Riding home yesterday afternoon in a quiet little residential area in Bundoora, I am approaching an intersection where the road I'm on joins another at a 90 degree bend.
I'm heading straight through, and I can hear a car steaming up behind me.
I slow in order to give way to any traffic in the road I'm about to join (none), and continue on at pace. Car behind me sits on my tail and then shaves me through the intersection, cutting me off and forcing me to the left toward the opposite kerb.
I raise my left arm in a what-are-you-doing gesture (nothing rude) as I can see him looking in the mirror, probably admiring his handiwork in menacing a cyclist with his smokebox.
So then he makes a stuff-you gesture. Now it could well be that my nerves are a little frayed and my tolerance of bad driving is at an all time low since last week's incident, and my blood boils and I take off after him.
He makes a left at the next traffic circle and I follow - as mentioned, this is a quiet neighbourhood with lots of circles, speed humps etc. I see him indicate to turn left into a driveway, but he must have seen me and changes his mind, carries on, makes a right at the next circle. I follow. Then another left, and I'm not too far behind. I take the left and now see the car stopped at the kerb. I hit the brakes and bring the bike around in a lovely 90 degree skid right at his door.
He jumps out and asks me what my problem is. I (somewhat agitated and out of breath) explain that his driving is unacceptable and that he endangered me by his actions.
His reply was that I should have slowed down
and various other nonsense, including how he rode a bike himself. I just repeated that his driving was unacceptable and rode off. Lacked any juicy lines at the time.
Anyhow, better ride in this morning, which also featured a roo bounding along the foot path/nature strip on Enterprise Drive, next to the Continental building.
For some reason, the sight of the roos on my commute always cheers me up.
Soma Double Cross 2012 - Commuter || Giant CitySpeed (Alfine 8 IGH) - Commuter || Bakfiets Long 2011 - Cargo Bike