So I drive to work for the first time in 6 months and. . .

[nborders]

I ride every day but when the weather is really crappy I take the bus and max. My project is to ride 4 out of 5 days in the week. So far so good this year, BTW.

So I have a 2002 4Runner that I use for family stuff, drive to rides and to go fly fishing, etc. I never drive it to work. Well on Friday I drove. My shoe split and I could not use my clips on my bike, blah blah blah. Anyway, i'm driving. I'm carpooling my buddy home downtown, he usually takes the bus, and I see a cyclist before I move past the bike lane to a parking spot to drop my buddy off. I know I have plenty of room and I get over as far as i can.

All of a sudden 10 seconds after I have parked, I hear a smack in my back window. I know this move, i have seen cyclist do it before, when they think they have been cut-off. He hit my car as to say, watch it fat-ass SUV and get out of my way.

Now that ticked me off. Not because I didn't do anything wrong. I will bitch someone out when they put my life on the line, but I don't get this cyclist with a chip on his sholder crap.

My point is, lets keep it civil out there folks. I have been cut-off by a few cyclists, pedestrians and cars in my daily commutes, and rarely do I feel the need to do anytihng other than let them know I am here so they watch-out for next time. We're not doing ourselves any favors by increasing our daily commuter numbers of 4% when we piss-off everyone else.

Thanks for your time, and enjoy the heat. i know I won't tomorow afternoon.

~n

[donnambr]

So I'm not making a judgment on what happened between you and the cyclist, nor am I condoning banging on vehicles, but you surely know that if you don't own one of those bike airhorns, it's not particularly easy to get the attention of motorists. There's a real dearth of attention-getting maneuvers. Perhaps the cyclist couldn't think of another way. Now if the cyclist left damage, that would be something else entirely.

[nborders]

I'm not going to say that I know what this guy was thinking, so he may have felt I cut him off.

My point is that we need to be respectful all around and I found it eye-opening to have the roles reversed. I had no sympathy for the guy after he did that. I knew that I was watching-out for him and was making sure to not put his life in danger, so when my buddy and I looked at each other and said, "did he hit your car" we both didn't feel sympathy for him.

I can only imagine someone who does not ride and doesn't filter-out the actions of one. They would think we all have chips on our sholder and are out to cause trouble.

Lets face it, we're having a hard time winning the hearts and minds of many out there, and the media isn't helping. Thinks like this, I feel do us more harm than good in making Portland a better bike city.

~n

[Ringer]

Were you in the bike lane? I hate it when people use the bike lane for pick-up and drop offs.

[the Wumpus]

If you pulled into the bike lane, the cyclist would need to either dodge into traffic on extremely short notice or come to a complete stop.
If you parked alongside the bike lane, same story if he/she's going to stay completely safe. This move sometimes precedes the drivers door open at full width and the driver popping out in a hurry.
If you were pulling through a driveway or intersection, he/she had time to make contact with your vehicle: too close.

In any case, if this had been a road lane, and a car travelling in the right lane at the same speed, would you have done the same thing? The only difference is the reduced danger to yourself from a cyclist.

I'm not justifying this reaction, it sounds like he/she was well within range of your door in order to slap the window.

[bdk]

The cyclist's reaction was not necessary and retaliation against his action is un-necessary either.
A lot of cyclists forget that they are not as visible as cars and sometimes vehicles get on their way un-intentionnaly.

[nborders]

Were you in the bike lane? I hate it when people use the bike lane for pick-up and drop offs.
Not to beat a dead horse but, no I wasn't I was on jefferson next to Higgins in a parking spot.