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Phyzx

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Me + Bikes = Bad Luck


L8on

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Last year, as many of you may recall, we took some big tests in the gym that took up a bunch of time in the morning. Preceding one of said tests, I was at home, running late for school. In my defense, my mother (who normally drove me to school) had just departed for Greece with my sister and not me even though the initial plan was for me to go and I am definitely not bitter or anything, but I digress. Anyway, I was running late for the English exam and hopped on my handy-dandy bike to pedal my way to school. Now I'm sure you're thinking, "He's bringing up all this backstory for the physics of riding a bike?" but you would be wrong dear reader, for this was no ordinary bike ride. Seeing as I was running late, I was pedaling a bit faster than I normally would on my way to school, which was evidently not my best idea. For you see, the night before it had rained, and there were still puddles lining my path from home to school. Now I know what you're assuming happens next, "his bike is just going to skid on the wet pavement" but it is so much better than that. As I was riding up Titus, there was a puddle blocking my way back up onto the sidewalk. Not wanting to get myself all wet, I decided to lift the front tire of my bike over the puddle just long enough to clear the puddle before continuing on to school. The only problem was my front tire wasn't having that, and decided to remain on the ground, while the fork of the bike rose up in agreement with the force of me pulling back on the handles. This was the main source of my dilemma because I was not applying a constant force, I had only created an impulse, which was not enough to counter gravity long enough for me to come up with a way to avert disaster. Thus, as the saying goes, what goes up, must come down, and down I did go. Thankfully, I walked away with only a couple scratches, and still managed to make it to school on time for the test.

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