Cycling Accident

While cycling yesterday, I got knocked off my bike. Granted, I was driving in rush hour traffic (about 5:30pm), so the roads were clogged with plenty of frustrated people in a hurry to get anywhere. The whole reason for cycling at that time is that its just after work, and its before it gets dark (happens between 6 and 6:30). I think I'm not going to cycle in traffic again - the weekends are good, and if I can somehow manage to take time during the day on weekdays, perhaps. I'll just have to do a hundred laps of the minature swimming pool we have at our complex to make up for the lack of excercise.

I haven't got any serious injuries - two skinned knees, and a sore arm, but it could have been much worse depending on where it had happened - some of these roads are really narrow, and the drivers don't respect cyclists. Its really frustrating when a car doesn't even bother to go around you - it just drives past as if you weren't even on the side of the road. I would get about 2 or 3 of these every time I cycled. Thats kind of how it happened yesterday. Panel van overtook me (barely bothering to go around me), and then pulled further across to the left while still adjacent to me, and I just felt cornered - it was like a wall had come up half a metre alongside me, plus there was a bicycle in front of me who I was about to overtake myself - hello I had the right of way Mr Panel Van. Anyway, long story short, I was going to crash into the guy in front of me, felt hemmed in on my right - nowhere to go on the left (road shoulder), so I put my hand out to push against the car. Two moving objects touching at different speeds, yada yada, I was flat on the floor. Bit dumb of me, but the driver really needed to realise that his actions would pin me into a corner.