Reformed lurker! (First post.)

I noticed the heat was finally breaking (only 89F!) when heading in for a night class. I got to campus, found out I had the wrong day, and was all smiles because it turned into a great excuse to explore alternate routes on the way home. I also got waved at by a decked out roadie heading the opposite direction, across four lanes of traffic.

I don't know why, but that alone kept me grinning for about a mile. I've only been commuting for a few months now, and it felt like I finally must look like I know what I'm doing. So if that was any of you in the Palm Springs area on Country Club, thanks! Good day overall, despite a run in with an unnecessarily huge SUV.

Near as I can tell, the driver decided last minute that they were turning, accelerated suddenly to get past me, braked hard, and jerked a hard right directly in front of my path, all without a signal. Thank Jeebus I was already braking after I saw them gun it. I could smell the stupid percolating out their tailpipe. I actually thought to myself WWJBD ("What Would JoeyBike Do," with a nod to the fact that 1. some might consider him a bad influence on a relatively new rider 2. he would have split the lane to begin with and not been in this situation.)

Anyway.

The deceleration made it easier to cut left and stay off the pavement, but I still ended up putting a shoulder along their left rear quarter panel, which made an awesome sweaty/squeaky noise, and my bar end gave them a new pin stripe. I started wobbling from the further deceleration from the friction of my shoulder and bar-end, took my right foot out of the cage and pushed off their running board, and kept on moving. They also seemed content to go on their merry way, so no chance to talk it over.

This is my first car encounter, and I'd like to think that normally I'd feel horrible for the paint damage. Given the circumstances, not so much.