Doored, injured
 

Going N on 8th Ave, about to get to Columbus Circle. Cab pulls in front, stops dead, I veer between him and the sidewalk... door barely catches the end of my bars -- enough to send me to the ground. Brook my fall with my arm as a spring (go early martial arts training!). Apparently no broken bones, but I'm pretty sure I have sprained elbow. I'm glad that's how it happened, b/c otherwise I would have certainly broken something on the sharp, high curb in that spot. There goes my 200K next weekend. :mad:

Off to the doc today. Any "stay out of the doorzone" nazis can die in fire; I had no choice.

Well, that sucks.

We should make "dooring" and other bicycle advocacy issues a REAL issue in the mayoral race.

I hope you heal okay!

Thanks, fellas. Got back from the doc -- X-ray negative. Rest in a sling is where it's at for a while. Bleah. Typing is a bit uncomfortable, but I really have no choice (life goes on... my school and real work is on the computer...).

Well this stemmed from you riding too close behind another car not from riding in the door zone ... so... :D

Ouch. I have seen that happen to someone at low speed nd they were practically snapped in half. One of the funniest things I ever saw too. :D Condolences dude.

Yes, let's! I'm just about to get a bunch of "More bike Less Mike!" buttons made up, and am planning to distribute cards with the dooring laws to every cyclist and every cop I can find later in the summer... as soon as I scrounge the cash to get them made up ;)

What part of:
"Cab pulls in front, stops dead"
did you not understand. :(

He was not following the cab, the cab pulled in front of him.
Why do so many on this forum always look to make it the cyclist fault?

Let me know I am doing some volunteer work for Viriginia Fields' campaign.

Glad to hear you're ok oboeguy, and the x-ray came back negative. Wish you a speedy recovery.

Hey cabs are unpredictable, they come zooming up, do U-turns, cab could have been 3 lanes over and zoomed in, some stuff is just hard to avoid. knowing how to fall helped though! Get better soon!

How's your bike?

I'd aim right for the door, the interior of the door + occupants are PERFECT for reducing my speed. Plus, me slamming into them at 15mph will teach them a good lesson.
How's the bike doing and which 200k is this?

We should take this offline, but I know nothing about her... though I'm looking to get involved this season, and am willing to be convinced!

Did you get any apologies from the passenger or cabbie?

Take care of that arm!

It is worth a good laugh.

Many years ago, I had a car race past me, sharply pull into my lane and hit the brakes. I swerved to the right headed between the car and curb beginning a panic stop. The passenger door flies open and a guy steps out. The guy hears my tires braking on the road and turns to look. I manage to stop with my front wheel between the guys legs and the top of the tire 1" from the guys jewels. The expression on the guys face kept me laughing the rest of the day.

Another time, 3 drunks in a VW bus were harassing me on a road with a very wide lane. I yelled a few choice words at them. At the next stop sign they stop in the left part of the lane and I am well behind approaching in the right side of the lane (about 8 feet separation). The passenger hops out of the VW to challenge me, so I turn to the left and aim my front wheel right at him and start stomping the pedals. The drunk throws his half empty can of beer at me, hops into the VW and the cowards speed away. Again, the look on the drunks face kept me laughing. :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Oboeguy,

sorry to hear of your injury, and i hope you feel better and your bike was okay. What part of the lane were you in? It seems to me this type of accident is much less likely if you were in the middle of the lane, but maybe you were and it happened anyway. I'm not much of a believer in vehicular cycling in places where there isn't much traffic and the cars can get away with going fast (i.e. where i live now.) But in a place like manhattan, riding in the middle lane and forcing anybody who wants to pass to switch entirely to another lane seems like the best thing to do most of the time, to me.

~~cerewa

Stealth commuter: What are the guys in your office saying? "Did you do that while cycling in to work? Didn't we ban you from doing that?!"

PS What is 200k??

WTF is it with cabs *and especially* buses in this city, that they need to race to get 6 feet in front of you before pulling over suddenly?

Because the cyclist isn't usually faultless like so many on this forum usually assume.

Hey it happens all over the world.

Nor is he always at fault, as so many others seem to assume. ;)

You misread this post and assigned blame to the cyclist. You have misread other post and assigned blame to the cyclist.
I have little faith in any statistics or observations of cyclist fault you may come up with.

Here's a tip: NEVER pass a vehicle on the kerb side if you can possibly avoid it. If you can't get down the other side safely, stop until you can.

Glad to hear nothing's broken.

LOL, lots of replies to catch-up on (was away for most of the weekend). Some bullet points:

- bike unharmed (amazing!)
- 200K is the "NYC Brevet" run by the NJ Randonneurs (sp?)
- tiny company (me and Boss) so not much office talk about my blacks & blues
- I was in the middle of the lane, of course

Doesn't hurt to type much anymore. Just a little uncomfortable (naproxen is good stuff).