I will post when I'm goddam good and ready.

I've been silent mostly due to the fact that I don't much fancy the thought of whinging a great deal on my blog and that's basically all I'd do at the moment.

For example: I took a tumble on the bike this morning. Some dude was turning right and the ute behind him — as you do — zapped around the dude by veering into the empty bicycle lane and parallel parking bit to the left. Except, as you'd have guessed, it wasn't empty: I was riding my bike through it at the time.

No harm done. I have a little bump on my elbow and a pedal is bent which I'm not fussed about — the pushy needs a fair bit of work anyway — and the driver was genuinely concerned and apologetic.

That sudden rush of shock and adrenaline you get at those moments is quite tasty, though. I basked in its afterglow for the rest of my ride to the office.

At such times it is common to get all militant about car drivers and rant about how irresponsible and dangerous they all are and then repeat the spiel about how bicycles don't waste fuel and fill parking spaces and cause traffic jams yada yada yada. People get so uppity about things. Bikes are better than cars. Cyclists are menaces. BMXs vs road bikes; Holdens vs Fords; Fitzroy St vs Brunswick St; Australia vs New Zealand; black vs white.

Get over it.

The driver of the ute could have looked more carefully for me, but then I could also have been more active when I saw the car stopping to turn right: that's a big flashing neon warning sign for a cyclist.

It's not a question of cyclists vs drivers. It is merely me versus the rest of the universe and that's true of each of us.

¶ 9:45 am