This is a great truth because you never know what’s in there. I did ride through one just today and watched the front end of my bike disappear as I vaulted over the handle bars into the ocean. I used to think that a graceful flip would add a nice touch if that event ever happened to me but now I see that a flip is totally excessive and impractical at slow speeds.  Of course at high speeds it might be appropriate.

I however, was going very slowly because I was trying to avoid splashing in order not to get my feet wet. Thus, the bike slowly rolled into the submerged crater with the result that my feet got very wet. I think I must have hopped over the bike as it went down because I landed crouched on my hands and feet – like an awkward cat, though my water bottle had rocketed out of my backpack and landed a few yards beyond. At least my landing wasn’t too rough because the car that was slowly rolling by precisely as I was ejected had a good enough show already. I tried to look natural and unworried as I sloshed back to my bike in water that went over my ankles, as if to say, ‘just walking through puddles, you know, as I do.”

A few days later I rode by that same spot. The water was gone and in its place was a cement patch the size of a manhole. No doubt, you’ve reached the same conclusion that I did. That conclusion is made stronger by the fact that manholes around here are often broken in because the lids are made of a cement-like material that is prone to cracking in half. I don’t know how many other hapless victims have disappeared into that puddle but I’m thankful that I wasn’t riding one of those tiny fold-up bikes or I may not have lived to tell the tale.