That seems to be the real question in the debate over the future of Market Street.

And evidently, it's a question that we'll all have a chance to ponder for the rest of the decade; it was announced earlier this month that the project to rip up San Francisco's most important thoroughfare and put it back together again (but better) won't get going for another four years -- and will then require another two years to finish.

So rephrasing the question to take into account the extended schedule: what kind of city do we want ... no sooner than 2019?

Whatever the time frame, the answer isn't going to be reached without a fight. As it was announcing the delay, the Department of Public Works doubled-down on pissing off vast swaths of the city strategy by releasing three distinct policy visions for the Better Market Street project -- two of which do not include the construction of separated bike lanes on Market.

Last Saturday morning, a woman authorities identified as 48-year-old Diane Sullivan was killed while riding her bike along King Street.

As I write this, privy to no more information other than what was widely reported earlier this week, I don't feel qualified to say anything about the accident itself other than to state the obvious: It is an unspeakably horrible thing to have happened and a tragedy for everyone involved.

Beyond that, I can only issue the predictable (and maybe futile) post-tragedy call to thoughtfulness. That's a request that the implications of what's happened be considered; that it not be shrugged off as another gruesome inevitability of life in a crowded city; that, at the very least, we use this as an opportunity to talk earnestly about road safety and not use it as fodder in the typical back-and-forth over which kind of vehicle bears more responsibility for carnage and lawlessness on the road.

I hope, in other words, that comments like "I wonder what traffic laws SHE was breaking at the time?", posted on the Snitch's first report on the incident, or "Sounds like vehicular homicide to me," posted on SFist's take on the story, are not representative of the general take-away from the death of Sullivan, (who according to other news outlets went by Diana).

Not just because those comments are callous and speculative (they are), but because with them the discussion ends.

The nice thing about being one of the few people at my office who regularly shows up to work on a bike is that whenever one of my colleagues is puzzling over which bike route to take to the Mission, or needs some advice about basic bike maintenance, or wants to tell someone about an especially fun weekend ride, I am the go-to guy.

The not-so-nice thing about being one of the few people at my office who regularly shows up to work on a bike is that whenever one of my colleagues wants to complain about how cyclists always blow through stop signs, or feels like venting about bike traffic on Valencia Street, or needs someone to provide moral justification for Critical Mass at 10 a.m., I am the go-to guy.

Which is exactly what happened yesterday morning when a coworker called me over to the water cooler to ask a question on road etiquette.

"So if I'm driving down Divisadero," she said, setting the scene from her previous afternoon, "And there's a bicyclist pedaling in front of me, and she's going really slowly along the entire length of the street, and there's a line of cars forming behind me, and there's traffic speeding by to our left, and the bicyclist has planted herself in the middle of the lane, and there's a perfectly good bike lane just a few blocks over -- it still my fault if I accidentally run her over?"

Maybe you've heard the rumors. Lane-splitting, stop-sign-flouting, tax-evading cyclists have seized control of City Hall.

It's true -- I read all about it on the Internet.

It all started earlier this week when the cycle-sympathizing quislings at the SFMTA put forth a new six-year plan to dramatically increase municipal spending on bike projects. Presented at an agency board meeting on Tuesday, the Draft Bicycle Strategy offered three distinct investment scenarios, ranging from the modest $60 million "Bicycle Plan Plus" to the over half-a-billion-dollar "System Build-out Scenario" -- the Cadillac of urban planning initiatives specifically designed to make it inconvenient to own a Cadillac.

I was biking along Oak Street recently when this question popped into my mind: "What the fuck do you want from me, dear cranky driver?"

To be honest, the question didn't exactly "pop" into my mind, rhetorical and apropos of nothing, but was pushed to the fore of my thinking by one driver in particular.

Specifically, the driver of a green sedan who was trying to edge his way around me -- despite the steady stream of traffic on his left and the wall of parked cars on my right -- as me both made our way past the DMV.

Everyone is talking about Lance Armstrong. "Will Armstrong go to prison?" ponders the Guardian. "What's the Oprah angle?" asks the New York Times. "Should we forgive Lance Armstrong?" the Chronicle asks its readers (spoiler alert: We should, comes the ruling from The Mommy Files, but not before he has earned his atonement through indentured servitude and public shaming.)

It isn't just the media. I hear it from my friends and family. I see it on Facebook and on Twitter. One of my co-workers, bless his heart, seems legitimately aggrieved by the whole ordeal.

And so given that just about everyone is offering their two cents on this latest object of national indignation, I feel obligated as a guy who tries to write thoughtfully and knowledgably about topical issues relating to cycling, to offer my own thoughts on the matter:

• Come and get it!

I don't know bikes, but I do know fancy. And this appears to be a fancy bike.

Earlier today, a trio of BART employees gathered around this abandoned cycle at Balboa Park Station and ogled its nifty components. The front wheel is affixed with an eye-catching single-sided front fork, and the cycle features disc brakes -- both indicators this is a pricey vehicle. Also, it's a Cannondale.

Several cycling aficionados contacted by SF Weekly priced this bike from the high hundreds possibly into the thousands. Granted, you can blow a lot more on a bike. But this is still a fairly valuable property to leave chained, for months, in a BART station. If it's yours, you better act soon.

See also: Cops Release Photos of Recovered Stolen Bikes

Good news for all cyclists who would really like to not get hit by a car this year. The notoriously menacing intersection at Octavia Boulevard and Market Street will finally get an automated traffic camera to catch those speeding drivers.

After years of lobbying, legislative wrangling, and legal deliberation, transportation leaders announced last week that any driver ballsy enough to make the illegal right-turn from Market onto the freeway should soon expect swift, robotic justice. It will look something like this: a cornea-searing flash in their rearview mirror, followed by a hefty fine in their mailbox.