People can be such ArseHoles!

Yeah, one reason I rarely (or, never) ride in aero on streets with side streets, not that being on the bullhorns would have been much better.  And another reason I love my computrainer 

Glad it turned out OK, can't stand people that gun for corners to shoot ahead of me, like they can't wait the extra :03 it would take to stay behind

I was up out of aero about the time she got even with me as I had a feeling what was coming and I was backing down pretty hard by the time she started to cut in front of me.  I could have been on my road bike and nothing would have been different - well, except I wouldn't have been going as fast, but where is the fun in that?

It is tough to find any place safe to ride.  Either the streets have side streets which creates today's encounter, or the streets that don't have side streets have a LOT of cars going WAY over the speed limit.  It is a trade off where-ever you go anymore.  Really hard to get on the trainer when it is 75 and not a cloud in the sky outside.

I feel ya, i am in so cal too, there are a few places that are good to get a good aero ride in.  Not many though.  Usually drive to Malibu to get up in the ventura county area.

I actually enjoy my trainer time.  Get a quality hour in every time.  On the road?  Not so much.  But then again my trainer time is weekdays so sun's either coming up or going down.  Outside on the weekend.  Bought a computrainer a couple years back, that and some dedicated focused sessions really helped my cycling.

Glad you're okay, and the end result was only a flat tire.  Someone who laughs after that type of incident...no amount of yelling, lecturing, or scolding will fix that type of ignorance, so maybe it's best she just drove off.  Karma tends to be a b.... though.

The driver was clearly in the fault here.  That stated...

Your lack of situational awareness is gonna get you dead some day.  You're riding 30mph on city streets with side streets around.  That's just not very smart.

I shouldn't even dignify that moronic statement with a response.

That said, my situational awareness was actually what saved the day.  I saw her coming, had assessed what she was about to do and was reacting BEFORE she had caught up to me.  Unfortunately, where I live in California, if you don't want to ride where there are side streets, the alternative is roads with HEAVY traffic and high speed limits.  Wherever I go there are going to be a multitude of hazards to navigate.  The choice is to ride, or not to ride.  I choose to ride.

The problem here wasn't my actions, it was an idiot driver's actions.

Not to defend the driver, but one issue I think we all have to contend with is that most drivers don't perceive how fast serious cyclists are actually riding.  If 99.9% of the cyclists they encounter are tooling along at 8 mph, then that's their ingrained frame of reference. All of a sudden they encounter someone traveling at 30 mph, or even 20 mph, and their normal sense of time & distance relative to cyclists is going to be off.  The driver in this situation may have thought she had plenty of time and distance to pass and make the right turn.  It sounds like she didn't realize otherwise until the last second, making a panic move that exacerbated the situation.

Although we all have our "buzzed by rednecks in a pickup truck" stories, I truly don't think that the majority of  motorists are out to intentionally harass or injure cyclists.  It's more likely that they may just not be knowledgeable or experienced on how to drive with cyclists.

I always try to ride with the philosophy that I'm invisible and drivers can't see me.  And I always try to ride so I've got an "out".   I've found that even making eye contact with a driver doesn't guarantee that they really "see" me.

Mark

^^You guys have got to be joking. Defending a driver who stopped, saw that she almost caused a serious wreck and then didn't check to make sure he was okay before speeding off? Sorry but she is clearly a useless B-word.

To the OP. If you are doing 30mph in a 35 it may be better to "take the lane" and force drivers to treat you as an equal user of the road. Sometimes riding in the right wheel rut rather than right on the white line will force people to be safer and wait for a decent place to pass you or slow down and wait the 2 seconds for that right turn. 

I'm not getting into the argument to edited down the quote to agree with this.

If I'm traveling as fast as traffic is allowed on a road?  I take the entire lane.  It gives me more room to work in, get's me of the edge of the road where it's easier to see me from side streets/entrances, etc...  They also have to go into oncoming traffic if they REALLY need to pass, which they are less likely to do than buzz you on a shoulder.

bingo.

Definitely glad you're okay!  Good thing you were watching - and you know you do seem to gain that awareness of when someone is going to do something stupid in front of you ... 

Today, I had the opposite - really nice people helping out randomly - i was riding my fat tire bike to work this morning and being overly confident i decided to use a gap in traffic (a spot between two red lights) to make a faster connection to the road I wanted to be on.  We have streetcar tracks and they are pretty dangerous for cyclists and i knew and was thinking i needed to be careful negiating this left hand turn with the tracks that went both left and straight.  I knew when i was doing it that it was tricky and before i could do anything, my tire caught the track and i was down in the middle of the road. 

The cyclist behind me made sure I was alright and then i walked myself over to the gas station on the corner and a lovely gentleman helped me straighten out my handle bars and made sure I was okay (scraped and dusty, but okay) before I carreid on  - I felt very grateful for nice people.  I feel dumb and I know I shouldn't have done that, and I won't again - the extra minute or two to make the turn at a safer intersection is worth it.  

I stated the driver was at fault.  Don't cherry pick quote me to placate your argument.  My statement is moronic?  I don't want to see you become roadkill.

