I’m sorry you had to go through that.

It made me think of an incident that occurred when I was on my bike the other day involving a car. I was approaching a red light while passing over a bridge where there was construction. The road was very narrow but still accommodating traffic in both directions. I had taken the lane because 1) I needed to get over to the left within a short distance, and 2) there was not enough space for cars to pass if I had been all the way to the right anyway.

When I got to the light I was clear of the barriers and all the way to the line so that cars could pass me on the right as I waited for the oncoming traffic to to clear. A young man in a muscle car went around on my right the veered left in front of me in preparation to make a left, then yelled “would you fucking go already!” After a pause during which I cursed through my mask, which he didn’t hear above his engine noise, I went ahead.

While it is not unusual to be cussed at by drivers when you are bicycling, this one struck me as especially egregious. If he actually wanted me to go ahead of him why veer in front of me? Had he not been where he was — giving me quite a fright — I would have been gone already.

I don’t know if you bicycle but cars can be some scary shit. You are always aware that in a collision you will be far and away worse off.