I lost a good friend of mine today. Andrew Whitlock was 37 years old.

	I lost a good friend of mine today. Andrew Whitlock was 37 years old.
	He was a great engineer and overall rad dude. He was killed while
	riding his bicycle home from work yesterday. The criminal who ran him
	over was evading police due to an earlier incident. They were using
	the bicycle lane as a way to get around the cars stopped in traffic.
	They have no regard for human life. They chose to mow an innocent man
	over to avoid facing the ramifications of their crime and now a
	brilliant engineer, son and friend is no longer alive.

	I recently started riding my bicycle to work a few days a week. I've
	always known the risks of riding on public roadways. I've been an avid
	cyclist since before I could drive. This is not the first time I've
	known someone hit by a motor vehicle but this is the first time I've
	had someone I knew well killed in such a way. And of all the ways to
	have it happen, the most painful thing is that he was doing everything
	correctly. He uses lights, wears a helmet, was riding in the bike
	lane, obeyed traffic signals, everything. Sometimes you're just
	unlucky I guess.

	It started last night, a friend of mine called to make sure I was ok.
	He said some cyclist had been hit in the city and he wanted to make
	sure it wasn't me. This morning I woke up to an article about it in my
	news feed. They had just released the victims name. I couldn't believe
	it at first. I started messaging everyone I knew who would know if it
	was him. I got the first unconfirmed answer around 0930. Andrew hadn't
	shown up for work yet, he was two hours late. A few hours later I
	received an email from a friend who worked with him. It was an email
	from the company they worked at confirming that Andrew had been
	killed in a bicycling accident last night.

	It was weird. It still is weird. It's been a weird day. Maybe it'll
	get easier. Maybe I'll keep riding to work eventually. For now, I
	think I'll be driving to the office. At least for a little while. Once
	the shock of it all wears off and I can really let it sink in that
	this was one of those freak accidents. Once I can go back to
	convincing myself that statistically there are fewer bicycle accidents
	on the roads than car accidents; fewer fatalities. Until then, I'll
	cower in my metal box, endure the soul crushing traffic and bordum
	that inevitably comes.