61 Comments

1. Comment by Scooter's Mommy | 11.3.2005 | 6:59 pm

   I can’t believe the van guy just left! Isn’t that leaving the scene of an accident? If it had been me, I would have taken down his plate number and then off-again-on-again wondered whether or not to report him. What *should* you have done? I think you did the *right* thing, but it sure would have been vindicating to verbally nail the guy.

2. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 7:05 pm

   The only comment that makes sense 911 immediately. Until we cyclists continue to stand up for our rights buffoons like that will continue to think we are the equivelent of a kid on a big wheel and deserving of no consideration at all. What would you have done if it was your son? What if your hip was fractured? What if the driver tryed to file charges…..Stand up for yourself Fat man!

3. Comment by Matthew | 11.3.2005 | 7:08 pm

   Did you grab the license #? The Sammamish PD is all too happy to have talks with naer-do-wells about the right way to drive…breaks up the motonony of their day. I’d definitely ring them so this person doesn’t do it again…self control of not testing your titanium frame against their windshield is laudable…

4. Comment by Mike | 11.3.2005 | 7:33 pm

   What do you do when it’s the cyclist that doesn’t stop? It’s not like you can get a license plate number from a bikeI had a #5 on bicyclesafe.com that happened to me a few weeks ago on 40th and Bel-Red road. A small dent and some scratches in the paint of my car were all that occured, but it would have been nice for the cyclist to stop, so we could trade information. I pulled over, and waited while the cyclist pedaled off.Mike

5. Comment by pete | 11.3.2005 | 7:47 pm

   Hey Fatty. Glad to hear you’re okay after your experience. Even when there’s no major damage, something like that can really shake you up. My personal reaction, if possible, would be to fly after the fool as fast as my impaired legs and bike could carry me. If I could get him by the throat as he stepped out of the van, so much the better. Once the red mist had cleared, I might concede that the best thing to do would be get his registration and report it to the police. (As always) I speak from a transatlantic viewpoint, but over here it would be leaving the scene of an RTA at least: whether anything would be done about it is a completely different thing.Unfortunately, I don’t think this is an isolated case. All too often drivers are damn quick to leave the scene of a minor (even a major) bump with a cyclist, if they stop at all. Often, the excuse is they didn’t notice/realise it had happened! In your case, it seems to have been the inability of the average driver to account for the speed of a moving bicycle. Both of these would indicate to me a lack of awareness of the rules of the road bordering on criminal negligence. Here are a few of the more extreme examples, the first is by far the worst:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/4313764.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4155848.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4643093.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4246646.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/4500691.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4363262.stmI don’t want to teach my granny to suck eggs, but a couple of good ones on cycle safety (in particular, why you shouldn’t ride in at the side of the road.)http://www-personal.umich.edu/~riin/bikes/doorzone.htmhttp://www.mopoc.com/m3/v1/cycling/qstart.php (FYI: right = left and vice versa)Sorry for filling up your blog with links, but this I couldn’t think of anything witty to say about a serious subject.Cheers, Pete

6. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 7:52 pm

   i’m pretty sure the two times i’ve been hit it’s been by Presbyterians.

7. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 7:57 pm

   When I was living in DC, a guy in an Accord did the same thing to me (passed and turned right, right across my path and right into me). I hit ‘em (doing about 20 mph) in the front passenger door, dented the door with my bike, broke the window with my hand, and dented where the door frame and roof come together with my body. I flew up in the air, over the car (hitting my knee on the same door frame area) and landed on my back about 15 feet on the other side of the car. I was a bit dazed but felt ok. the guy stopped, and 3 witnesses gave me their cards. An ambulance was there amazingly fast, and the witnesses convinced me to go to the hospital.The next day I was at work with a cast on my hand, a knee brace, and some killer muscle spasms in my back where I’d torn some muscles. The phone rings. . . "Hi I’m the boss of the guy you hit with your bicycle, and I want to know how you”re going to pay for damages to his car."I could only muster a confused "Huh?" (I was on some painkillers and the shock was too much for my brain).Anyway, they threatened to sue me for damages, and I went and got an attorney to protect myself. I originally was thinking no harm no foul. I had good insurance, I was wanting to get a new wheel set anyway, and as far as injuries go, I’d hurt myself worse several times before trying stupid jumps or just riding too darned fast.Lucky for me, I went to the hospital and there was a police report, because I developed several complications that required months of treatment and about 2 years to totally heal. Combined with being threatened with a suit to pay for damages, I really wound up needing a lawyer.Moral of the story: If you get hit by a car, call the cops. Go to the hospital and get checked out. You have to protect yourself.

8. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 7:59 pm

   If you were hurt (and you may feel this more over the next couple of days) you should at least have taken the license plate number.As far as the cops are concerned, the fact that you can’t identify the driver may discourage them from bothering to investigate. Maybe you should have gone into the church (I mean, those Presbyterians aren’t the Crips) and asked who the driver of the van was.Easy Monday morning quarterback stuff, though. I’m an ambulance chaser by profession but once when I got rear-ended in an exceptionally minor MVA, I was so shaken up that all I got was a first name and a phone number on a tiny scrap of paper.

9. Comment by Mark Smith | 11.3.2005 | 8:04 pm

   Don’t know if you did the right thing or not, I’ve faced off with people who I’ve crashed into before, one a Guy told me to "get the f88k out of the road, or I’ll run you over" the other just smiled and apologised before offering the "sorry but I didn’t see you" line. I hate that line. Especially when you consider I’m 6ft 2, 205lbs and was wearing a bright red Jersey at the time. It was midday as well. On a long straight, flat road, she just decided that she wanted to turn accross my lane without signalling. Over here (BVI) all cyclists are treated like speed bumps, everybody has huge SUV’s and the only reason they avoid you is because they don’t want to have to wash your blood of the wheels before the police get there. I’ve lost count of the amount of times people over take and then pull in, pull out, overtake when you’re doing 30mph and then immediately stop to talk to there friend. Here, you’re a cyclist, nobody can possibly be behind you, so they see you, they overtake and then slow down to about 1mph slower than you’re going and then try and kill you when you get past them again!!! Life on the mean streets!!!

10. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 8:27 pm

    Fatty, I don’t play a lawyer on TV, but I am one, and here’s what I would do. (1) Call the Po-lease. What you suffered is called “hit and run” or “leaving the scene of an accident.” It is a felony in many states. The dangerously irresponsible people who do it often go to jail, because the bad food, loss of freedom and other hazards are richly deserved. (2) Have your most trusted bike mechanic at your most favorite LBS check out your bike, and produce an estimate of what it will take to fix any dings and knocks. Matter of fact, once they identify the damage (and check that frame for straightness!) get a couple estimates from other LBSes, not your own. (3) Find out who the driver is, file an insurance claim. Document it, get checked out if you have any residual aches or pains – and I’m not talking about yearnings for Eva Longoria. Soft tissue injuries, joint problems, back problems all sometimes take a little while to assert themselves. I’m not saying you should sue the bejeezus out of the guy or try to set him up like that, but just that you should document that you just got run over. In the alternative, you could go and beat the crap out of that van with your bike, a baseball bat, whatever. Sure, it’s a crime to do that – misdemeanor to felony damage to property, depending on how much catharsis you seek. But you have a fair to middling defense of the practical sort, if not the legal sort. Do you think the owner will report you to the cops? “Officer Clancy, I ran over this biker the other day and drove off, and ran into the church to avoid responsibility. So the biker caught up to me later, and totally teed off on the van.” Were I stupid enough to hit & run, I would certainly hesitate to report such an attack. Come to think of it, totaling the guy’s van is a bad idea. Don’t do it. No, really. The above paragraph was a joke, not advice. First of, it really is a crime to assault somebody’s van and cops (worse yet, judges) frown on it for the same reason they frown on hit & run drivers, because it’s wrong. Second, the kind of person who is stupid enough to do a hit & run, then park up 100 yards away, is probably just about stupid enough to report that they were attacked by the bicyclist they just ran over and fled from. Ps. That set of steps I did the impromptu huck off of on Monday? I tried them this AM on the way into work, just to see if I could jump them intentionally. So when I got done picking myself out of the now-collapsed chain link fence adjacent to the steps, and when my calf stopped bleeding, I decided it was probably a bad idea and the wrong thing to do.

11. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 8:39 pm

    Go back to the church, ensure that the van is in the lot (I am assuming that your commute day was not a Sunday, so the van may have been driven by a church employee on his/her way to work), and then go inside and start asking around about the van’s owner. Peer censure, especially in a church, is a powerful tool. Be prepared to get a verbal thrashing, but there is some catharsis in the mild confrontation. Plus the guilty one no doubt saw you that day, and you showing up in your funky bike garb will surely set him\her asquirm.

12. Comment by Zed | 11.3.2005 | 9:40 pm

    I’ve got to agree with Al Maviva. That stuff’s the minimum. I don’t think you need to start a fight with the guy, but the least you can do is let him or her know that it was irresponsible and that there are real consequences for nearly killing you. The scary thing about letting it go is that the person still hasn’t learned to drive responsibly, and is a danger to anyone else on the road as well. He or she completely ignored you, and then wandered off as if it was okay to do that. Things might have been different if the driver was at least polite about it, but that didn’t happen.

13. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 10:19 pm

    Oooh. If only this were for a bag, I’m sure I’d win. Back in high school, I was at a rowing camp in Cambridge, MA. To get to the Harvard boat house, you had to cross Memorial Drive. Mem Drive, for those who have never been to Boston, is a small parkway type road that runs along the Chahles rivah with a speedlimit of 35-40 mph. It is also has trees running alongside the Cambridge side every 20 feet or so.We’d to cross as soon as possible to get across to the boat house as soon as possible. I look left, don’t see any cars, look right, see nothing, and take half a step into the road. It must have been my sixth, or maybe even my seventh sense, that caused me to rotate my body away from the oncoming traffic because before my foot even hit the floor, I was spun around. The side view mirror impacted square between my shoulder blades, and I took the windshield frame across my left should (it barely grazed my face). The RAV 4 screetched to a halt. Apparently, it had been hiding behind a tree when I looked to see if any cars were oncoming.It would be your normal boy gets hit by car story, except for two things.Thing the First: Somebody stopped a Cambridge cop. The cop walks over to me, asks if I’m ok. I say yes. He then tells me I have two choices: I can either wait for him to call an ambulance, which will take five minutes, and then ride the five minutes to the hospital, or I can ride with the guy who hit me as he gives us a police escort. He can’t drive me, because Mem Drive is a state road. He has no jurisdiction. A state trooper, he says, will meet us at the hospital and take statements. Being mortified, I do not want the spectre of an ambulance ride hanging over me. I agree to ride with the man who hit me. We both feel awful mentally, but I think I feel worse phyiscally. We ride over, and I find out that he is an architect, and I have made him late for a meeting. We meet the state trooper at the hospital, and he tells me "I heard you apologizing. Here’s an accident report form. You have a week to fill it out." My parents call the Massachusetts registry of motor vehicles, who tell them that I don’t have to file a vehicular accident report form because I WAS NOT IN A VEHICLE.Which brings us to Thing the Second. Setting: Thanksgiving morning of that year. I am home. Asleep. The phone rings and my dad answers. It is the Mass State (Commonwealth?) Trooper, and he asks for me. My dad tells him that I am a minor and I am asleep, but, as he is a lawyer and my legal guardian, if there is anything he can do to help, by all means let’s talk. The Trooper then tells my dad to stop being so snooty and says, ok I just wanted to let you know there is a warrant out for his arrest in the Commonwealth for failure to file an accident report. Now I live in Massachusetts, and I visited here many times between the accident and moving here, but I’ve never been arrested. Funny how that works. The statute of limitations on accident reports must be one drunk phone call Thanksgiving morning.As for what you should have done Fatty?Marched right into the church, interuppted the service if there was one, and asked, "Which one of you f%#$ers just hit me and then ran in here? You know, you’re the one who drives the tan previa that’s missing its two brakelights. None of you? Maybe you’re unsure. You’re also missing a windshield, if that helps narrow it down.I am actually surprised that, if there was anyone else on the road, they didn’t stop to check you out and chase after the driver. When I pulled a Beloki goving up one of the hills on W. Lake Sammammish, a half-dozen of cars stopped to make sure I was ok and see if I needed a ride anywhere.

