Aahzz

At least, first one since I was about 7. So 44 years, not too bad of an interval .

Dude in a car on a residential street was refusing to pass me, despite no other cars moving or parked. Instead he was riding my rear wheel, keeping me right next to the curb, despite me waving him around several times - forced me into a pothole which sent me down. Luckily I was close enough to the edge that I mostly landed in grass, just a touch of road rash on my right shin. At least when I went down he finally sped up and left, rather than stopping to see if I was ok...some days I really dislike people.

MattTheHat 

Yeah, that'll buff right out.

I would have been worried that the driver would have run over me. Glad to hear you survived!


-Matt

UniChris

Ouch. Sometimes when someone's being enough of a jerk it's just time to stop until they're gone.

Shouldn't be needed, but a bloody knee isn't either.

That said, while this sounds intentionally ******ery, mutually frustrating misunderstandings can happen a lot, too. Lots of situations where I'd rather cars just go and be gone, but last time I succeeded in finally waving one through a merge he then proceeded to pull over blocking the curb ramp where the bike route left the street.

There are drivers that will blow right by when you'd standing at the edge of a path's road crosswalk (sometimes even with a bike on their roof, go figure!) and others that will stop if you're standing on the start of the next path segment with your back to the road.

Aahzz

Yup. It's the uncertainty of what they're going to do that gets to me. I had just decided to pull over and stop when I went down - such is life.

Aahzz

Luckily I fell in the opposite direction

rseeker

Could've been worse. Glad it wasn't.

I'm with you, I'm quite fine with the pull-over-and-stop-until-this-person-is-out-of-my-life technique.

jsigone

not bad rash, hows the bike though?

Aahzz

Bike is fine, it landed on a soft object - me .

good4u

Good you have a sense of humor about the bike. Glad you survived except for the knee and I hope you don't develop overnight aches and pains.

Aahzz

Just to be on the safe side, took the bike into the shop to have them check the fork and front wheel - all is good, as I thought . Upgraded the pedals to some Raceface Chesters while I was there.

Bikeforumuser0019

I turfed it last summer, but didn't even have the dignity of knowing it was someone else's fault. My front wheel dropped into a railroad track in an urban area. I was riding with two dudes at the time; one friend stopped to see if I was okay, and one "friend" kept riding! I got my dignity back eventually and switched back to a bike with wider tires.

Some people I know lovingly make fun of me for exercising an extra amount of caution in traffic-adjacent areas, and I often tell them "People die riding bicycles. People don't die playing baseball, or soccer, or golf." Absolutely nothing wrong with a healthy sense of fear as long as it doesn't rob you of the joy of riding.... a healthy respect for the inherent danger of sharing roads is what keeps us alive. Glad you weren't any worse off b/c of the poor driving behavior of the motorist.

Rje58

Sorry you had to go through this, Aahzz! Bad karma will catch up to the driver.

Let's hope it's another 44 years before you go down again!