Let's get back to the point of the story. This story wasn't about the rules of the road, because I actually was behaving legally (sorry I was incorrectly informed by the second post, but after looking up the laws, which by the way are very vague, I realized I did nothing wrong.). I was traveling in the shoulder as my own lane and obeying the rules of the road. I also made the judgment call and behaved safely, when I made it a point to get in front of the driver, on the shoulder, so that I was visible. She clearly saw me, but she also clearly tried to intimidate and hurt me with her vehicle. That's not acceptable. And that was the point of the story. This is what happens to cyclists everyday. This is the type of behavior that gets people killed or injured, it's called road rage. A lot of people think they own the roads with their cars. This wasn't a situation where I was being careless and in someones blind spot and almost went over their trunk. No. Someone intentionally tried to make me crash. I'm quite frankly a little disappointed that so many people on this thread have the mindset that cyclists don't quite have the right to be on the road, that we should tiptoe around people in cars. Furthermore, in saying some of the things that have been said, there seems to be some blame placed on the cyclists for the actions of irrational drivers. This is the problem with the cycling community. I feel like we should support each other when there has been wrong doing. I'm not saying it's okay for us to be weaving in and out of traffic and riding erratically, and act like we own the road, this was hardly a situation like that (but there are certainly people who ride like that). But we do share the road, and motorists have a responsibility too. I drive, and I would never behave the way this lady did. I consider it my responsibility to look out for cyclists (as well as pedestrians, etc.), especially in the area I was in that has tons of cyclists. Riding on the road is dangerous no matter what, and we constantly have to make judgment calls about how to safely ride our bikes on them. But, this does not excuse the drivers that intentionally try to intimidate and hurt us everyday.

-Jessica