14. Comment by Sun Goddess | 11.3.2005 | 10:53 pm

    I think this is one of those situtations where you don’t do what you would expect yourself to do. It’s easy to imagine going up to the van and yelling at the guy and/or slashing his tires and breaking a window, but when you are in the position yourself and you’re still in shock over getting HIT BY A CAR you don’t do what you really wanted to do.I think what you did is common. I can imagine suprising myself and doing the same thing. I wouldn’t be in the right mindset to do what I think would have been the best thing. I think leaving a note on the car and taking the license plate numbers is the smart thing to do.Unfortunatly most people don’t do the smart thing.

15. Comment by Unknown | 11.3.2005 | 11:46 pm

    Wow … hard to believe there are such idiots like the van driver out there. I think I would of taken down the license plate of the van and then called the police. I’m sure the responding officer would of made the confrontation inside the church for you!

16. Comment by EricGu | 11.4.2005 | 12:28 am

    Failure to stop is a felony in Washington state. You should have gotten the license plate number and then contacted the police. If the driver was sufficiently concerned/contrite, you could choose not to press charges later. If you could find the van again, I’d still consider it.

17. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 1:21 am

    Fatty,I suppose it’s unlikely that you’ll see this guy again, but you might check out the church parking lot again. If you can get his license, report him. As others have noted, this is a felony, and a serious one. If this person suffers no repercussions for what they have done, then they might do it again.

18. Comment by Tom Stormcrowe | 11.4.2005 | 1:37 am

    Fatty, I agree with the general line of this string! I’ve been run off the road once, causing me to crash, and just missed getting plowed once by a guy who decided to turn left right in front of me! If I hadn’t stood on the brakes, figuratively speaking, I’d have been an XL Street Pizza then! I’m very glad you aren’t hurt! Watch out for those $%#@ idiots in the 4 wheelers!

19. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 1:41 am

    Fatty- As a cop I can tell you that you are the victim of a hit & run. If you are sufficiently upset by the incident you should call 911 and have a "police traffic collision report" made out by an officer who comes to your house. When you call 911 you just tell the call-taker you were confused about what to do when it happened. (You might want to call your attorney to find out how bad you’re really hurt first). When they take the report get the "case number", and ask for the phone number of the detective’s unit that this report should be going to for "follow-up investigation". Since it sounds like you were injured in a "Car-bicycle hit & run" , most departments will have the case reviewed and assigned to a detective. Wait a day and then call the #. If you suffered even the temporary loss of use of a limb, or your neck (i.e. cant turn your head due to strain), etc then it becomes a felony called "Vehicular Assault", even though in reality it will probably never be filed as such by the prosecuting attorney. Also, on your travels by the place keep your eye out for the vehicle and get the plate #. Take a camera and if you see it again, photo it as well as any scrapes to the car. Do not retaliate, (a)because it’s against the law, and (b)as even small amounts of damage to a vehicle go over the $250 dividing line, you would be placing your crank in a wringer, and I’m not talking about your bike. As a rider myself of both Italian motorcycles and bicycles,(and suffering numerous incursions myself) I agree with Totway that we need to stand up and be heard.

20. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 2:30 am

    Like others have suggested, I would have called the police right off. I had a garbage truck pull in front of me two years back, at about 30 mph (my speed), and it resulted in a near death experience (just imagine yourself having the option of sliding your bike into the rear wheel of a garbage truck or sliding under the thing) and several broken bones. If a garbage truck driver can tell he clobbered someone, which he could, I have to think any sort of car would know as well. I can’t imagine that not only didn’t the person who hit you stop, but no one else stopped. I have to admit that there was a time in my life when I would have kicked a big dent in the side of the van (one good reason to ride Look cleats and pedals!), but now I’d call the police, which is one good reason to carry a cell phone. I have to assume that there was some scuff on the bike or van that would indicate you had a collision, but you didn’t mention this. Which is also a good reason to have a phone that takes pics. Given the expense of ruined tights, shorts, jersey or jacket, along with handlebar tape, rims, and just about any other part of the bike, even a seemingly innocuous accident can cost quite a bit to take care of, and there’s no reason you should pay. And that’s just the bike.

21. Comment by Donald | 11.4.2005 | 2:49 am

    Been there, Wasnt fun. I was riding to work on my old 24" single speed. in the same block a lady almost sideswiped me once, then did the right turn drill so i grabed brake, laid it down and slamed into the rear back tire. she didnt even look back much less stopped. i cought up with her while she was waiting in line at mcdonalds on the same block completely oblivious. I dont think our little talk did any good. some other times people have intentionaly tried to run me off the road, if i could catch up, i introduced them to my valve stem tool. another time in japan a guy did a lefty in front of me, i didnt want to start troble in a forien country so i let the guy split. after 4 hours i couldnt lift my arm high enough to unbutton my work shirt. that lasted a week or so. If in your home country, call the cops. if your realy mad dont do any permanent damge, valve stem tools are our friends.

