Day, Hours, Whatever

Great day in the saddle. Day, few hours, whatever. Found me a new loop, and I'm pretty geeked that it comes in at about 42 miles and a bit over 2,300' of climbing.

My legs felt pretty darn OK after yesterday's yog on the treadmill and last week's ride binge. In fact I was pretty stoked about the whole ride. The only downside was at about mile 37 when I had some words with a driver. Or I should say he had words for me. I was cruising over some small rollers in Buena Vista (what the great view is, I sure don't know), and a black Mustang comes to a stop sign, goes to pull out, I slow down, he sees me and to my surprise did not pull out in front of me, in fact there was not even the real potential for an incident. But Mr. River Bottom Dweller felt the need to yell at me "YOU KNOW THERE'S A BIKE TRAIL RIGHT DAHN'NARE!!"

The trail "dahn'nare" (that's WPA speak for down there) is the Yough River trail, AKA the rail trail. I wanted to explain calmly to the man (I call him "man" but he was like 20) that yes, I know there is a great, traffic free, flat trail down the block from where I was, but that the riding I do is what some MIGHT call "training" (I call it riding my bike 'cause it rocks) for something grander... Long races in dirt, on my mountain bike, with lots, and lots of hills. And if I am to maintain ANY semblance of being only slightly above a normal BMI, and any hopes of placing even close to the upper mid pack in any race I do, I must ride more than just the rail trail, and in the woods. That sadly, on occasion, I must ride on the road. And as long as I follow the traffic laws (which I was), I am entitled to do, and he as a motorist, whether he likes it or not, has to respect it.

BUUUTTTT, we all know it did not turn out like that. I first just gave the WTF? shrug, then yelled back "what trail??" (it was in plain site), he yelled something again, so I pointed out to him that he was a nick name for a fecal producing orifice, used a hand gesture to prove my point and rode off.

I admit, my reaction was not cool. I should have ignored it and kept riding. Maybe I'm a bit thin skinned in light of that whole Tony Kornholer thing, or maybe it was reading Dicky's blog post this a.m., where he mentions a local that was recently struck by a car and killed, or MAYBE I just know that I was within my legal rights and did nothing to provoke this man's rage. If I had been in a car and prevented him from pulling out, would he have yelled "YOU KNOW THERE ARE OTHER ROADS RIGHT DAHN'NARE!!"

I also admit, that so far this spring I have been on the receiving end of some generosity on the roads more than once. Waves, road workers letting me get up the hill before they stop traffic, friendly chats with folks as I climb a hill at 4 mph, etc., The thing that chaps my ass is that I rode for 2:40 today and 2:39:30 of that was perfect. But some dude's oddball anger pissed on that ride mojo. Why do I let it bother me?

I also hate that instead of blathering on about how kick ass this loop was, and how I stealthily avoided being bit by that German Sheppard again, and how I have fallen back in love with my Campeon, I blathered on about some stupid dude, who I should have just ignored. Grrrr!

Oh well, typing this crap-ol-la has helped me vent. Wifey is in D.C. to get her ALJ test on tomorrow so big heeps of good luck to her and safe travels back tomorrow. The B-Man and I rocked tonight with some dinner in front of the tube and some Zeke & Luther. Good times... good times.

"oh yeah, I'm felling looooose"

Later.