Dooring

It’s not as bad as , but still making me a little shaken up.

I collected my first door prize this morning. I was riding down Wells, under the L tracks, which gets kind of weird. If you look at this picture, it will help the story:

See how there’s the area on the “outside” of the L tracks, where the cars are parked? I was riding in that area, on the west side of the street (Wells runs south). Some guy opens his car door suddenly, and whammo! I’m knocked over.

Luckily, there were no cars coming (I was knocked into the lane of traffic). The guy held his hand out to me and said “Oh my God, are you okay?”

I shrugged and said “You gotta watch where you’re going, dude.” He apologized. I looked down at my bike, and saw a crack in the plastic guard on the sprocket. The chain was mis-aligned as well.

A little upset, I told the guy I needed his info, since he hit me, and my bike was new, and I needed him to pay for any damage he did, since he was liable (I just read about that the other day). He started getting indignant “I’m sorry, is this the street? No, I think the street is OVER THERE” (pointing to the area under the tracks).

I told him that I was just a little freaked out, since it was a new bike, I had to make sure I could ride it the rest of the way to work, and back home again. I told him I wasn’t trying to be an asshole, but I just wanted his information. So he gave me his card, apologized again, and said he was glad I wasn’t hurt.

I agreed.

So once I got to the office, I pulled the guy’s card out.

He’s a lawyer.

Leave it to me, to get doored by a freakin’ lawyer.

I have to bring my bike into the shop after work anyway (since they still didn’t fix my shifter), so I’m going to have them check it out.

Update – I called the police to see if I should file a police report, and was told that I defintely should. From curb to curb, it’s all street. However, to file a report, I at least need the make/model of his car, preferably the license plate number. The woman on the phone said that his card would not be good enough, since he could have given me anyone’s card. Although I did go to the website on the card, and looked up his profile with the firm. It’s him, and he’s a partner there. I think the guy could totally afford to pay for a new chain guard for me. I’m going to walk down that way after my 10 am meeting to see if I can find his car and write down the info.

Update to the update – I walked over there during lunch, and I’m 99% sure I found his car. I got the license plate number (which as a “Fraternal Order of Police” plate, fantastic), and will be filing a report this afternoon when I figure out which police department to go to.