22. Comment by Robin | 11.4.2005 | 3:11 am

    Fatty:Sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you are ok.The takeaway for me from your wreck and a fellow rider’s is that you MUST call the police no matter what. Just like you the other rider did not call the police since he thought that he was fine. The driver told their insurance they didn’t feel it was their fault. The driver’s insurance investigated and agreed that since the driver turned in to a one way (the other way) they’d better pay up. So that part is fine.Initially with the adrenaline flowing you think everything’s ok. Later you realize A) you’re hurting, but more importantly B) how close you came to being really hurt and C) maybe riding isn’t such a good idea. My fellow rider has not resumed riding because of pain from the wreck and is worried about riding. I don’t know if being vindicated helps in the physical and emotional healing but maybe it can be part of it.I wish you the best.

23. Comment by Big Guy on a Bicycle | 11.4.2005 | 3:54 am

    Al Maviva is absolutely correct from the practicle point of view, though from a realistic point of view (and personal experience) the Red Mist that Pete mentions is hard to keep down. I was pushed into a curb once by a car and completely trashed my rim. Luckily, someone I knew happened to be driving past at the same time, saw I was OK in his rear-view mirror, and then proceded to tail the car to where it parked before coming back to find me (as I walked with my bike and bloody shin in the direction of the LBS). My buddy drove me to the shop, where we called the cops and he gave them the license plate number and the last known location. The cops went and found the driver and she claimed she never saw me (in my bright yellow and red jersey? Yeah, and next I guess she denied the wicked grin she had on her face as she made eye contact with me). The cops didn’t think I had a good chance of getting much out of pressing charges, but they did convince her to pay for a new wheel. I probably came out better that way than having to hire a lawyer and drag her to court, but had I not had the chance to cool my temper before it all played out, I’d have probably wanted to beat the crap out of her car with a large blunt object (maybe her head?).

24. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 5:09 am

    As the pastor of the church I believe you’re referring to, let me add a couple of comments. First, obviously, I’m really sorry this happened and I’m happy you weren’t more seriously injured. Second, I wish you had come into the office and explained to us what happened. We could have helped you track down the person and try to clear things up. Lots of groups use our campus during the week (recovery groups, BCC classes, other churches, etc), but we still feel a responsibility to "do the right thing." Please stop by if you’d like to chat further.Sincerely,Tyler L. Easley

25. Comment by Fat Cyclist | 11.4.2005 | 5:47 am

    tyler – i’m amazed you somehow found this blog, and also impressed that you took the time to give such an unreserved apology. thanks for that. i’ve got more to say to you (all nice things), but i’ll continue via email.

26. Comment by Fat Cyclist | 11.4.2005 | 6:03 am

    everyone – what i’m taking from this is that i should have had an "action plan" in my head for the event of a bike-car wreck. since i didn’t have a plan and wasn’t thinking clearly — because i was stunned, surprised, and late for work — i didn’t take appropriate measures. so, now i’ve thought it through: if i ever get in a wreck with a car, i’ll immediately call the police.simple plan, really. but believe me — and those of you who’ve been in a crash will back me up — you aren’t thinking super clearly right after the wreck itself. gotta think ahead.

27. Comment by tayfuryagci | 11.4.2005 | 8:56 am

    fatcyclist I’m sorry to hear you hit by a car. these things are commonplace where I live and about 50% are hit-n-runs. so I’m pretty familiar with the concept though I’ve never been hit by a car.what I’d do: first I’d go and leave a big mark on the car where I hit it or it hit me then I’d call the police. If the dude who just hit me parks in a lot not far away and then bolt into a building or something I’d wait until whenever he/she comes to have a friendly chat about hit-n-runs and how they make cyclists feel very very sad.

28. Comment by Tom Stormcrowe | 11.4.2005 | 11:30 am

    Fatty, You are absolutely correct, you should have a plan in place so you can execute it whether stunned, injured or whatever! Unfortunately, the car jockeys, while 99% of them are relatively non-malicious; tend to stop thinking and seeing while operating their vehicle! You know the story, the 4 invisible vehicles in North America are the bicycle, motorcycle, tractor-trailer and train! After someone smacks one of them in their car (always assuming they survive the experience in the latter 2 cases), the first words out of their mouth is "I didn’t see him!" As I said earlier, keep safe, there Elden!

29. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 12:00 pm

    Me? I woulda been pissed and all full of adrenalin- I probably woulda given the owner of the van a custom set of pinstripes with my multi-tool.

30. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 12:28 pm

    You need a gun! People who run over Cyclists should be shot. You might talk to them and see if they are apologetic and if so let them go with a warning (make sure they see the gun), but if they start all that s%^t about, "why don’t you get off the street", "why don’t you watch where your’re going", if they start down this road there’s probably no help for them, just shoot them.Personally I’ve had a lot of close calls, but’s it is better now since I mounted one of the "rifle bags"(like the cowboys have on their horses" on the back of my bike with a 30 06 in it, seems to get their attention.

31. Comment by Fat | 11.4.2005 | 1:23 pm

    I agree with the rest, but like you said it’s hard to say what you should do in that situation. Your brain is still absorbing the shock and by the time common sense re-enters the scene it’s too late. One morning I was on my bus on the way into work and the bus hit a PT cruiser. I felt fine at the time and didn’t think much into it. Unfortunately, for the bus driver the car he hit was a police officer on his way into work. He banged up the guy’s one breaklight.The bus driver was so surprised by what happened (and I’m sure nervous over the fact that he hit a police officer) that he just asked all of the passenagers on the bus if we were all ok. Then he let us all go. He had a bus full of witnesses and people who could have been potentially hurt and he just let us all walk away.Later on in the day my lower back started to hurt me. I started to wonder if it was from the accident. My manager encouraged me to call the bus company and report what had happened in case my sore back turned into something more serious. I didn’t even consider calling the bus company at the time and didn’t even think it was odd that the bus driver didn’t take any information from me. I just walked off the bus and went to work like nothing happened. It’s strange how we react in certain situations. I’m glad you are ok. Now that I have a cell phone with me and if I were in your shoes, I hope I would’ve called 911 and got the guy’s license plate number. Take care,~ Fat Chick

