse whisper that carried to the furthest corners of a noisy bar, whether you like cycling on your own kneecaps. And then he'd point with his thumb, and add, "Over there [in the next country, whose name hasn't passed his lips since that county beat his own at hurling in 1948] they'll buy you drinks for that crack," and everyone in the bar would sigh in relief at a dangerous moment passed.

Which reminds me: a tip for those planning tours of Ireland. Bring your mountain boots or at least sturdy hillwalking shoes. Some of the best views in Ireland are from the tops of mountains or offroad hills.

Example: You can cycle to the foot of Mount Torc and there's a marked path to the top, from where you have superb 360º views of the countryside and southern coastline as far as the Dingle Peninsula. If you're a genuine hillwalker or mountaineer, there's a harder climb up the back of Mt Torc, a bit dangerous when the granite is damp (there's one downward-sloping traverse that requires care) but certainly more challenging. There's a map showing the commanding position of Mt Torc in far southern Ireland on Wikipedia's strangely sparse page about his popular mountain.