In the early 80's I was living in San Francisco at the top of Mount Sutro, right above the Haight. I had a part time job at a hardware store in North Beach, and every day I would leave a little later for work. This required that I trim a few seconds off the commute whichever way I could. On this one day, I hopped on the bike, pulled the straps tight on my Duettos and was off. Nearing the bottom of the hill there was a tight left hand turn that required that I scrub off a lot of speed. On this day I guess my speed was a bit too high because when I squeezed the brakes (Superbes) I heard an especially high pitched sound with very little reduction in my speed. As I leaned into the turn, I felt the wheels skittering sideways. I bounced off a parked BMW hitting it with my right shoulder and then bounced back into the center of the road with only my left hand extended to keep from landing on my face. I spent that night in the emergency room because the pain that gradually crept up on me was enormous. No damage was done to the bike nor the car, but my left wrist still reminds me to tuck and roll my way out of a crash.
Garth Libre in Miami Fl USA