A little tip for all you riders out there - novice or not. Make sure you have your signals - both verbal and non-verbal down with your cycling partners. I went yesterday with a male friend of mine who is a strong Cat 1 mountain biker. Luckily I convinced him to road ride but nonetheless he pulled for most of the ride. We approached a road crossing, he slowed and I was right behind him, looking left and right and smacked straight into him! Instead of seizing the lapse in traffic and breezing through, he fully stopped and didn't say anything. Because I was watching traffic I ran right into him. Whopps! I have a horrendous bruise on my arm where I hit his seat post. Lesson learned - make sure you have your signals down. Lucky for me I only bruised my arm and had no damage to his bike. Dope!