I'm with
canklecat , for all my riding as a near daily bike commuter, I rarely dream about bikes. Trains, planes, automobiles and busses, yes...bikes...very rarely.
But just last night, as a matter of fact, I did dream about a biking "disaster".
In the dream I was on a local mixed-use path and had slowed as I came up behind a young woman pushing a stroller on the right edge of the path. As I passed her at slightly faster than walking speed, she suddenly turned left and I gently nudged the stoller back to the right with my front wheel. The woman began screaming at me that I deliberately ran into her stroller, I tried to defend myself saying that she had suddenly turned in front of me, and that it was because of my many decades of riding experience, and my deference to pedestrians on the trail that I was able to gently guide her stroller back towards the edge of the path. A crowd began gathering and the dream ended.
Maybe not the kind of "disaster" you were thinking of, but in the dream I was truly upset and frustrated that nobody acknowledged my skill at gently guiding the stoller to the right rather than merely plowing into it.
Also in the dream I never saw, heard or was aware of any infant in the stroller.
Plus, why didn't I give the pedestrian a wider berth on the MUP in my dream? In real life my standard procedure when coming up behind pedestrians, especially with kids or dogs is to swing left to the opposite side of the trail (when possbile), ring my bell, then slow down as I pass.
In fact just a couple of days ago I took a Sunday ride which included a stretch on the same MUP that was in my dream. In real life I came up behind a couple with a dog on a leash, and coming the other way was a young couple with two zig-zagging pre-school aged kids followed by a couple of joggers. It seemed as if we were going to converge at the same point at the same time, so I pulled off the trail to the right and stopped. The kids and dog gravitated towards each other and met in the center of the trail, and the joggers shifted to their right and ran around the kids off the shoulder of the trail opposite me. I probably could have swung by off the trail on the right also, but if the dog was on a long-ish leash, or of it was a "retractable/extendable"one, it could have also run off the trail to the right.
When the path cleared, I continued on.
Sunday's MUP episode most likely triggered last night's dream. But if the real life event transpired without danger, drama or distress...why would I have a stressfull MUP dream?
I humbly submit that the moderators create a "Counseling and Therapy" Forum to help us cyclists deal with the various emotional and psychological challenges of cycling...
...or is that already what BIkeforums is?