RAY: Hi. We're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and, duh, the answer to last week's Puzzler.
TOM: This is going to be great!
RAY: As I mentioned last week, this came from my "Arthur Conan Doyle" series.
TOM: Yeah, right!
RAY: And it takes place in, of course, the English countryside.
TOM: Mmm-hmm.
RAY: It seems there was a terrible accident in a suburb north of London, and Inspector LeStrade was sent to investigate. Everyone knows...
TOM: Was it Red Hills Surrey, by any chance?
RAY: Yes, in fact, it was. Yes.
TOM: I thought so.
RAY: It seems that Sir Richard Ashcroft was dead, and everyone agreed it was an accident, though some suspected it was a suicide. Sir Richard had had some problems with some nonexistent compromise in Chile, and then that thing with the viceroy's grandmother. I thought it was his granddaughter, but it was his grandmother.
TOM: Funny guy, that Sir Ashcroft.
RAY: Well, Sir Richard. Anyway, he'd been found on a steep, rocky slope, his head dashed against one of the boulders and his mangled bicycle at his side. The facts seemed to speak for themselves: He'd gone off the road and crashed.
TOM: This was a very long Puzzler, as I remember. This went on and on.
RAY: I noticed you dozed off a few times. Finally...
TOM: I'm dozing off now. That's what reminded me.
RAY: Finally, an eyewitness emerged: Nigel, Sir Richard's trusty gardener of many years. He was so shocked by Sir Richard's death, he was unable to speak for several days, but haltingly, Nigel told his story.
TOM: Yes.
RAY: "I was walking back from town up that long hill leading to Sir Richard's, when I saw him riding toward me, sitting straight up in his seat the way he always rode, and he was riding at a high rate of speed, when suddenly he jerked the handlebars to the left, and off the road he flew to his death."
TOM: Whew!
RAY: LeStrade asked, "Well, why didn't you come forward earlier?" "Well," Nigel said, "You know, I didn't come forward because Sir Richard told me he was taking his own life, and he didn't want to shame the family."
TOM: Oh.
RAY: "But I decided I couldn't keep a secret any longer. I had to let Sir Richard's soul rest in peace."
TOM: Oh.
RAY: "So, now I've decided to come forward. I saw Sir Richard take his own life by flying down this road, jerking his handlebars to the left, going off the road to the left, and crashing into that rock." Later that day, LeStrade is discussing the case with his pal Sherlock Holmes over cognac and a few Arturo Fuentes cigars, and Holmes says, "Bring the gardener in for questioning. He's the perpetrator."
TOM: Wow!
RAY: How did he know?
TOM: OK!
RAY: How did he know?
TOM: OK. Go ahead!
RAY: Well, as is often the case, some Puzzlers have...the question is great. Well, you'll decide.
TOM: I have to say that you have taken a little...a little...
RAY: Unknown fact.
TOM: A little unknown fact, and you've turned it into a little novelette. And when people hear what the little-known fact is, you are going to get so much hate mail, and I just want to distance myself...
RAY: No, no, no.
TOM: From this Puzzler now.
RAY: Well, first of all, I have to roll up my sleeves and spit out my gum for this.
TOM: Yeah. OK. Go ahead.
RAY: When Nigel saw Sir Richard riding down the road at a high rate of speed, sitting straight up on his bicycle the way he always rode, he said that he saw Sir Richard jerk the handlebars to the left, and, as such, make a left-hand turn...
TOM: And, whew!
RAY: And crash.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: Well, everyone who rides a bicycle knows, or almost everyone knows, that that's not the way you turn a bicycle. In fact, what makes the bicycle stable is the gyroscopic action of the wheels. You with me?
TOM: Mmm-hmm.
RAY: Right? And, in fact, the way you make lefts and rights is by leaning the bicycle and changing the center of gravity.
TOM: Oh, that was...for the...sitting upright as he...oh. As he always did.
RAY: Sitting upright, OK? So, he didn't lean into the turn.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: But you say, "Well, so what?"
TOM: So what?
RAY: But he jerked those handlebars to the left, and that would do it.
TOM: Yes.
RAY: And here's the little-known fact that LeStrade didn't know.
TOM: No, because he doesn't ride his bike like Sherlock does.
RAY: And nor did Nigel.
TOM: Nor did Nigel.
RAY: The perpetrator.
TOM: Mmm-hmm.
RAY: If you're riding at a high rate of speed and you don't lean, but in fact, you decide to make a turn like that, by turning your wheel to the left, the bike goes to the right. Now, my brother, being the incredulous type, decided to try this whilst on vacation on Cape Cod this summer...
TOM: Yes.
RAY: And did spend three rather happy days at Cape Cod Hospital recovering from his injuries. It's true. I'm not sure I know all the scientific principles involved, but the gyroscope wants to keep the bike going straight.
TOM: And so it goes the other way.
RAY: And so it corrects. If you try to make a left-hand turn by turning the wheel, it corrects and actually makes the bike turn to the right.
TOM: The truth is...
RAY: So Nigel couldn't have seen Sir Richard turn the handlebars to the left and exit the road.
TOM: Yeah, well...I mean, I couldn't get it to happen. I tried it.
RAY: Because you weren't going fast enough. But when I towed you with the car, though, you got up to speed. Anyway, who's our winner?
TOM: Well, it's Cheryl Cleveland from Lowell, Mass. Or maybe Cheryl Lowell from Cleveland, Mass. I don't know. And for having her answer selected at random from among those thousands of correct answers that we got, Cheryl is going to win a $25 gift certificate to the store at the Car Talk section of cars.com, and with that $25 gift certificate, she can buy 13/38 of an official Car Talk fall jacket. This is how we make the money. We give people 25 bucks. She's going to pay for 13/38.
RAY: She's got to cough up for the rest.
TOM: Someone's got to pay for the other 25/38. Notice how quick my math is?
RAY: Yeah, that's good.
TOM: Huh? Did you see that? That just happened.
RAY: Yeah.
TOM: Whew! Unencumbered...
RAY: By the thought process.
TOM: By the thought process.
RAY: Your forte.
TOM: Isn't it great?
RAY: By the way, if you didn't win the Puzzler and you still want some of our fashion-challenged items, you can find them at the store at the Car Talk section of cars.com.
[ Car Talk Puzzler ]
