It was very sad to hear about the death of Rob Jefferies. I didn't know Rob personally, but we had met a couple of times and we had ridden at some of the same events. There was a ride in his memory yesterday and over 70 cyclists took part.

Tragic events like this one really make me think about the potential dangers of cycling on the roads and how, as a cyclist, I am forced to risk my life every time I exercise my right to be part of the traffic.

The front page of the paper today is a story about a hit and run involving a cyclist and there have been a few similar articles recently. Are we seeing an increase in the number of incidents or just more reporting of these?

Last week I was overtaken by a bus whilst riding down a hill in Poole. I was travelling at the speed limit and I had already clearly indicated to the bus to stay back, but he ignored this and chose to partially overtake me before pulling in, forcing me to the kerb. All this took place whilst we were approaching a blind bend at the bottom of the hill.

I wonder why this bus driver was prepared to risk my life in order to break the speed limit and save himself no more than two seconds.

He certainly was quite happy to bully me using his vehicle as a weapon and what could I do? Report him to his employer? It never seems to get any response so why bother.

Over the last couple of weeks I have had comments suggesting that this blog isn't entertaining enough. To be honest, I don't set out to entertain, there may be occasions where my writing raises a smile, but I am more interested in trying to inform and educate people about the issues faced by cyclists every day.

I have also been accused of being anti-bike, which is obviously not the case. I am very much pro-cycling, but I am also the first to admit that not all cyclists are good and some break the rules and cause a nuisance.

Similarly not all drivers are bad and I think that a balanced viewpoint needs to be represented as all too often it's the extreme views that get voiced the loudest.

I first started writing this blog after discussing the issue of whether the Echo was anti-cycling or not with a friend of mine who also happens to be a reporter. He called my bluff and said why don't you write something that's pro-cycling to address any imbalance.

In order to respond to the lack of entertainment, to finish off this week, here's a conscious effort to raise a smile!

I was attacked on my ride to work this morning! It appears that my attacker had been lying in wait for quite some time and I was completely unaware of their presence until the assault took place.

As I rode along the quiet street I was enjoying the cool morning air, when splat! A bird of some kind managed to launch its payload with pinpoint accuracy and plaster my left glove, handlebar, shorts and leg with its horrible smelly mess!

It must have taken quite a bit of planning calculating my speed long with wind conditions to hit the target so accurately.

Apparently it's supposed to be good lucky but considering my gloves had only just been washed and I need to ride home wearing the same kit and trying to remember not to wipe my face with my left hand, I don't feel that lucky!

Based on information supplied by David Brown.