Gave serious, serious consideration about riding to the High Trestle after work. What the fuck, it would add another 80 miles to my day. No big deal. But as soon as I stepped outside 6200 park Ave my dreams ended. Strong wind. I fought the bastard all the way home. Face up, go home and think about dinner. I missed dinner yesterday.
Twasn't that bad of a wind. I never pulled over to cry and beg for mercy and raise a fist at God and shout "is that the best you can do?". Just strong enough to make me realise that any significant ride today would be be much longer than I really wanted or was able to do. Vampire Wind it is. Slowly sucks the life out of you. So I slogged forward into it on my home contemplating my next move and then forgot about it. Shit average speed. Like I really work on average speed while commuting on a heavy touring bike.
Eventually I made it to the intersection of the trail and Flagg near the football field. 3 cars on both directions. No big deal. Patiently wait for them to get out of my way. I don't think I unclipped. Being aware that I may have to stopped I slowed down ahead of time and was prepped for track stand practice.
Soon enough it was time to cross. I made a mental note to remember to downshift before intersections so I can accelerate quickly when crossing. Forgot to do that this time. Looking up I see a woman on a red Giant road bike. Green shirt, not a jersey. Sunglasses and pale skin. She looked at my fat ass and said "You think they'd stop for us." Expression of her impatience for lacking the right away.
Honestly, I have no clue how long she had been there. Could have been there since 545 am as far as I knew. But now it was nearing 4 pm and the traffic on Flagg was picking up. Pre-rush hour. I am at this intersection 5 days per week. The only time I thought it sucked was when the Fleur Viaduct was under construction. Traffic diverted. The best time to be here is during flood season, assuming, of course, that Water Works and the trail is not deluged. But that was not the case today.
Here I was bumming about wind and potential rainfall and barely noticing a need to wait a few seconds or 30 for all the cagers to clear out. Maybe I am used to waiting a minute or less here. And I certainly was not expecting or demanding that a car stop to let me through. They have the right of way. I have a stop sign. And there have been plenty of times that I have blown through this intersection like a bat out of hell..
I really hate it when cars stop to let me cross. Most of the time it is the last car out of 4 vehicles. Kind gesture but I don't need your charity. Just get the fuck out of my way so I can resume with my life. Instead of wishing that they stop and part the sea for my princess ass I wish that they were not driving in the first place. Don't need your charity for I am not handicapped and I actually feel sorry for you driving. But the rule of the road is right of way and when you lack it you either sieze it or wait for it or find a way around it.
I did not say anything to her. I wondered, however, how bad of a driver she is. Would this be the person so impatient at a gas station that she floor it to cut someone off and then lose control and ram the gas pumps and cause a fire? How would she react to the stop lights in the suburbs? Good grief, you can be a red light for 5 minutes.
But maybe she needed to use the kybo. Who am I to judge? Have not ridden a metric in her shoes. It is just a few cars. There will be a clearing soon enough on this warm March day.
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