Glad to hear you're ok, sounds scary.

I did my first bike "commute" yesterday, 15 miles each way. I had been working up to it by doing local trips, usually 6 miles or less each way. I finally felt like I had the gear and the abilities to do it, and it was awesome. Got to work nice and sweaty, took a shower, and was pumped up for the day.

Then, on the ride home, about a mile from the office, a kid (maybe 17 or 18) thought it would be funny to put his car in my path. I was in the shoulder doing approx 15mph, he was coming from the other direction, attempting to turn into a parking lot on my side of the road. He clearly saw me, waited until I was almost past, and then made the move right in front of me.

I was watching him the whole time, but it still surprised the hell out of me. Jammed on both brakes and actually had the rear wheel come off the ground. Stopped on a dime a few inches shy of his fender. Then he and his passengers all had a good laugh and he drove into the lot.

I sat there, stunned, for a good ten seconds, and then (slowly) continued on... I'm amazed, John, that you were so good natured about your incident. I was extremely angry. I'm not the type to get into fights, but I wanted to kick ass. How do you shrug something like that off? How many times can I expect things like this to happen on a commute?