My friend Kyle flipped over the handlebars in front of my house. Twice. We had a sign made.
In 2017, my friend and then neighbor—let's just call him "Kyle"—had posted on the internet that he had crashed on his bike. Thankfully, he was OK: just a mild concussion and now in the market for a new helmet. We stopped by for a visit to check on him and asked the details. "Kyle" informed us that he flipped right in front of our house.
Which made me remember an incident about two years before that: to prepare for cyclocross season, we planned a ride on the bike path from our house to our local CX park and back. We rolled out, turning off the street onto the trail, when we heard the unmistakable sound of a bike locking up its cantilever brakes and hitting the ground. I looked back to find Kyle sitting in the street, with his bike perfectly balanced on the stem and seat, wheels spinning—something like a perfectly executed crash.
We confirmed with our friend Nic that this did in fact happen and we weren't imagining it. Apparently, "Kyle" didn't see we were turning, looked up, and grabbed ALL the front brake.
Something like this:
The story of Crash #2 was that my neighbor was mowing the lawn, and Kyle, being a friendly guy, waved to said neighbor. At that point, "a rock" made contact with his front wheel, and his hand missed the handlebar.
We then started our analysis. Google Maps calculated the distance between our house and the CX crash location: approximately 466 feet away, with a yellow arrow indicating the direction of travel and a sign marking the approximate location.
We plotted the approximate location of Crash #2, again with a direction of travel indicated by a yellow arrow.
We plotted the approximate location of Crash #2, again with a direction of travel indicated by a yellow arrow.
Clearly, a cyclist named Kyle was having issues bicycling on this street. We asked Google for "bicycle crashing signs," which led us to MyParkingSign.com. We inquired if the signs could be customized with the official Highway C font, and much to our delight, yes, it could be done. Marcus at x7152 was incredibly helpful. He had a proof delivered within an hour and completed the sign in 5 business days. We also ordered a Stainless Hose Mount Kit to properly mount the sign to the light pole in front of the house.
Sunday, June 4th was the day to mount the sign. We had a few friends over for Sunday Funday and were in the garage getting the ladder ready when—guess who rides by? And didn't crash! It was "Kyle" riding by on a grocery run. Discreetly, I put the sign down, made some small talk, and after he departed, we quickly set up the ladder and mounted the sign to the light pole.
Tuesday, June 13th was the official date that Kyle's wife noticed the sign. There was much rejoicing.
As a curious coincidence, my friend Nic who was present during Crash #1 sent me a picture of his tattoo—which I hadn't seen until then. The world is truly an amazing place.
The world is truly an amazing place.
A few years later, the Town of Parker put up a radar speed monitoring sign right below the Kyle crossing sign. The batteries only lasted about a week before it went dead. When they returned to take the radar sign down months later, both times the Kyle crossing sign remained untouched. The sign stayed until 2022 when someone crashed into the pole, and it had to be replaced. It now resides in Tennessee with Kyle.
As of today, the Imgur post on this had 293,000 views, and 4.4K upvotes on Reddit.