No More Excuses! Tomorrow's the Day!

[NoNo]

That's awesome! Just think, as you keep riding you'll soon be able to ride all the way up that hill Keep at it!

[ASammy1]

That is fantastic! I am sooo jealous of all you who are able to commute.

I'm only 12 miles from my office, but there just isn't a safe route for me to take

And after reading this on my local Craig's List, I'm not sure commuting is a good idea here...



"dear 40-50 year old driver
of an old white minivan
with wife in passenger seat reaching back
in an attempt to block out the cursing and sheer confusion of a bike rider
from reaching your 3 kids ears and eyes

who then continued to chase you down
only to have you slip out of his fingers on a straight away on constitution blvd

i guess i would just like to know
why?
why did you pull up directly behind me on the road
and lay on your horn
as if to prove something
what could i do?
magically float in the air
so as to avoid the car traveling 35mph behind me
narrowly slowing down
just short of actually running me over?
again i repeat
what do you have to prove
i am doing nothing wrong
there is no bike lane
so i stay to the right hand lane
i even began riding
when little to no traffic was on the road
[you were one of two cars to pass me while i was on first colonial]

if anything
i get it
little biker
big man
you have a car
so you are better
i get it
with the horn
that was, gosh, i mean you really showed me
honking that horn.
just
really good man. scared me a little.
until i realized, there was nothing i could do

now this next action of yours
[and now i would like to apologize for flicking you off]
you see
when you honky tonky on your horn for 35 seconds
it gets annoying to someone, who
can do absolutely nothing about the situation
why did you continue
to ride up next to me?
you hit my elbow with your mirror
and then continued to run me
off of the road
yes
off of the road.
and do you realize we were going around 15 miles an hour at this point?
have you ever seen someone get hit by a car before?
if you have
i will ask you,
why did you do that?
you know, there was no one else around
you could have just as easily
signaled
gone into the left lane
and passed me
just as the 95 year old man did
that passed me seconds before you
see?
no harm done
we all got to where we were going
you safely
and with out the cries of agony and pain
of a bike rider reaching your moldable childrens ears
and
i would have reached the verizon store
without being so confused and exhausted
ready to throw up
because of the events that previously took place

i really wish
that after i got back on my bike
when you looked in your rear view mirror
and saw my face of rage
and realized i was catching up to you

i just really wish
i really do
i wish i could have rode up next to you
and asked
why?
why did you do that?
what did yo have to prove?

if i ever see you again
i will not hesitate

i will throw a wrench through every single one of your windows and slash all your tires.

way less than you did to me.

f******g a$$hole.

with love
yours truly
the raleigh record rider you mowed down on first colonial avenue


if anyone knows who this man was,
i would really like it if you could go up to him
and shake his hand
because
he nearly ended the life of a 24 year old
who was riding to verizon
to ask a question about his cell phone."

[tulip]

Wacky, great job! I'm so glad you did it and had fun.

ASammy, while those incidents are no fun and can be quite serious, I hope it doesn't dissuade you from riding. In my 25+ years of riding, I have been tapped by a car twice. Once was on a very busy street in Boston. The other was while crossing a very busy street in Washington DC in the crosswalk. Happily neither were serious. But in all my riding, that's pretty small beans and I'm certainly not going to let the bullies keep me off my bike.

[kfergos]

Thumbs up for Wacky! Way to go, and good job keeping at it on the hilly parts.

About the scary driver thing: Yes, there are jerks out there who'll gun for you and make your life miserable. But I think it's important for us not to be intimidated by those drivers -- and also not to overreact (as in the Critical Mass fiasco in Seattle). Shame them with your good grace and your uncowed riding; wave and smile at people who honk at you. Keep riding safely and legally. It's the classic "love those who hate you" scheme, and the bonus is that being legal and nice in response to car nastiness is like lemon juice on that irate driver's already raw road rage.

[wackyjacky1]

Thanks to everyone for all your encouragement!!!

This morning I made it up the monster hill without having to stop and walk -- yay me! (Hmmm...should I point out that I was only going 5 mph as I reached the top? Nah, I think I'll keep that tidbit to myself. )

I again had to take two short rest stops on my ride back because of the other, even more killer hill on my return route. But I'm still having a blast on my bike, winded or not.

The jury is still out on the mini toe clips, though...

(sundial, those Basil bags are the shizznit! Super cute! )

[wildhawk]

Way to go WJ!! I wish I could commute to my job - it is only five miles away, but unfortunately I work nightshift and my DH does not want me riding alone at night so I respect his wishes. We do run local errands together on our bikes during the day. Good job on the hill BTW!

[wackyjacky1]

Thanks, wildhawk.

My legs were feeling pretty tired today; I really struggled on the ride home. I think I'll take a rest day tomorrow and drive to work. Besides, I have to be there even earlier on Saturdays...at 3 a.m. there are still a lot of drunks out on the road; I'd feel safer in my car.