Yes, your situational awareness sucks if you're riding 30 mph on city streets that have side streets.  The situational awareness here is that you shouldn't even put yourself in that situation.  You're asking for trouble... and yesterday you almost got it.  You're 100% in the right and allowed to do what you're doing.  Doesn't mean it's the smartest thing to do.  There's a difference between what you can do and what you should do.

I'm not saying you need to live in fear and ride your trainer 100% of the time but you can you some extreme caution in how you go about riding outdoors.  For example, if I attempt to ride around where I live I'm going to eventually end up becoming road pizza.  So I put my bike in my vehicle and drive 20-40 minutes outside of town so that I can ride on some more rural roads that don't have a lot of traffic.

No, I wasn't joking and I opened my post by stating that I wasn't defending the driver.

Just trying to offer a balanced and objective analysis of the situation as it was described factually.  Think I made some legitimate points.  If you don't agree, that's fine.  In fact, I'd like to hear what specific points you disagree with.

FWIW, I was recently appointed to Sarasota County Bicycle, Pedestrian & Trails Advisory Board.  Our charge is to make specific recommendations back to the County Commissioners regarding those areas.

We're currently reaching out to local bike and tri clubs to hear their specific gripes about bad traffic areas, dangerous road conditions, etc. (Bad road/bike path design is one of my big personal gripes.) 

We've also met with law enforcement for their input and concerns.  I specifically have asked about how they are enforcing the 3' law in FL.  They were quite candid in admitting that they were not sure how to go about enforcing it.  One of the things they were receptive to was getting feedback from the bike groups on locations where it might make sense to set up a speed trap type of operation some weekend. 

The liasion deputy (who is also a cyclist) told me they are frustrated by 'peloton size' groups disregarding traffic signals en masse while enraging motorists.  Rather than being confrontational (and unsure how to safely pull over 20+ cyclists at one time), they usually just look the other way and let them go.  One idea we discussed was issuing 'ride permits' (think parade permits) to standing ride groups, that would give them some leeway, but still make them accountable for following certain safety-related rules & regulations. 

At the same time the deputies said they understand the frustration of cyclists at on-demand lights where a bike won't set off the road sensors.  In those situations they have no problems with cyclists crossing against the light as long as they do so safely.

One of the areas we all agreed on was that any solution has to encourage actions on the part of both driverrs and cyclists that are both consistent & predictable.  The worst situations are ones where the two parties are trying to figure out what the other one is going to do at any given instant.  Chances are that one of them will guess wrong.

Long story short, it doesn't accomplish anything for motorists and cyclists to keep harboring animosity towards each other and name-calling rather than working to find ways to safely and peacefully coexist.  Certainly it calls for a lot of education and understanding on both sides.   Unfortunately there's always going to be a certain number of jerks out there, but you're going to find them both in cars and on bikes. 

Mark

Not to defend the driver, but one issue I think we all have to contend with is that most drivers don't perceive how fast serious cyclists are actually riding.  If 99.9% of the cyclists they encounter are tooling along at 8 mph, then that's their ingrained frame of reference. All of a sudden they encounter someone traveling at 30 mph, or even 20 mph, and their normal sense of time & distance relative to cyclists is going to be off.  The driver in this situation may have thought she had plenty of time and distance to pass and make the right turn.  It sounds like she didn't realize otherwise until the last second, making a panic move that exacerbated the situation.

Although we all have our "buzzed by rednecks in a pickup truck" stories, I truly don't think that the majority of  motorists are out to intentionally harass or injure cyclists.  It's more likely that they may just not be knowledgeable or experienced on how to drive with cyclists.

I always try to ride with the philosophy that I'm invisible and drivers can't see me.  And I always try to ride so I've got an "out".   I've found that even making eye contact with a driver doesn't guarantee that they really "see" me.

Mark

Legally there's no problem.  Unfortunately, the laws of Physics and Darwinism don't always conform with our legal laws.  A 4,000 pound vehicle wins over a 20 pound bike EVERY TIME.  Doesn't matter if you're legally within your rights if you end up dead.  Dead is dead.

Every single road in my subdivision is 35 mph with intersections and side streets every hundred or so feet.  I wouldn't ride like that in my suburban subdivision let alone a "city" street.

With all due respect, I think you're making a big assumption there.  If you asked the woman for her version, it might be that some cyclist was trying to pass her on the right, she saw him at the last second and had to take evasive action to avoid hitting him.  Her reaction afterwards may have just been from spiked adrenaline and relief that she didn't hit him. 

I'll stick with my original assertion that the driver may never have encountered a cycllist going 30 mph before and completely misjudged the timing of her pass and attempted turn.  Not letting her off the hook at all, just saying that I'm not convinced it was intentional.  Most 'right hooks' are due to inattention, not a deliberate act.  That's where cyclists have to understand the tendencies and behavior patterns of drivers (right or wrong) and not put themselves in front of a 'loaded gun'.

Maybe something that would help would be adding "Be Alert for High Speed Cyclists" to "Share the Road" warning signs on frequented routes.  Or maybe "The cyclist in your mirror is going much faster than he appears" 

It sounds like the OP did a good job of anticipating a potential disaster and sucessfully averted it, though at the cost of his front tire.  Still better than ending up as a hood ornament.   

Mark