Cyclist Spontaneously Combusts (?!): "a flaming human torch cycling along the road"
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 03. 3.08
Is this real? Apparently a Polish man, Mieczyslaw Jasinski, 55, caught fire while cycling. We don't know how fast he was going, but he told doctors he smelt burning and looked down to see his trousers had caught fire. He jumped off his bike and rolled on the ground trying to douse the flames but suffered second degree burns to his legs, back and stomach.
"Passers-by spotted him lying at the side of the road in Koroszczyn, still smoking from the tattered remains of his trousers and groaning in pain.
A police spokesman said: 'Witnesses said he was like a flaming human torch cycling along the road.'"
One hypothesis so far is that the fire could have been caused by a reaction between sweat, the material in his trousers, and friction. We don't think you have to worry too much about this happening to you, but if you feel intense heat down there, it's probably time to take a breather. ::Cyclist’s Trousers Burst Into Flames, ::Hot pants, via :: Cyclist spontaneoulsy combusts. See also: ::World Record: Mark Beaumont Circles the Globe on his Bike in 195 Days
Maybe it's more likely that someone flicked a lit cigarette out a car window as he was riding past? That it got caught up in a pant cuff or near the waist of the synthetic-fibre pants he might have been wearing, and had time to start a fire? A one-in-a-million shot, sure, but probably far more likely than "spontaneous combustion" or some bizarre friction-induced accident
You know what they say; "When you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras."
Which really only works if you don't live around zebras, but it gets the point across.
It could have also been something going on with his bike.
I've seen cyclist smoking while pedaling.