It's Ready! It's Ready! It's Finally Ready!
My bike was ready to pick up at Hodson's Bay today. I walked down the hill to the shop during lunch. They gave it a tune up ($50) and fixed the broken spoke (60ยข). I rode across the shopping centers and up the hill on Wood Street to get back to work.
After work, I started on the North Work Route home - Grant to Salisbury to Lindberg. I was on Lindberg when my phone rang. My wife was at the auto mechanic and the van wasn't done yet, so she needed a ride home. I told her I'd ride back to my car and come pick her up. I more or less reversed the route, except for the one-way section of Grant Street. Instead, I used Northwestern and State to get back to Grant and the garage. On Grant, I saw a jogger running along the sidewalk, and he turned towards the street. He looked to his right, and then jumped out into the bike lane (without looking to his left to see me). I yelled out something like "WHOA!", and he stopped one step later. I pulled the brakes - locking the rear wheel for just a microsecond - and swerved around him. He turned towards me and said "Sorry".
I don't like yelling at people. When I have in the past, I never feel very good about it later, and I wish I wouldn't do it. However, instinct took over, and I pointed out that it was a two lane road. He said "Sorry" again, and I felt stupid.
Later, on the other end of Grant street, these two college boys started across the street when I was quite close. I moved over to the left side of the lane. One of them looked at me, smiled, and walked in front of me anyway. His buddy had stopped, so I had to swerve left across the double yellow to miss them. Remembering how yelling didn't help, I decided to try sarcastic instead. In a smarmy tone, I said "Don't mind me, boys". The first guy turned to me as I passed and let loose an amazing string of profanity and suggested physically impossible and incestuous acts. At that point, I felt pretty good for holding my cool and making him explode.
I rode up the ramp in the Wood Street Garage to my car, packed it in the trunk, and headed east.
Miles Ridden: 4.6 action packed miles
After work, I started on the North Work Route home - Grant to Salisbury to Lindberg. I was on Lindberg when my phone rang. My wife was at the auto mechanic and the van wasn't done yet, so she needed a ride home. I told her I'd ride back to my car and come pick her up. I more or less reversed the route, except for the one-way section of Grant Street. Instead, I used Northwestern and State to get back to Grant and the garage. On Grant, I saw a jogger running along the sidewalk, and he turned towards the street. He looked to his right, and then jumped out into the bike lane (without looking to his left to see me). I yelled out something like "WHOA!", and he stopped one step later. I pulled the brakes - locking the rear wheel for just a microsecond - and swerved around him. He turned towards me and said "Sorry".
I don't like yelling at people. When I have in the past, I never feel very good about it later, and I wish I wouldn't do it. However, instinct took over, and I pointed out that it was a two lane road. He said "Sorry" again, and I felt stupid.
Later, on the other end of Grant street, these two college boys started across the street when I was quite close. I moved over to the left side of the lane. One of them looked at me, smiled, and walked in front of me anyway. His buddy had stopped, so I had to swerve left across the double yellow to miss them. Remembering how yelling didn't help, I decided to try sarcastic instead. In a smarmy tone, I said "Don't mind me, boys". The first guy turned to me as I passed and let loose an amazing string of profanity and suggested physically impossible and incestuous acts. At that point, I felt pretty good for holding my cool and making him explode.
I rode up the ramp in the Wood Street Garage to my car, packed it in the trunk, and headed east.
Miles Ridden: 4.6 action packed miles
posted by Dan at 8:56 PM
3 Comments:
For future reference, I've found that
"Don't mind me girls"
works much better at inciting profanity laced rants.
:)
$50 versus $0.60? You'd think they would have thrown in the spoke for free at that point.
Dan, you didn't really Yell at the jogger, it was just an exclamation of adrenaline escaping! Glad to see ya back in the saddle! We have to pick up the wifes ride this afternoon as well!
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