On 21/05/2012 6:30 PM, hemyd wrote:

As a fellow cyclist who got hit several times until getting too **** scared
to ride, I wish you a speedy recovery.

I feel sorry for you (both).

I chatted to one fellow recently who has been hit from behind 10 times
on his commute to work. I think this is over a 5 - 10 year period. He
rides over Mt Dandenong.

I just don't get it. I've been riding for about 25 years and average
over 10,000km per year around Melbourne. I've trained, raced, commuted
and ridden socially, day and night, and never been hit from behind.

You have to ask yourself, is it luck or something more too it?

BTW, I ride on pretty busy streets, with tram tracks, parked cars,
pedestrians, highways, etc. It's not like I sneak along the bike path.

And it's not to say I don't have encounters with motorists. Most
incidents seem to be them failing to give way, or giving the ol' left
hook or right cross, or opening their car door when they shouldn't. I
have crashed into them a few times. The last was an old bloke who
pulled out from the left and was heading for a park on the left.
Trouble was I was doing about 55 km/h down a hill, and thought he was
going to go down the hill - not across the road. I'd already moved
right to go around him, but he kept coming out and I couldn't avoid him
- quite. Thankfully by the time we connected I'd washed of a lot of
speed and didn't hurt myself as much as my bike, which he paid for
anyway, as well as the sizeable dent in his car left by my right knee,
which is thankfully quite solid.

--
JS