Took a yuppie (pink dress shirt) SUV door this evening on my way to my man Kevin's birthday dinner in the West Village. I almost dodged it, but there wasn't a lot of room to maneuver, traffic pretty tight for a sunday evening. I tried to break and cut around when I saw the door starting to open, but the edge clipped my front wheel, which stopped the bike, spilling me sideways and over the bars.

I came through without much damage. No fancy photos to show like before. Just a little bruise and scrape on my arm.

These things happen. It's part of the deal of riding in the city -- which I still think is safe. People are going to open their doors into traffic without thinking. We can't let that scare us off.

This guy who hit me was in the wrong. People are not supposed to open up their car doors into traffic. Since I was pretty sure when I got up that I didn't have any real physical damage, I just let it go, but I could have waited for the police and used my TransAlt spoke card (which has the specific laws you need to reference) to get him to write up an incident report. The pink-shirted yuppie guy would probably get a ticket and I would have a chance to collect something through his insurance agency should I have medical bills or need to replace part of my bicycle.

Still, I'm not gonna call the law on this guy. Maybe if he'd been a horrendus asshole I would have, but he was spooked and apologetic. I didn't want to be a dick about it, so I didn't try to guilt trip him into money for my wheel or anything either. Just walked it off and went to dinner. Selah.

So I'm fine, but the bike is going to have issues. The front wheel is a total loss, and there may now be enough damage overall to render it kaput. It's been through three real falls, a lot of rough riding and years of being locked up on the street, and that's just since I got my hands on it. The frame dates from the late 80's/early 90's, and it was originally owned in Hawaii, which I know because it still has the Honalulu bike registration sticker. I bought it from Pedal Revolutions, a used bike barn in the Mission, so it may have had other owners in California as well. Then I brought it to New York City, and now this.

Lately, it's been really pulling to the left and I've realized that the core triangle of the frame is out of whack. The headset is also coming loose, requiring daily hand-tightening. Now I think it might not be worth sinking any more money into. It's been my plan to give it to Frank to strip for parts when I take off in June anyway, so it seems like the bell is tolling.

Ok for now. Next week I'll be 27. Oh man.