32. Comment by tayfuryagci | 11.4.2005 | 3:53 pm

    slowdown mrbill. You have a shotgun strapped to your bike? I’m visualising it right now. Terminator t-100 sitting on the saddle putting his shotgun in his messenger bag and clicking his spd pedals. it’s actually funny. :)

33. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 4:05 pm

    Okay…so Tyler is going car shopping this weekend to replace the gold van that in which he hit the Fat Cyclist, and THEN they will talk. I can hear it now: "Hey Fatty, let’s go to lunch and chat–I will be happy to drive. Do you like my BLUE van?" Like the FC, Tyler was running late that morning and didn’t have time to deal with a sticky situation (or get socked by a ruffled Fat Cyclist) so he hustled inside to get to work without doing the right thing. Okay, just kidding. But it makes for an intriguing thought.It’s cool that Tyler came forward, and it’s really kind of stalker-like creepy that he found the FC within hours of the alleged accident. I still think you should go storming in the church clad in your funny bike suit with the titanium-fender equipped rain bike astride. That would be a religious experience for someone.

34. Comment by BIg Mike In Oz | 11.4.2005 | 4:15 pm

    if ever there was a valid reason for a jihad…

35. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 4:29 pm

    One more thought because just thinking about the experience conjures my red mist. I had a very close, on purpose, call about two weeks ago, and I am still a little juiced up about it, to the point that I am watching for the offending car (I had seen it before–it’s fairly distinctive). As dorky as it is, I am considering a rear view mirror on my glasses so that I could anticipate the coming problem. Also, I have started carrying rocks in my pockets as they just might come in handy.

36. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 5:34 pm

    Nice. Motorists never fail to amaze. Possible alternative actions…. First option: Make sure there is visible damage to the automobile (if not enough caused by the actual incident, (notice I don’t use the word accident here), then post incident damage is acceptable under these circumstances. Then contact the police to inform them of the incident using vehicle / bicycle and personal damage/injury as proof. Motorist, and I use this term loosely, will have no recourse but to accept responsibility for actions and repair own vehicle at own expense. Under the circumstances it would be best if the interaction between police, motorist and yourself can start in the church and work it’s way outside to the vehicle. This will have the most demoralizing affect possible.Note – If motorist states that damage was not as bad from initial incident in presence of police, be sure to verbalize that they did not report incident or acknowledge hit and run. If they were aware of damage immediately after the incident, then the law would require that they contact the police. You are allowed to smile during this time.This option is of course the best one if you have time. Second option: If pressed for time, again make sure that damage to exterior of automobile is sufficient. I like the cleat to body panel image. Then as a means of preventing this type of heinous incident in the future let all the air out of the tires. Make sure to venture into the church to announce that someone’s Toyota Previa has been vandalized and then as the crowd forms outside, casually ride off. Again, you are allowed to smile during this time. I’ve only been involved in one accident with a car, and it was handled very differently. I slammed into the passenger side of a car being piloted by a female college student. You should have seen the look on the face of her female passenger as my bike, then face collided with the window. To my amazement, nothing was broken, not the bike, not the car and not my body. Dazed for about 2 seconds, I righted myself and immediately started swearing at the driver…that is of course until the crying began. This poor girl felt awful, and I soon realized…hey..accidents happen, and if you take responsibility and nobody really gets hurt, then a heartfelt apology makes all the difference. She shouldn’t have pulled out when I was riding by…we agreed upon that…and she just kept saying how sorry she was. Being the cool guy that I am, I calmed her down…asked her to stop crying, assured her that I was ok and rode off. Oh, by the way…nice blog…very cool.

37. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 5:45 pm

    Well now I’m sold. Where can I immediately buy a bicycle?(I’m so, so, so glad I still have a brother today. Please be careful.)

38. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 6:02 pm

    I hope you’re feeling better.Glsn has the most useful advice so far. There was an incident with some pro’s out training when after a deliberate collission the rider threw what was left of his bike onto the hood of the offending car in anger. Guess who ended up being charged because witnesses had gathered after the first incident.On a proactive note: How to I get my mom, the church lady, off the road before she kills me or someone more important. Any suggestions on getting an elderly person to agree they shouldn’t be driving?I think that’s probably what you were up against and I think it’s likely the driver didn’t even know they hit you. It’s no excuse though.

39. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 7:50 pm

    I’m a little confused/suspicious (Dickensian coincidence). So Tyler is a regular lurcker on this blog, and is the pastor of a church on fatty’s route to work? And he was as suprised as the rest of us to learn that fatty got whacked, and even more suprised to guess that the whacker pulled into his church parking lot?The only people less trustworthy than Presbyterians are Presbyterian impersonators.

40. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 9:08 pm

    Fatty, glad you weren’t seriously injured!! That could’ve turned out way worse if you had gone under the vehicle and gotten rolled by the rear wheels. Like what happened to a friend of mine when he had to dump his motorcycle under a flatbed truck that had cut right across his lane to get into a gas station driveway. He’s lucky he didn’t die, realized this, and gave up motorcycling after that. And that’s with a big sportbike with a loud exhaust. Silent bicyclists stand no chance. And the growing inattention to the actual activity of driving a car never fails to disgust me. Putting on makeup, reading the newspaper, talking on cell phones, putting on clothing, etc… and I remember hearing last year that MS plans to develop mobile web browsers for cars… oh wait, where do you work? :\

41. Comment by Julie | 11.4.2005 | 9:56 pm

    Fatty-Where are you???? Are you ok???It is 3:00 MST and your blog for today (11/04) has not been posted.I am going through Fatty withdrawl and with the accident yesterday, I’m just a little paranoid about your condition.Maybe some of your world’s famous chocolate cake will make you feel better.

