Iām fine of course. It was a pair of dogs, not a semi truck.
One of the dogs, not so much. Right after the collision happened, both dogs looked totally unphased. But as the lady and I were exchanging contact informations, one of them started shaking and its hind legs and tail started dropping. Pretty clear case of shock. It took quite a hit: the whole front of the bike is destroyed, and the shell on top of the hood is crached, almost 2 feet from the front of the bike, where the dogās head smashed on it.
The lady and I exchanged a few emails a couple hours later, and she told me the dog is badly shook up but otherwise seems okay. But sheāll take it to the vet if it gets worse.
Interestingly, she told me one of the dogs had full insurance (why not both, I donāt know). So if this proves too costly to take care of between ourselves - and it will, I know, trust me on that one - then I might end up having to fill an insurance claim form in which Iāll describe in Finnish a head-on collision between a velomobile and two German sheperds out in the boonies.
Iāve crashed in a number of odd things with my different velomobiles over the decades, but this one takes the cake
Leash law: I donāt know. I suppose there has to be a rule somewhere that says you have to be in control of your dogs on a cycle path. But then, itās a cycle path in the middle of nowhere with almost nobody around for miles in the middle of the forest. People routinely let their dogs loose there, because thereās so much space and no danger. Almost no dangerā¦
The lady and I had a very civilized exchange - as two very civilized individuals - and she was very keen on doing right by me and making sure my bike would get taken care of. But most importantly, both of us are more concerned about the dogs than the bike.
Even as a resident of a country that has evolved past the automatic reflex of confrontation, I aināt no fool. Thatās why you get to see a video of the incident: I always assume the people I deal with are honest first. But if they arenāt, I have enough evidence to go to the police or show an insurance company whatās what. And itās served me well in the past.
Still, I assume people are honest because, by and large, they are.
In this case, I think the insurance companies will be involved, because the quotation is 2,000 euros + somewhere south of 1,000 euros to ship the bike back to the Netherlands. I donāt think sheās gonna cough up 3 grand over that one. But she might: I learned today that she most definitely should have kept her dogs on the leash, so she may want to avoid insurance premiums.
Whatever she chooses to do, Iām okay with it as long as my bike gets fixed.
Haha actually itās my own thoughts on what defines humanityā¦ so often Iām asked if getting chips or augmenting brains with neuralink will āchange what it means to be humanā but honestly I think as long as we retain our curious wonder, we will always be āhumanā.
