A bike story

That is my wonderful bike. It's a typical city bike, known as an "Oma fiets" (Grandma bike) and it's gotten me just about everywhere in heat, cold, rain and wind. I love it. Unfortunately, yesterday it had a flat tire and since I was already running late I decided to take Ineke's bike and that's where my story begins... I was peddling along at a decent pace, trying to make it to Centraal Station on time so I didn't miss my train, when I saw that I was coming up to an intersection. The light was flashing green which indicates that it's going to turn red in a matter of seconds, so naturally I speed up in order to make the light. However, while I was still a ways back it turned completely red and I knew I wasn't going to make it. I "slammed on my brakes" and remembered at that moment that I was riding Ineke's bike and hers doesn't have the brakes in the pedals like mine, it has hand brakes. Well, it only took me a split second of peddling backwards to realize my mistake but I was still approaching a busy intersection at a rather brisk pace and was no closer to stopping. I quickly corrected my mistake and pulled my hand brake as hard as I could. Now, correct me if I'm wrong but on most bikes with hand brakes the brake for the front tire is on the left, and the brake for the back tire is on the right, isn't it? Well, unfortunately it's opposite on Ineke's bike and since her front brake works very well, the front of the bike stopped dead, the back of the bike flew up in the air and I sailed over the handle bars and landed on the ground! I wish I had a video tape of it because it had to have been incredibly funny to see. Luckily, I managed to kind of keep my feet and ended up without a scratch on me. The three or four people waiting at the intersection all asked me if I was ok and I was not only ok but I could not stop laughing. I still managed to make it to Centraal Station in time for my train so all is good. I just wanted to share that story with you all so you can have a little chuckle at my expense. Have a great day everyone!