After a brief discussion, and a decision to head over Forker, Greenbluff was added at the last minute...GREAT!!! So I had the next 15 miles to try and figure a way out. So after racking my brain for any way to avoid that hill, I decided to go with a classic...my bike is broken. There is no way I could continue on at that pace stuck in my small chain ring, so we turned around and headed back to Wheel Sport North. After a quick turn of the wrenches and a not so minor issue of my front derailleur bracket starting to come loose, but that is for another blog post, we were back on the road.
With the new detour, we decided to head straight out Mt. Spokane. The ride was going great until we started the climb up Forker Rd. Now Forker is a narrow road and there isn't much of a shoulder but there is very little traffic and it really is a great ride.
Well, until this red truck decided he didn't want to share the road with some stupid bikers. I was really hoping for some words of encouragement to help me finish up the climb but he had other words that were not near as nice.
He informed me that this was not a safe road and I needed to get off of it right now. Now normally, I would have just said thanks for the advice and continued on my way...but this was not a normal day.
After a brief discussion on how we have as much right to the road has he does, he pulled away letting me know I was #1. Not wanted him to feel like I didn't think the same of him, I returned the favor...for some reason he wasn't so keen.
It was at this point he proceed to pull off the road in front of us and slam on his breaks, apparently this is vehicular assault so if it happens to you remember to write down the license plate.
So now I am a bit fired up and pull up right next to his drive side door and busted out:
"Don't let these tights fool your ass!!!"
Just kiddin' but that would have been AWESOME!!!
After a few more unpleasent words back and forth the guy finally took once again letting me know I was #1...thanks buddy!!!
Now I don't suggest handling this type of situation in this fashion. I probably should just listened to what he had to say and just nodded along...but we do have as much right to the roads as he does and where does he get off talking to me like that. I think it might have freaked Jessi out a bit but it was definitely worth a few laughs when it was all over.
All in all, the ride was fun and it was definitely a lot easier to make it up the hill with the extra adrenaline.
3 comments:
Living just off of Forker, I run on it often, but ride on it much less, and mostly because of people like Red Pickup Guy. I am with him on this one, however, only in the sense that Forker is NOT a safe road for cyclists. It SHOULD be safe, but there are just too many people who drive too fast and forget the possibility of runners and cyclists hoping, naively, to share the road with them. It's such a beautiful ride but honestly it's just not worth it to me. At least when I run on it I can run against traffic, giving me the (probably very mistaken) illusion that I am safer because I can jump out of the way of Red Pickup Guy. I'm assuming you were all riding single file, of course... On another note, Demetri Martin does a hilarious bit on "Cyclist Loansharks" that your story made me think of. Look it up on YouTube. Glad you made it home in one piece.
OMG... I'm looking back now and laughing my ass off. You were AWESOME, Keve! Regardless of how safe that road is/isn't for cyclists, we all have a right to be there and like you said share the road without being an ass (and yes, we were completely single file until he hopped in front of us and slammed on the breaks). Then... Keve wasn't havin' it.
In those moments, I'm grateful to have my ridin' buddy. Glad I didn't have to kick Red Pickup Guy's ass by myself ;)
This story is hysterical! Way to be a man while wearing tights! LOL!
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