Almost Bought the Farm

Started to title this blog seconds from disaster, like the TV show on the Natl Geo channel, but I think the entire event only took 1 second, maybe two. Just after this photo was taken I started down a 7 percent grade on the other side of the pass we had just climbed. I broke my six year old speed record by 0.2 mph, hitting 46.2 mph on the way down. I was in the mid 40s for about ten minutes. Then there was a sign that said speed limit 25 mph as we approched Virginia city, a town of three buildings. Being the law abiding cyclist I am, I slowed way down to abot 25 mph. As I entered the tiny town, a woman pulled out from the right side of the road and did a U-turn right in the middle of a two lane street and stopped, blocking both lanes of the road. She was directly in front of me, perpendicular to the road and stopped. She was about 20- 30 yards in front of me when she did the U-turn without even looking, kind of like driving in Florida. If I was in a car I would have hit her directly
in the drivers door.
I hit my brakes as hard as I could without locking up the wheels. I knew then I had no chance of stopping before I would hit the car. So then I released the brakes and turned sharply to the right and just skirted past her rear bumper on the right side of the road and went around the back end of the car. Then I straightened out the bike and kept going. Another cyclist who was stopped in Virginia City screamed out "Woooow" when this happened. The entire incident only took one to two seconds, not even enough time for my heart to start racing. I briefly remember the look of terror in the woman's eyes as she saw me barreling toward her passenger door. I reacted completely on instinct and the incident was over so fast I never did get scared. Luckily the Colnago handles really well at high speeds, so when I sharply turned the bike the bike tracked perfectly and went exactly where I steered it. I am so glad I obeyed the speed limit signs. If I had rounded that turn at 40 mph I would not be
writing this now.