It looks as if, for the time being, I'll be posting two rides or so at a time: the previous day's ride home and the current day's ride in. Until I get into the habit of being on the computer at home, this is just how it's going to be. I'm also not sure I'm going to post every commute still, but yesterday's ride out really pissed me off and I want to blow off some steam (yes, I wear anger for a while).
Stats:
Maximum speed: 30.59 mph
Average speed: 13.7 mph
Distance: 7.57 mi
Time: 0.33.09
I took basically the same ride out as I did in, and I am not sure how I managed to add .8 miles. The chain joyfully hopped out over the big ring again (before I got off campus, at least), and it was squeak-squeak-squeaky, which was just annoying. I'd had a long day at school and just wanted to be home.
Anyway, I will preface my frustration with the statement that I am one of the most law-abiding cyclists out there. It's how my dad taught me, it's the law, it's just the right thing. That said, I was riding up toward an underpass through a residential area. There were cars parked along the side of the road, and it was one lane in the direction I was headed in. At the underpass, the lane split into a left-only turn lane and another lane, which was basically the one I was in anyway (I was headed straight). The stretch between the last parked car and the light was 50-100 feet (not long, but I'm no good at judging distances), so I stayed in the center of my lane and came up and stopped behind a car that was stopped at the light. Another car, windows down, pulls into the turn lane next to me.
Driver: (very politely) It's three feet, isn't it?
Me: (thinking he's asking for verification) yes, it's three feet, and thank you
Driver: no, that's the law, three feet, right? And you have to give three feet, too
Me: (confused as to how to explain why I don't have to be in the shoulder) well, there are cars, sir (gestures toward the line of parked cars behind her)
(the light changes)
Driver: three feet, you also have to give three feet and get over, (starts driving) that's what sharing is (pulls away angrily and makes a right turn across my path)
Me: (stands there, heart racing, shaking, dumbfounded, frustrated, and angry; proceeds to ride the rest of the way home in tears, mentally finishing the conversation at least 15 times)
The thing is, he wasn't a dick about it at all, he was just a total dick. I think he was angry (obviously), but was very polite in his tone, but the way he pulled off with what amounted to a parting "fuck you!" and his own righteous (and misdirected) indignation marked him as an enemy for life. Dick.
ETA: I just checked google maps, and it is about 200' between the last parked car and the cross-walk. I still maintain that the guy was a total dick and that I was in the right for staying in the lane, I just hate to be factually inaccurate.
===
Got on the bike this morning, and immediately picked up the argument where it had left off. So unfair!
Stats:
Maximum speed: 30.31 mph
Average speed: 13.32 mph
Distance: 6.88 mi
Time: 30.59
Tonight are the hills of Buckhead.
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