"What are you doing?!". That is what I shouted at the van driver this morning who nearly knocked me off.

He has slowed in the middle of the road and started to move to the right; I wrongly assumed that he was in fact going to turn right. He then moved across to the left to park in the parking space that was now directly on my left. I was in the clearly marked cycle lane that was between the van and the space.

I braked sharply and yelled a loud "Hey!" to make him aware of my presence - although considering he had overtaken me a few seconds earlier he should have already known that I was there. He then stopped and went around the outside of him and yelled that phrase mentioned above.

I think he waved an apology and looked a bit sheepish as he realised his error, but to be honest it all happened very quickly and I'm not 100% sure. What I do know is that we both went on our way and, from my part at least, there is no malice. No need to report it in the paper with a headline of "Horror incident nearly knocks off cyclist!", after all, it was just a minor incident, not even an accident.

With the weather warming up this type of incident seems to be getting more common, last week on Wednesday I think I was invisible as I counted four close calls. One of these was a lady with her dog walking out in front of me at the roundabout by Boscombe Pier - it was only last year that a cyclist died in exactly these circumstances.

On a lighter note, just in case you didn't already know, this week is Bikeweek! (http://www.bikeweek.org.uk/) Team Green Britain Bike Week takes place from Saturday 19th - Sunday 27th June and is an annual opportunity to promote cycling and to show how cycling can easily be part of everyday life. Demonstrating the social, health and environmental benefits of cycling, the week aims to get people to give cycling a go all over the UK.

Bike Week is the UK's largest mass participation cycling event and provides an annual opportunity to promote cycling as a source of fitness and fun, not to mention an alternative form of transport. This year, Bike Week 2010 is encouraging everyone to 'get more out of life'- by getting on your bikes, exploring your local community and finding out just how convenient cycling is for all those short trips we make each day. Thousands of events will inspire people to hop on their bikes and discover the benefits and pleasures of cycling locally.

Over half of all car journeys are less than five miles long, so by switching them to an easy thirty minute bike ride, you’ll save money, find new places you didn’t know existed, shrink your carbon footprint and get fit too!