There are moments on a bicycle ride that you simply can’t plan for.

This week, while riding my bicycle through the farmlands and along rail line of central Illinois, I heard the unmistakable sound of a train approaching.

I was crossing a bridge when I stopped to watch it.

The railway line came down a valley full of natural bush, and the train was still some distance away. I pulled out my camera and started recording as it came around the corner toward me.

As the train got closer, I waved to the engineer.

He gave me a friendly HOOONK!

Then things got interesting.

As the locomotive approached the bridge, I could feel the air begin to move. A few seconds later, the train was directly below me.

The wind hit first.

Then came the smell and exhaust from the locomotive.

And suddenly, something very strange happened.

It felt like I was standing in the middle of the railway tracks.

I knew I was standing safely on the bridge. I could see the train below me. I knew exactly where I was.

But my senses were telling me something completely different.

For a moment, it felt as though the train was coming straight at me and passing right through where I was standing.

I actually took a step to the side.

Not because I was in danger, but because my brain was telling me to get out of the way.

And then there was another strange sensation.

While part of me felt as though I was standing in the middle of the tracks, another part felt almost as if I were floating above the train.

It was a very strange combination of sensations.

I think some of it comes from watching the train through the camera.

The camera gives you a different perspective from what your eyes are seeing in reality. When you combine the movement of the train, the sound, the wind, the vibration of the bridge and the view through the camera, with quick glances over the camera your brain seems to struggle to decide exactly what it is experiencing.

It reminded me of watching a 3D movie.

You know you’re sitting safely in a theater, but your brain reacts as though the object on the screen is actually moving toward you.

That’s what this felt like.

Only this wasn’t a movie.

I was standing on a bridge over a railway line in the middle of Illinois, with a real freight train passing directly underneath me.

And for a few seconds, it felt like I was right in the middle of it.

Take a look at the video and see if you get the same sensation I did.

Maybe it’s just me—but watching the train approach on camera gives the whole experience a completely different perspective.

One of the great things about cycling is that you never really know what you’re going to encounter around the next corner—or, in this case, underneath the next bridge.