Bikelove and bad drivers

i FINALLY got out and rode today! only the second time that i have
ridden in a month... whew. it felt great to get out there today!!!!
i was an idiot though... i LOVE my fixed gear bike. i love it so
much. i was very excited to ride and thought nothing of doing 30+
miles on my fixie. this is where i am dumb.

see- my fixed gear bike is not exactly built for comfort. it has no
pretense of shock absorption and has narrow handle bars and not many
places to grip. normally, it would be fine to do 2 hours on it and i
would enjoy myself... but when one has not christened a saddle in an
overly long time... such a ride is a bit, uh, unpleasant! i also
have to say that i dearly missed the saddle on my road bike! san
marco... thank you! thank you! this, uh, was not that saddle and i
rather missed my normal saddle. (i swear, some saddle companies are
not operating in accordance with the geneva convention!)

anyway, so as much as i loved riding today- i was struggling being so
uncomfortable on the bike. but, i still enjoyed myself and it was
beautiful out today. the leaves are starting to turn and we were
missing our latest crazy of thundershowers and drear. so, i was
happy to enjoy being out in a rare good day.

i was enjoying myself, riding along being a good cyclist- in a lane
that was at least a lane and a half- lost in my thoughts when i was
made aware of a driver who was not thrilled with my mere presence on
this great earth. apparently, i was an affront to his being, as he
yelled "get the hell out of the road you asshole! use the f*&^ing
bike path!". it caught me rather off guard. i try hard to be a good
cyclist and rarely have confrontations with cars. usually, when a
car is pissed at me- it is usually because of something that i have
done. in this case, i was merely riding along with PLENTY of room
(he did not swerve to move and STILL had about a half a car width
between him and me) and it was just completely out of the blue. this
sort of thing usually passes over me quickly- but this time it
didn't. i tried my best to loudly verbally insult his manhood and
was glad that i was on my fixed gear and could not chase him down to
do all the things in my mind that were sooo appealing (i.e. shoot him
in the face with my water bottle, ding the shit out of his car with
my cleat... etc). i practiced my zen-ness and tried to let it go.
but i won't lie, it pissed me off. there was NO reason for him to be
upset and it was ridiculous. i hate when some jackass does a good
job of trying to ruin your day.

anyway, so i let that pass and was riding home at a rather good clip
as i was running out of light. i was stopped at a red light and sat
there for a while. i got impatient and decided that i would turn
right. so, i started and turned right. the women in the lexis
globaldestroyer next to me saw me go and assumed that the light was
green, so she took off right into another car. thankfully, i was not
involved... they were all pretty dramatic people and i was a
witness. so, i stuck around and told the police what happened.
lexislady was completely freaked out. everyone was fine. it was not
a bad accident.

fortunately, a really nice other cyclist, derek (?) came by and
escorted me home with his bike lights, since i did not have any. it
really is a good cycling community out here- despite the face that it
is so flat!

anyway, so yay! i got to ride today! no longer trying to convince
myself i like running... i am back on the bike and happy about it!
tomorrow- if i can get up early enough, group ride. if not, maybe it
is time for harry potter on MP3... book 1? i have a lot of base
miles ahead...

bye!