I got doored today by a woman getting out of a cab. I was about 1 block away from my apartment, and my concentration was wandering to the tasks for the rest of my day (Hadoop World, etc.) Letting up for 1 second means danger. NYC is a terrible place to ride a bike. I was riding along at about 10 mph and passing cars on the right hand side. Boom! Woman opens door right into me. My left shoulder takes the brunt of the impact. My new iPhone ejects onto the street, but miraculously only the tiniest scratch results. I pick up my phone and try to regain my composure. I could only utter, “It’s your responsibility.” Naturally, the woman tries to blame me! She says there was nothing she could have done. She claims since there was a red light (there wasn’t) that my smashing into the door SHE OPENED was my fault. I sarcastically say, “Thank you very much,” and ride home.

Now I have a large contusion on my left shoulder muscle, and my right elbow hurts when I extend it.