Man, what a crazy ride home we had today! I think it must be a full moon or something...
I'm not going to post the whole story....I wrote it, but it made me so angry that I erased it. The Reader's Digest version: we had a verbal exchange with a motorist regarding our right to a) be on the road and b) occupy the shoulder at a traffic light that culminated in him saying, "You'd better get on the sidewalk or you're gonna get hurt". :eek: As soon as it was safe to pull over, DH called the police to file a report. Fortunately, we had a description of him, the vehicle, and the plate number. DH received a call back from a trooper, just wanting to make sure that we were ok, and notifying us that a bulletin had been issued for the vehicle. Yay Delaware State Police!
On a much more positive note, we saw another bike commuter on the MUT down by the Riverfront. We've seen a couple of recreational riders, and the bike-mounted security patrol rolls through periodically, but I think this was the first other bike we'd seen with panniers and the whole commuter deal :) After the whole aggressive motorist thing, it was the kind of boost that I needed.
All in all, today gives me hope that law enforcement is willing to take cyclists seriously and that bicycling is catching on here. Delaware's got a big serious recreational cyclist population, but practical cycling and commuting are still somewhat of an enigma to many folks here. We've a long way to go before we'll come close to Portland or Seattle, but every little bit helps :)
