Friday, April 10, 2009

bike season, again...

Sure,
warm weather brings out the majority of cyclists,
so it 'becomes' bike season.
But what I implied was more
'bike hunting season'.
And I got no notice that the season officially opened yesterday.
So there was a little shock to the routine commute.
But it wasn't the fact of it happening,
it was the multitude of incidents.
And the 'types' of vehicles and drivers.



Now this (depending on where you live),
would be the stereotype of driver/vehicle combo
that you would almost expect to be a problem:


Yesterday, this was not the case.
In these times of being 'green' and 'living responsibly',
drivers have sold the monster trucks and SUVs,
and replaced them with hybrids and other 'non-threatening' vehicles.
This I belive has left them in a position to become
'overly aggressive' to compensate for the lack of machinery.
Kind of like an 'Automobile Napoleon Complex'.

On the way to work I got buzzed by a mini van.
So I buzzed the van as he was stopped at a light,
only for him to buzz me again.
Followed by someone buzzing me to merge INTO
the bike lane, and continue on for two blocks.
I guess smaller cars also entitle drivers to use bike lanes.
WTF?
This continued for the entire commute.

Now if this is how it's gonna be,
can we just make cars like rolling bean bags?
Since the auto industry will be owned by the government soon...


The freaks had retired by the evening.
A warm night, with no traffic.
I followed the rich burning smell of an old Nova rumbling along,
and the distinct smell of pipe smoke from a generic sedan
right behind him.

Looks like this summer it won't be the Hummer hunting me,
more like a Prius.