Today on my commute to work I was doing a track stand at a 4 way stop behind this teal ford Taurus. I had the track stand going for 45 seconds or so and the whole time the guy in the car ahead of me had been watching me in his rear view mirror. So when it is his turn to go he guns it, I pedal to move forward, he then slams on his brakes, at this point I was inches away from his rear bumper, going very slowly. I had a split second to decide what to do and hit the brakes...too hard...and my rear wheel slid around and I went down hard. I probably wouldn't have fallen had it not been snowing all morning.

When I hit the ground I immediately tried to roll over and stand up, as I rolled my head over I noticed the car behind me was inches from my head...he had begun rolling when the other car and I had. Luckily he stopped. I was furious, so I stood up and tried to yell at the guy in the Taurus, he was smiling in his mirror...I punched his trunk, he drove off and flipped me the bird.

I wasn't seriously injured, my ego hurts a little...there was a huge group of people who witnessed me go down...and the bike is fine. I am glad I was wearing a helmet though, because my head definitely hit on the way down.

Thought I would share my near miss on a fatal experience...

Yes that guy was a major Donkey Hole i ran intostuff like this growing up in the country about 17 mile from town now that i am in the city i am always leary of all drivers just makes me a firmer believer how ignorant some kentucky motorists are glad you are ok

I'm glad you came out ok. Sure the driver was being an ass, but consider the incident a lesson learned... Anyone can jam on the brakes at any time. If you keep this in mind you'll be less likely to allow yourself to be in a "too close" position when it happens.

You should have keyed him instead of punching. It takes about the same amount of time to do the motion, and you're more likely to do noticeable damage; I really doubt from your position on the floor you had much leverage to make a dent with that punch.

Head shmed. How is your sauce stirring hand?

People like him made me the Donkey Hole I am today when on my bike.

Glad you're OK 'cept for the ego. Just don't carry it into tomorrow. You learned something without going to the hospital. That's always a good thing.

How'd the bike do? (Gotta ask!)

The bike is fine, a few chips in the paint, but as far as I can tell nothing is bent or anything. And my sauce stirring hand is still golden

I wasn't trying to actually do damage to his car, I was just ticked off and needed to let out the frustration. I thought about walking around to the window and punching him in the face, but the trunk was a safer option...less he can do about it.

I definitely learned to watch whats going on at all times and keep an eye out for Donkey Holes, or even the cagers who hit the brakes for a good reason. No more riding so close for me. No more stopping either...j/k...

Glad you're ok, take care out there.

There've been other posts on BF about drivers completely losing it just because they felt the cyclist concerned was too close to, but not touching, their rear bumper (even in stationary traffic).

Yeah, like your rear bumper is an incredibly vulnerable part of your car, too. Especially to assault by bicycle. Some people's kids, I swear.

To OP, glad you weren't badly hurt, you're every bit right to be angry and the jackdonkey who messed with you is lucky to get off as light as he did. Too bad one of the witnesses didn't call in his plate number. Seems to me a cop would take a dim view of someone who was deliberately trying to cause an accident; seems to me the jackdonkey's insurance company would do the same.

OT, but you'd be surprised how badly the plastic crap around bumpers is designed these days. Somebody did a study on a handful of cars and found that a 5 mph crash frequently caused a few thousand in damage.

Obviously a bike won't do that, but maybe they're just edgy.

You'll see him again. Maybe you will be in your junker cage on a rainy day and maybe you will be positioned directly in front of him at a light...ahh the satisfation that could be realized in a situation like that. But that wouldn't be polite, and probably lawless... so don't cave in to the dark side.

Glad you're ok and the cage operator behind you was paying attention.

Glad you/bike are okay...lesson learned. I too take the lane and when I can TS at lights. If it is safe to do so I will lane split to get in front, but this is obviously not always possible. I try to keep my space as if I were a car in line, and will look back to see who is behind me to make sure they see me.

When the line starts, always be aware that some ass will do as this donkey did, or it could be more innocent, just the line in front slingshotting. Because of this I always try to keep a safe distance until I am sure that the line is moving along. Of course you were on a slick road, so that didn't help, but at least you know now to keep a bigger space.

Good luck, you got your bad one out of the way...too bad none of the other "witnesses" called this one in or that you didn't get a license plate. (Experience and instinct will teach you to pay more attention to certain drivers when riding like this.)

zac

The driver was a real donkeywipe.

I'm sure it's not cheap - that is, if you're enough of a dimbulb to bother fixing it. I miss kevlar bumpers. In Boston, "parking by braille" is just a reality, and if you get upset that your bumpers are scraped up, you're in for a headache and a heartache. Better to do the zen thing and cultivate detachment.

My first year of commuting in Owensboro, ky was filled with experiences like this. I've now become more aggressive in my riding and louder with my yelling. While it hasn't prevented me from having more occurrences with donkey hole drivers, it helps me vent. Just goes to show, Kentucky is not very bike friendly.

Seriously, this was a Teal Ford Taurus. Nothing you could do would take away from it's looks.

You'll see this idiot again. That's for sure. I'd say find out where he works. Take a valve tool. Remove core from valve stems on every tire. Call it even.

Today's Lesson: Beware the Kentucky donkey-hole dumb enough to buy a teal Ford Taurus.

Just play that Dirty Harry scenario in your head, pulling out the magnum and getting oh so even...imagination does wonders for a bumped ego. Glad you and the bike are OK.

Rode right into a van once in that situation. Glad you were all right. Although the driver didn't do it purposely, just didn't know how to merge into traffic.

Kick him in his donkey b@lls!

Personally, I'd have taken down his license number instead of punching his trunk and then called police. He caused an accideent whether there was a collision or not. I'd also have taken down the license number of the guy behind you. Considering his tire was near your head, you'd have had a great vantage point. He was a witness.

Today someone yelled at me to get off the f-in road as I was turning. I made a long turn back onto the road they were headed and went into a hard sprint maxing out around 35 mph. I caught up to them at a large backup behind a four way stop. Now, I am not a huge guy, but I am tall in the saddle and have a much larger torso then the typical biker, so on a bike I am relatively intimidating. The car contained two scrawny high schoolers. I informed them that I would break their fu*king necks if they yelled at me again and rode away. They probably did not expect the person on the bike to be a hot-blooded 20 yr old... HAHA on them. It felt good.

Thanks for the sympathy and knowledge everyone...I think it is funny that almost everyone also called him a donkey rather than the other words you could use...

And yes definitely lesson learned.

You have better self restraint than I do.

I would have just punched the guy for his car/colour selection alone.