My first collision

Well, it has finally happened to me, and I am certainly feeling pretty lucky.

I was biking down Lincoln and going at a good clip towards the light at Diversey. I see a black SUV parking and it looks like it's finished, so I'm keeping on going. There's a line of cars waiting for the light, but the bike lane is clear other than the parked car. I approach the car and at some point when I was really close, it pulls back out into the bike lane. By this point I'm between the SUV and there's another car approaching the light. I manage to swerve and break, but I start fishtailing and my thighs brush against both cars...I think. I also feel the back of my bike hit something. I'm still going forward and fortunately I have the presence of mind to unclip from my pedals and I'm able to come to a stop.

I check to make sure I'm okay and the bike is okay. It seems that it was just my rack that hit the car and it's fine.

I went back and I think I was pretty calm. I was definitely shaking and probably talking ridiculously fast. The lady was really concerned and didn't care at all about the scratch on the car. She said that she was going to be a lot more careful. She even offered to have me go and get a manicure with her at the salon, which I guess was her destination. SInce I was okay, I declined and biked home.

Now I'm realizing how much I really lucked out. It's not very often that one can come away from an incident and have it be the suv that is damaged more than the bike. I'll probably be a little more careful when threading the needle.

At least I know my reflexes work. Yay for instincts.