42. Comment by Unknown | 11.4.2005 | 10:41 pm

    "The only people less trustworthy than Presbyterians are Presbyterian impersonators."I’m guessing that Tyler is for real, and may have found out about this incident from me. I’m a FatCyclist Blog Lurker, Cyclist, and Presbyterian Youth worker in Seattle. I felt sick over what happened to Fatty, because I can so easily relate, as can anybody who’s ridden a bike more than around the block. I could have never shown the restraint that he did if a car did that to me. I also felt sick over the fact that it happened in a church parking lot, and I appreciated that Fatty only used that as an ironic twist and not a hateful attack on Christians. After reading the post I thought the church might want to know about the incident so they would have an opportunity to respond to it by either figuring out who it was, or at least apologizing to Fatty. So, I sent them an email. Don’t know if that’s how Tyler found out about it or not, but I think we can assume he’s not a “Presbyterian Imposter.”Tom

43. Comment by Unknown | 11.5.2005 | 2:56 am

    Tom, your comment puts me in mind of Gov. Hedley Lamar’s laundry list for a gang to go attack the townspeople:<i>I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, a$$-kickers, s***-kickers and <b>Methodists</b>.</i>I can only assume that in his daze, Fatty misread the sign, which probably said something like "First United Methodist Church: <u>Not</u>Presbyterians Since 1836." BTW, Rocky, I wasn’t sure if I was going to mention this, but since you fessed up to a recent RCOB moment, I will. A woman cut me off intentionally a few weeks back when I was zipping up the bike lane (a wide shoulder designated as bike path) past miles of gridlock traffic attempting to get into the local renaissance fair. I saw her notice me in the mirror, and cut to the right, nearly causing me to T-bone her. When I tried to paddle by on the 6" gravel shoulder, she pulled further over, nearly pinning me to the guard rail with her fender. Then she sat there staring at me, daring me to try to get past. Being a calm man, a respected attorney, a churchgoer, a pillar of the community, I reacted with gravitas, deliberation and discretion. I unclipped from the pedals, looked her in the eye, squared up, and punched her minivan as hard as I could, leaving a dent that looked like a softball had been implanted in the fender. I did this in the midst of a 30 second outburst of profanity, delivered at the top of my lungs right through the open window – my ribs were basically touching the passenger side door and I think that in mid-burst my head may have actually been 6 inches inside the van, and just the slightest touch away from actually exploding. As a former Army noncom, I was able to create some off-the-cuff combinations that were both anatomically impossible, and quite entertaining. I may have also threatened gross bodily harm, along the lines of removing her head, dropping a #2 down her esophagus, then having sexual relations with the orifices of the severed head. I also used the "command voice," which if you’ve ever heard R. Lee Ermey playing a drill sergeant in a movie, you would recognize it as the vocal technique used by military leaders to communicate unequivocally to people suffering from mental and aural fog. The voice tends to get people’s attention – I’m sure Fatty’s sister has heard it and could explain it. Not my best effort, really, I wasn’t warmed up and the red curtain of blood had literally made my vision go all yellow and my head pound, but still it was probably better quality and louder cursing than she had ever heard in her life, and I hope she appreciated the skill it took to deliver a communication of that caliber. Fortunately, she decided not to try to kill me again, locked her hands on the wheel, her gaze on the car to her front, and then eased her van back into the car lane without looking at me or apologizing. I rode off before she did something else to cause me to escalate it further.

44. Comment by Unknown | 11.5.2005 | 4:10 am

    Hey, this is fun. I’ve never actually been a reader of one of these blog deals. Couple of points of clarification. 1) I had two folks immediately email my church soon after Fat posted his story. I think they were concerned that the church, indirectly, didn’t come across so well. Fat has since emailed me letting me know that this wasn’t his intention. And 2) if Fat barged into one of our services decked out in his riding togs, he’d be welcomed with open arms. We like folks like that. In fact we had a team ride in the STP to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. Fat Tire beer was one of the sponsors by the way!I’m done. Peace to all.Tyler

45. Comment by Ariane | 11.5.2005 | 5:04 am

    I’ve only ever had one me-to-vehicle experience, and, true to form, it is disappointingly un-interesting. I was pulling away from a stop sign, and just as I nosed out, a car nosed out from my right, just barely tapping me, but knocking me over nonetheless. Assuming that I was totally at fault (because I always assume whatever it is is my fault), and embarrassed, I jumped back up as quickly as possible to show that I wasn’t hurt and silently mouthed profuse apologies as the guy drove off. The, shame-faced, I pedaled home cursing myself and my stupidity, and questioning my right to be on a bike at all. The next day at the same intersection, I realized that the guy had been coming the wrong way down a one way. …gah…

46. Comment by Unknown | 11.5.2005 | 11:00 am

    I think you should pray for this guy. Cos if he continues to behave like this when he travels around either he’ll kill himself in an accident or someone else will take him out!

