One of the lists I've been working on is the "default answer per domain" list. The idea is that, in any specific field of knowledge, there's one answer that's far more common than any other. My friend Michael introduced me to the idea by explaining that, in pilot training (he's a military pilot), when the instructor is screaming at you and your mind is completely blank, your best bet is to reply, "sir, to maintain the stability of the aircraft, sir." It's very rarely outright wrong, and even if it doesn't answer the question, it's still a good thing to be doing at all times. There are in fact NTSB crash reports that essentially say, "something minor went wrong, and while the pilots were trying to fix it, they flew a perfectly functional airplane into the ground." When you are flying an airplane and something goes wrong, the need to continue flying the airplane remains both urgent and important.

So I set about trying to extend this concept to other domains. Here's my list so far:

• piloting: "maintain the stability of the aircraft"
• martial arts: "foot position"
• construction: "vapor barrier"
• computers: "permissions problem"
• electronics: "grounding"
• economics: "marginal cost"

My bicycle, as it turns out, was manufactured by RANS, whose primary line of business is airplanes. And the rule for piloting applies to cycling: rule one is always to keep the bicycle upright.

One of the benefits of a recumbent bicycle is supposed to be greater safety in crashes. You ride lower and you are basically supine, not vertical, so your head, container for your vital brain, is not only lower but less likely to lead your body in a Newtonian arc over the handlebars and into pavement. However, Wikipedia does warn that "remaining clipped in during a front tire or wheel failure at high speeds can result in the recumbent rolling over the rider and taking a clipped in leg or legs with it. This scenario, although very rare, can create severe spiral fractures of the femur ..."

So I was riding Sunday morning, southbound on the 1, big shoulders, hardly any traffic, dry road, partly sunny. The only problem was that I couldn't see the ocean. So I craned my neck and tried to peek over the rise between the 1 and the ocean. Then I looked back at the road, saw the pothole, and went down. Fortunately, I was going uphill, hence only about 13 mph, and I went down on dirt, not asphalt. So, did the recumbent layout save me from serious injury, or did I fracture both femurs in matching spirals?

Good news. I basically fell a few feet onto my ass and slid to a halt, balanced on one side of rump. Total damage: a bit of road rash, a small tear in my shorts, and a dirty pannier bag. I'll count that as a cheap refresher lesson in the keeping my eyes on the road.