I have decided to take a break from road riding.

Last night, after work, I went on a road ride. On one of the first fast downhill sections, a dually work truck passed me very closely and cut in right after he got by. The only problem was that he was pulling a long, flatbed trailer, which pushed me off the road and onto the dirt. Thank goodness I started mountain biking, because it gave me the skills and confidence to keep myself from doing a header into a tree.

Heading into the second half of my ride, I was on a straight road - you could see me for miles- and I saw several cars approaching me from behind (I always wear a helmet mirror). The third car back was a jacked up pickup truck with extra large mirrors. As they approached, I could see that he was over toward the side of the road so far that the mirror disappeared behind my head - This particular road was pretty torn up over the winter, so the edge of the road was not rideable at all. As he got closer, all I could think to do was to drop down onto my cross bar and duck as low as I could get - the mirror passed over me, but I had to try to ride through broken up asphalt. Again, love those mountain biking skills.

To get home, I have to ride over the Conneticut River, on a really well traveled road, but the road has a very wide shoulder so I thought that at least there, I could relax a little. As I was about half way over the bridge, I noticed a white car coming from behind, but instead of staying in his lane, he was drifting onto the shoulder. As I was on a bridge, I had nowhere to go. And there was a biker killed on that bridge by a drunk driver a few years ago and I literally thought that it was a good thing I had my Road ID, so that they could identify my body right away. I actually thought I was dead. And then the car slowed as it approached, leaned on the horn, a guy screamed at me out the window and then threw trash at me. Not young teenagers, either, but probably in their 20's.

I rode the remaining 5-6 miles to my car, sat in it and cried. Last year, I gave up road riding for awhile because of the close calls I had. But I figured I didn't want them to win and went back out this year with a vengence. But now, I just can't take it anymore and I would rather live to fight another day- So with sadness, I am saying goodbye to my road bike for awhile.....