47. Comment by Unknown | 11.5.2005 | 1:34 pm

    I’ve been hit by a car in three separate incidents. They tend to happen every 5 years (and gloriously I’m about through the 4th 5 year cycle and haven’t been hit yet – knock on my keyboard). They also tend to alternate in intensity. First accident was in Boulder – I’d ridden 2 blocks from my apartment to the bank to deposit a paycheck. Woman pulled out from a store parking lot as I was doing about 20 mph. I had nowhere to go and finally t-boned her car at the front wheel, pulled out of my straps (which did some serious stretching of tendons and ligaments – remember this was 20 years ago – no clipless pedals), hit her windshield, and bounced another 5 feet into the oncoming traffic lanes. I crawled back into the 2 lanes going the direction I was going and collapsed behind her vehicle. Damage to the car – broken windshield and 2 3" dents above the wheel well where the brake levers hit. Damage to me was more extensive…. I had 8 stitches to my forehead, severely sprained right ankle, and a huge y-shaped cut on my left knee. That cut just barely missed severing the patella tendon. Note to others – if you think scrubbing gravel out of road rash hurts, try having a doctor scrub directly on muscles and tendons. Ugh. I had four shots of xylocane and it didn’t even start to cut the pain. They cut out the upper y-part and stitched me back up with about 30 stitches total (internal and external). Damage to bike – trashed front wheel. Police were obviously called as I was hauled away in an ambulance. I actually got a ticket for riding wo/ a light – woman driver got nothing. Yes it was 4:45 on Halloween and no I didn’t have my light on. It wasn’t dark and most cars didn’t have their lights on either. Accident #2 occurred in Bozeman, MT – I was riding home about 10 PM, with both of my then current lights on (Vistalite 2 light system – total 20 watts or something). Got to the one 4-way stop on the way home. Waited my turn. Started to go, got about halfway and the car to my right decided it was their turn and I t-boned the driver’s window. I bounced back off after taking the driver side mirror to the kidney. Driver stopped initially then drove off when the saw I wasn’t dead apparently. There were at least 4 other witnesses (who did stop to help me). Damage to car is unknown, but I’m guessing broken mirror and broken driver side window. Damage to me and bike – trashed front wheel and much bruising! Last crash was 5 years ago – this time a 88 year old man decided to turn left in front of me in Radford, VA (where I live currently). I don’t remember anything until I woke up, briefly, in the ambulance. I apparently flew quite far through the air according to the police. Damage to car – unknown and driver got off with a $75 fine and kept his license! This even though he had real coke-bottle bottom glasses and 2 canes and said he never saw me until he actually hit me… sigh. Damage to me – jaw was broken in 3 places and I had surgery the day following the accident to put in some titanium to fix it. My eyes were full of blood (ie, whites were red) for about 3 weeks. Severe bruising and damage to my left shoulder (it now dislocates on a somewhat regular basis for no apparent reason) and upper spinal problems (near the neck). Thankfully I was wearing a helmet of I’m sure I’d be dead. On a good note, my dental x-rays make me look like the Terminator. Damage to bike – um, my beloved Bianchi Virata, which I bought from Davis Phinney and Ron Kiefel’s shop in Boulder, which I later rode on with Andy Hampsten, was dead dead dead. Downtube was broken nearly clean through and the top tube was now sloping from this lovely little peak in it near the head tube. Front wheel was trashed obviously as well. And now it’s 5 years on and I’ve not been riding that much this year for some reason! :-) Bottom line – you should have called the police if you want to have any hope of getting some form of recompense, whether that be money or apology. Also, you never know when problems will develop later on because of this. I now have neck problems which have just shown up in the past 2 years – 3 years after the accident. The chiropractors and others I’ve seen all agree that it’s almost certainly due to the accident. I hope that you’re okay and will remain so though!

48. Comment by Sue | 11.5.2005 | 4:16 pm

    Ah, I knew there must be a simple explanation. I’m a research scientist, so you’ll have to forgive me. For everything. All the time.BotchedPS Tyler, go easy on the blogs. They’re worse than wine, women, and song. Especially don’t go look at BIG Mike’s blog. Or Nickared’s. Or Errorista’s. And Bob’s Top 5 will consume about 20 minutes a day of your time.

49. Comment by Tom Stormcrowe | 11.5.2005 | 7:21 pm

    Tyler, beware! You’re on a slippery slope that leads to blog addiction!(Kidding actually!) Some blogs are better than others and Fatty’s place here is one of the best in my book! Now to Fatty! Hey guy, you OK? No post in 2 days now! Wuzzup?

50. Comment by tayfuryagci | 11.5.2005 | 9:39 pm

    going through …fatty withdrawal…must…try…to…survive…ghaaahhahghh…

51. Comment by Fat Cyclist | 11.6.2005 | 2:11 am

    hey all,not to worry. fatty is alive and well and hanging with friends in moab this weekend. i’m sure he’ll have many a yarn to spin when he returns. he’s already told me a lovely tale of a missing glove and an evil cactus. no doubt he’ll be blogging early monday morning. sorry about the withdrawl symptoms. i miss him too.

52. Comment by BIg Mike In Oz | 11.6.2005 | 2:42 am

    Mrs f/c – that’s a relief, I thought maybe the Presbyterians had sent out a posse.

53. Comment by Unknown | 11.6.2005 | 6:51 am

    I think you should have gotten the license number and called the police. That’s hit-and-run and it’s freaking ILLEGAL!!! The public needs a big dose of education, and particularly someone who does that and goes into a CHURCH forcryingoutloud! I’m glad you’re okay and glad you’re off drumming up more craziness in Utah. I’m green with envy, as a matter of fact.Hugs,MuMo

54. Comment by TIMOTHY | 11.6.2005 | 5:42 pm

    I agree – I would’ve called the police (that’s why I always carry my cell phone when I ride!). Maybe receiving a ticket for hit and run would’ve made him more careful in the future. What if you HAD been hurt more seriously? You’re not the only lucky one!I’ve never been hit by a car (though I’ve had some close calls!). I was once the idiot driver who didn’t see the guy on the bike and knocked him down with my car (I was turning right onto a busy highway, he crossed behind my car then came around the right side – I was looking left and started pulling out…ooops!) Not a hard hit, more of a push down, but still….!! However, I jumped out, immediately concerned for his well being! He was fine but his rear wheel was knocked out of true. This was not a recreational cyclist but a guy whose bike was his only form of transport and probably one of the few things he owned so I felt extra bad! I put his bike on the rack and drove him and bike to the nearest shop and had them do a full tune-up for him…I figured that was the least I could do. Besides, I’ve always felt there maybe something to that whole "Karma" idea…

55. Comment by David | 11.7.2005 | 12:57 am

    The one thing that was NOT a surprise was that this was a churchgoer. I have been informed, for instance, by a clerk at one of the big bookstores, that the greatest shrinkage (i.e. theft) occurs in the religion section. Color me jaded. I will be evenless surprised if the jerk turns out to be the pastor.

