Yah Wooo! Awesome day!

It's so nice to have a day like this once in a while - it balances out the bad days.

First of all, I rode my bike 32 miles. That's the furthest I've gone this year and I felt like I could've gone further if I'd had more time available. I can't wait to see how far I'll go next year. I think I'll shoot for 67 because that would be to the next nearest town. I was really happy with how well I did. I averaged 15mph and wasn't at all tired when I was done. Not bad for a 40-yr-old who's never been athletic in her entire life! Hopefully I'll have the chance to do it a couple more times before the snow flies.

Two old farts deliberately ran me off the road, though. Both of them honked and gave me dirty looks before pushing me off onto a nearly nonexistent shoulder. One was dumb enough to do it right before a stoplight that turned red. I went right up to him and read him the riot act. He said "Well what the hell are you thinking, riding right out in the middle of the road like that?" and then he proceeded to [I]order[I] me to ride on the sidewalk in the future! Poor old guy heard words he probably hadn't heard in years. :rolleyes:

I rarely find myself riding in traffic so it was a new experience for me. It felt kind of good yelling at him, though. I normally don't have that kind of courage.

Then, I got home and had a nice surprise in the mail! Last week my son had bought me a gift card from a bike shop, for my birthday, but he lost it immediately. He called the bike shop and they canceled it but refused to issue him another one. So I wrote the manager a letter saying telling him what happened. In the letter, I named all the stuff I was planning to buy this Winter and in the Spring and said that I realized they were a very successful business and the loss of one customer wouldn't mean much to them, but that I wondered how much more successful they'd be if they had better customer service and told them I'd be giving all of my business to the other bike shop in the future. The manager called me and explained that it had just been a misunderstanding and told me he'd mail me a new gift card. I was OK with that but still planned on never shopping there again once I spent the gift card, but when I got it in the mail today it also included a free bicycle tune-up and a "Happy Birthday" message! That was sweet - and I really do need a tune-up, so I'm happy. shhhhh don't tell him, but I still don't plan on shopping there much - when he's not there, the service is awful! One time they sold me a pair of XC skis that were too stiff for me and they were really rude when I brought them back for a softer pair, and they also don't know much at all about bicycles.

Awesome day, though. Yay yay!