Day 20 - 30 Days of Biking

As a girl who rides alone a lot, I was reminded
why I carry a taser when I rode my bike tonight

 I was all excited for Day 20 of 30 Days of Biking because my mom had invited me over for dinner and I was going to ride to her place instead of drive.  As I pedaled along, I noticed very quickly that I wasn’t feeling very good on the bike.  I couldn’t get into a good rhythm and my legs felt more like noodles than pistons.  Everything was a struggle for me and I secretly started to wish that I had driven instead of biked – not like me at all.  My speed was slow too which frustrated me even more.  I don’t do many things slow; I like to push myself most of the time and I certainly don’t like others to pass me while I’m riding, but that is exactly with was happening.  Two cyclists effortlessly cruised by…..then a third.  Nothing like being humbled by a few guys who clearly had their shit together….I was pissed.  As I got closer to my mom’s I couldn’t help but be thankful that soon I’d be able to get off the bike, eat, and then hope the ride home went a little better.  I was about half a mile from where the trail merges onto a path that runs alongside the street that leads to my mom’s house when suddenly the trail ended.  It was all tore up and just mud and broken concrete.  That was fine though, I could simple get on the road for the little ways I had left to go. 

Trying to relax with my dog once
I got to my mom's

On the street I came to a stoplight and when it turned green I pushed on through and made a left.  I was now on a pretty busy road, but only had two stoplights and a left turn till my destination.  Of course I had my lights going and rode to the right just like I’m supposed to, following “the rules of the road.”  Then right before one of the lights at an intersection, a car came roaring up alongside me in the turn lane and the driver rolled his window down and screamed at me to “GET THE F@%$ OFF THE ROAD!!”  His shouting startled me, causing me to “jump” the way people do when they’ve had the shit scared out of them which in turn caused my bike to wobble for a second.  I stayed up though, thank goodness.  Dazed, I couldn’t believe this jerk yelled at me for just riding along and minding my own business.  I mean I've had people honk and stuff before, but this was a form of anger I hadn't experienced yet.  Obviously the fact that he had to slightly slow down before he could turn bothered him enough that he felt it necessary to go off on me.  Cautiously, I rode the remaining couple of blocks to my mom’s and got off the bike, relieved to be ok, but very angry that this guy thought he could throw his weight around at whoever he wanted.  It was pretty clear that that moron had never read over a driver’s manual as it states that cyclists have a right to ride on the road, they just need to follow the rules like everyone else.  I tried to shake it off, but for the rest of the night I was pretty mad.  It was a pretty bad ride but I was glad that I had made it safely and would be around to be Loving the Bike another day.