56. Comment by Sue | 11.7.2005 | 2:10 am

    Now, Now DavidShag. No need to pile on the Christians. They had a difficult childhood what with the lions and all.WARNING!INAPROPRIATE JEWISH/PRESBYTERIAN JOKE BELOW:A Presbyterian kid goes to his mom and asks, mom, are we Jewish or Presbyterian?"Why honey?""Well, I want to buy Jimmy’s bike and I want to know whether I should talk him down on the price, or screw him out of the whole thing altogether"BotchedP.S. I am a devotee of the most maligned Christian faith.

57. Comment by Unknown | 11.7.2005 | 4:51 am

    Al…that HAD to be cathartic….I have never been in the position of actually being able to confront a motorized offender. It’s not like I can not be seen, so I would not accept that as an excuse. I look like a rolling Christmas display, what with the blinking lights in my bar ends and on my pack, reflectors on my pack and a reflective pack, a reflective vest and flashing red in front, too. Yup, it’s dweeby as all get out, but then, hey, I don’t like vehicular interaction when I am on the two wheeled 20lb. variety and the opponent is in 2000+ lbs. Wow…I always though I would just punch out the passenger window and scream for awhile. I am certain that I could not string ‘em together like you can, but I was never in the military. I am mostly pretty mild mannered, but geez, I have a temper when I am caught up in close calls. Sounds like you do, too. That HAD to be cathartic.

58. Comment by JOSEPH | 11.7.2005 | 6:09 am

    I was 14 and whined to my dad that I wanted this hot Fuji bike to replace the old beat up Schwinn I’d had forever. I actually said to the old man, "All the other guys have one." Anyway, I’d had it about 3 months and was ramming around the neighborhood like a Hell’s Angel on non-motorized wheels and I go to cross a busy street. I figure, I got all kinds of time, I’m going really fast, and, hey, I’m 14 and invinceable.To this day, when I close my eyes, I can still see that bike (it was black with red racing trim) flying through the air after I bailed off it to keep from becoming a hood ornament on a Ford Extended Cab.Dad wasn’t amused.

59. Comment by Unknown | 11.8.2005 | 12:53 am

    It’s possible the driver never saw you, even after impact.I was cut off in a similar way by a guy who was turning right across the bike lane to turn into a gas station. I panic braked, but still didn’t clear hit his rear fender. He continued driving and stopped only to pump his gas.When he got out or his SUV he was greeted with a chorous of "Hey, you hit that lady!" by a bunch of tough guys who happened to be hanging out at the station (suitably named "Rotten Robbie’s").The guy had the deer in the headlights look–he had no idea what had happened. I guess a bike hitting a Suburban doesn’t have that dramatic an impact.The driver was suitably horrified and apologetic. He also gave me a ride home since my bike wasn’t rideable and my arm was hurt. It was eventually deemed broken after a second X-rays.I suspect that if this guy had seen you he would have either (a) fled the scene or (b) stopped to help, not (c) gone into a building where he could easily be found and arrested (or would that be merely cited?) for a hit and run.

60. Comment by Unknown | 11.8.2005 | 1:25 am

    P.S. Since I didn’t answer your questions in my previous post:(1) What should I have done differently, if anything?Hmm, it’s a tough call since you weren’t in need of repair. But if there were expenses needed to fix you or the bike, you could have left a note saying what happened and that you would like him to contact you. And that you have his license plate number. Seems preferable to me vs. hunting him down in church.(2) When you’ve been either hit by — or forced into hitting — a car, how have you reacted (assuming you were conscious and could react at all) I yelled along with the Rotten Robbies chorous. I surprised myself with how loud I was.(3) Is this slink-away-undetected hit-and-run behavior as mind-blowingly strange as it seems to me? Or is it more common than I thought?More common than you’d think. Hit and runs seem to be on the increase. I once had the pleasure of chasing an auto-related hit and run down in Honda Civic. It was shocking that I was able to get close enough to read his license plate.

61. Comment by Unknown | 11.8.2005 | 4:10 pm

    I don’t know Mr.Fat Cyclist. The last 2 months I have been about 4 times (my favorite was when I suddenly was lying on some guys hood enjoying the autumn sky and the dent I had made myself to lie in, but no the fun did not stop there, I then watched some very angry yelling in a foreign language (and ofcourse waving his hands)guy get out of his car, push me off his hood and drive away). Maybe part of the quandary is that I can’t communicate myself to “them” and thus in some deep sick physiological level keep on trying to get hit. Or maybe I don’t understand the rules of the road or the signs here yet, and green means stop. Perhaps it is because I carry my notebook which somehow has learned to project this big sign on it saying hit this cyclist please, I want to be destroyed (yes my notebook hates me, this is one thing in my life I know). Or maybe because I am a blond (sorry I had to put that one in). But I think I know where the problem is, it is in the voodoo effect that since the nice doctor told me that I should not be riding a bike any more since I broke my back, for if I get hit I might be paralyzed as a result. (ha stop riding my bike, yap sure buddy, like I would give up that feeling of cruising past some guy and watching him struggle to catch me but then fade away for no he can not catch me, and yes the champion lives on….wow, I have to stop being so arrogant) So maybe the answer is don’t break your back and you won‘t get hit, maybe the answer is don’t live in a country where they don’t understand you, or maybe the answer is don’t be blond (sorry). I am sorry Mr. Cyclist I do not know your answer to your question, what I do know is these “confrontations” are just another side product of being a cyclist. And we can only hope some trucker does not fall asleep and cream up one day. I guess what I have subsequently say in this rabble is nothing and that I only thing I possess is the knowledge of how to get hit.

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