Close Encounter Of The Third Kind

Saturday's suck at least for cycling. It seems that every driver is rushing around somewhere. Whether it be taking kids to the game, food shopping, to the big box store for supplies for that weekend project or trying to hurry through that 6 day work week. The only safe place for biking is on a group club ride or on some multi-use-path, neither which works for me. Sunday's are much better as people tend to sleep in and are much more laid back. You do need to watch out for church goers. The week days work best for me as long as I start after 9 am and the morning rush hour. I am always conscious of mom's in their big SUV's and the Volvo drivers who blow past stop signs because they think they have the safest car in the world. Then of course there are the wannabe redneck pickup drivers and my favorite the Type A narcissistic BMW driver. I do find I must be home before 3 pm as the school bus drivers will pick you off in the name of child safety. I must include the elderly who drive with their eyes closed and curse you for there mistakes. I don't know why they say it sucks to get old. At least you get somewhere. I say mandatory driving tests over the age of 80. I find truck drivers to be most considerate. Maybe because their likelihoods depend on it. What made today so eventful was the detour I must endure to get out of Englishtown. It seems the tiny bridge on Iron Ore rd won't be replaced until July. I must continue through Englishtown and negotiate the treacherous curve only to continue another mile on a road that is 10 years in need of paving. It was on this curve that my favorite geriatric driver decided to push me to the curb. Fortunately I managed to stay up. Ten miles out I reached the majestic country roads of Milestone. 50 yards ahead was a stopped pickup truck in the road. As I cautiously went to pass he decided to make a U-Turn into me. Again I was shouting out obscenities to the oblivious pickup driver. Soon after I met up with my cycling buddy Bob and I was able to vent for a while. I finally made it back to my development when I failed to stop at a blind intersection. With 2 cars screeching at me in each direction I slammed on my brakes. I went down hard. Lying on my back in pain  I was helped up by the 2 drivers. Lucky nothing broken just my ego and some severe road rash. I was so busy blaming others I failed to accept my own accountability. Lesson learned.