the sharpest of all ends

As I flew through the air, I could only think of two things: the oncoming pain after slamming down on the sidewalk and the fact that my bike would be damaged. My Left foot detached from my pedal as I struck the passenger side fender and my right detached as I launched into space over the hood. Leaving my bike somewhat behind, I felt the hood of the car below my left side as I scratched along the top. My carcass flopped down on the sidewalk, my left hip taking most of the impact, well clear of the car and my bike which was flung forward and to the right of me. I laid there like a pancake, flesh-pretzeled in my own body, with no pain and only slight annoyance dashed with anger over my failure to be defensive enough and her inability to look for me.

It was 8:38 AM on 5/27/09 and I was going about 20 mph Southbound down Meridian Avenue about 2 blocks North of Northgate Way. I was riding defensively as usual, but I let my mind slip and assumed I was dealing with predictable and watchful drivers ahead of me. Wrong.

I was riding down Meridian at a pretty good pace with cars passing me on the left. As usual, I ride on the right side of the road just next to the curb. Cars pass alongside me and I pass them on the right from time to time. There was a line of cars back to the driveway on the right here. There was one car though, some stupid family 4-door sedan, stopped as all the other cars emptied the intersection on a green light. My depth perception was a bit off, as it appeared she was just zoning out and was going to eventually continue straight with the rest of traffic.

Here was my position and view.

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There was no blinker and the car was positioned straight in the middle of the road. This made me assume she wasn’t going to turn right into the driveway. I had two choices. I could get right behind the car like any other vehicle would (relatively safe), or I could stay on the right and just cruise by (slightly more dangerous). I chose the latter and paid the price.

Like she just made up her mind spontaneously, she began turning right while flipping her blinker on. The second it illuminated, I knew I was done-for and commenced evasive maneuvers.

If you look at the following street view for reference, she turned a bit late into the outbound (looker’s left) lane of the driveway.

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I steered sharply to the sidewalk to avoid the collision, we collided, and I was thrown over the hood and cleared (in the picture below) the shadow of that small tree. It was a glorious Superman impression. I probably spent about 2 meters of flying time enjoying my last moments as a happy biker today.

She stopped in traffic and I had her pull into the parking space where she was headed. I did a MOFA-style self-assessment from head to toe right in front of her. Here’s what I assessed.

- road rash on left forearm

- road rash/bruise on left hip
- no head or neck injuries, did not hit my head
- I was in mild shock. It’s hard to say, but I was definitely out of my mind a bit.
- new $100 bike jacket ripped up
- both brake hoods scratched and bent inward from rolling the bike on the pavement
- rear wheel out-of-true slightly, but my right turn mitigated a front wheel taco
- front derailleur won’t shift down now, cable ripped out from impact on lever

She ran out and asked me if I was all right. I said I was checking things out and I’d get back to her. After quickly looking at myself, I determined that my problems were minimal. Although I do regret not demanding about $100 in cash to pay for my ruined 2-day-old bike jacket. Annoying.

She made some remark, like she had some appointment to get to. I cocked my head sideways slightly, the way a dog would look at someone calling its name, and reminded her that she just hit a cyclist and the situation takes precedence. The nerve…

I took one look at her car and estimated a couple thousand dollars in damage to the fender I hit and the hood. She didn’t see it and I did. I didn’t even want to get cops or insurance involved because she had *WAY* more damage to her car than I had to my body and my bike. My eggbeater pedals put a huge dent and scratch along the passenger side fender and I left some scratches and DNA on her hood.

The sidewalk was unscathed, unless you count the bloody streak of flesh where I landed.

There was one additional witness, a woman driving the car behind the collision. She asked if I was OK and if she should call cops and I sternly suggested she didn’t, that I could handle it. She left the scene.

Looking back, I didn’t want to get anyone else involved and I’m sticking to it. This would have been a very large pain in my ass to deal with if the cops were involved. Forget it. She can think about watching out on the right for cyclists and pedestrians when she’s forking over the cash to get that body damage repaired. I can think about riding like I’m invisible whenever in this situation, or any other situation where I’m even close to a car. I don’t care who was at fault or what is legal. All I know is that I’m OK and her car is not. I got off pretty clean this time around and I learned a thing or two.

I bashed my handlebars and brake levers back straight and rode the 9 miles to work. This won’t stop me from doing that for the rest of the Summer, either.

Map of the whole schebang