It must be the gas prices. That is all I can guess. The ride season has only just begun, but the drivers are in mid-summer form already. So easily agitated, so quick to yell with flavorful language. People are edgy already, and it is only May. It must be the gas prices.
And Joe Average Driver is not the only one agitated. I was actually pulled over the other day during a ride. He pulled me over with his lights AND his siren on. Apparently the police are unhappy as well, what with budget cut-backs. They are feeling the pressure to issue revenue generating tickets. He stopped my for running a red light, which is true, I did run it. But I ran it in a safe way so as not to impede traffic. After we discussed it for a while, he did not issue me a citation, but I get the feeling he is watching for me. Really, is this what we are down to now? Pulling over cyclists to gin up the revenue stream?
So, it should come as no surprise that on my last 2 rides, I have had drivers yelling F bombs at me for no apparent reason. I, of course, returned fire with some choice words of my own. But in light of my scrape with the law, I have been unusually vigilant, and careful to obey as many laws as possible, so I don't know what it is I am doing to piss them off.
What has drivers so riled up already? It must be the gas prices. Oil is dropping, will the price of gas go with it? Let's hope so, and then I will report whether or not it effects the mood of our drivers.
Safe travels today.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Hey, I am back
It has been quite a while since I posted anything. I had enjoyed an unprecedented period of tranquility on the roads, happily co-existing with my car-driving counterparts. I went weeks without a single incident to close out my 2010 riding season, and then it was closed out in a disappointing way. Here is a recap.
The weekend of June 4, 2010 I traveled to Nashville to take part in the Harpeth River Ride, sponsored by Nissan. It was an awesome event, the ride launched from Nissan HQ, and meandered out into the hill country and back to the HQ. It was 90 plus, and very humid. It rained briefly during the ride, and this would be the theme for the rest of my big event rides last season. The Century course clocked out at around 105 miles. It was a tough day in the saddle. I am going again in June 2011, more on that in a future blog.
The following weekend I flew to Seattle for the Livestrong ride in that city. This was my fist visit to Seattle, and I must say that it was a stunningly beautiful city saddled with the most unfortunate weather the side of London.
The weather was clear, sunny and warm the day we arrived, and was decent on Saturday as well. The forecast for Sunday, the ride day, was a high of 65, and 10 percent chance of rain. Not bad for Seattle in early June. We knew it would be chilly in the early hours at ride start, so we ventured to a local bike shop and bought some leg warmers, which would proved invaluable.
Sunday morning, as we prepped for the ride, I made a decision to put my wind jacket (which smashes down into a tiny bag) in my jersey pocket. This decision would save my ride. In a nutshell, it never hit 65. The temps topped out at 52, and it rained steadily for 85 miles. In Seattle, that must mean 10 percent....
The course itself was a beauty, featuring 2 well known climbs; Tiger Mountain, and Cougar Mountain. Tiger came early on, and was a nice climb. Cougar came at the 80 mile mark, your reward for suffering for the previous rain soaked 79 miles. It was a mile or so long, and tilted up 16 percent. It was brutal, and there were no cougars, either four legged or two legged around. Many riders were pushing, and i have to admit, I considered it briefly, but only briefly.
Many riders were flagged off the course by EMS staff for hypothermia. They were caught ill prepared for the actual weather. I saw one guy at a rest stop whose lips were completely blue, needless to say, he was flagged.
I didn't do any organized rides until August, when I did the local Tour Du Lacs Century early in the month, and saw a rider take a hard fall, landing on his head. I found out later he nearly died, and was in the hospital for quite a while. Thankfully, I believe he has recovered.
Then I did the Philadelphia Livestrong ride. This was my fourth time to do this, and I really like it. The city is great, and the course is challenging. This ride would not end well, and would effectively finish my 2010 ride season. About 25 miles into the ride, my drive train failed epically, breaking the chain, and damaging the deraillieur and frame. I had to take the SAG wagon back to the finish. As a result, my bike was in the shop for the next 5 weeks, including returning the frame to Trek for repairs. Thankfully, this was all under warranty.
So, that was the end of my season. I lost out on doing to Tour De Ford, a fund raiser for the Henry Ford Hospitals, and worst of all, I lost out on doing Levi Leipheimers King Ridge Gran Fondo. My bike was back in time, but my fitness was not up to the challenge, so I bagged it.
So that is my recap. Safe travels today.
The weekend of June 4, 2010 I traveled to Nashville to take part in the Harpeth River Ride, sponsored by Nissan. It was an awesome event, the ride launched from Nissan HQ, and meandered out into the hill country and back to the HQ. It was 90 plus, and very humid. It rained briefly during the ride, and this would be the theme for the rest of my big event rides last season. The Century course clocked out at around 105 miles. It was a tough day in the saddle. I am going again in June 2011, more on that in a future blog.
The following weekend I flew to Seattle for the Livestrong ride in that city. This was my fist visit to Seattle, and I must say that it was a stunningly beautiful city saddled with the most unfortunate weather the side of London.
The weather was clear, sunny and warm the day we arrived, and was decent on Saturday as well. The forecast for Sunday, the ride day, was a high of 65, and 10 percent chance of rain. Not bad for Seattle in early June. We knew it would be chilly in the early hours at ride start, so we ventured to a local bike shop and bought some leg warmers, which would proved invaluable.
Sunday morning, as we prepped for the ride, I made a decision to put my wind jacket (which smashes down into a tiny bag) in my jersey pocket. This decision would save my ride. In a nutshell, it never hit 65. The temps topped out at 52, and it rained steadily for 85 miles. In Seattle, that must mean 10 percent....
The course itself was a beauty, featuring 2 well known climbs; Tiger Mountain, and Cougar Mountain. Tiger came early on, and was a nice climb. Cougar came at the 80 mile mark, your reward for suffering for the previous rain soaked 79 miles. It was a mile or so long, and tilted up 16 percent. It was brutal, and there were no cougars, either four legged or two legged around. Many riders were pushing, and i have to admit, I considered it briefly, but only briefly.
Many riders were flagged off the course by EMS staff for hypothermia. They were caught ill prepared for the actual weather. I saw one guy at a rest stop whose lips were completely blue, needless to say, he was flagged.
I didn't do any organized rides until August, when I did the local Tour Du Lacs Century early in the month, and saw a rider take a hard fall, landing on his head. I found out later he nearly died, and was in the hospital for quite a while. Thankfully, I believe he has recovered.
Then I did the Philadelphia Livestrong ride. This was my fourth time to do this, and I really like it. The city is great, and the course is challenging. This ride would not end well, and would effectively finish my 2010 ride season. About 25 miles into the ride, my drive train failed epically, breaking the chain, and damaging the deraillieur and frame. I had to take the SAG wagon back to the finish. As a result, my bike was in the shop for the next 5 weeks, including returning the frame to Trek for repairs. Thankfully, this was all under warranty.
So, that was the end of my season. I lost out on doing to Tour De Ford, a fund raiser for the Henry Ford Hospitals, and worst of all, I lost out on doing Levi Leipheimers King Ridge Gran Fondo. My bike was back in time, but my fitness was not up to the challenge, so I bagged it.
So that is my recap. Safe travels today.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)