5/200 and 18/7000

Yesterday, after cleaning up my work space in the garage and reading the first 5 or so pages in The Blue Book of Bicycle Repair (did you know the threads on bolts slope up depending on what side they're supposed to be on; bolts for the right side of the bike slope up to the right and bolts for the left side of the bike slope up to the left--that's so cool), I decided to take a break and enjoy a short ride. I didn't really have a destination in mind, but I did know I eventually wanted to go to the hardware store for some super glue. While I was cleaning my work space, I realized my super glue had dried up. It comes in handy for all sorts of things (though I tend to glue my fingers together each time I use it), so I wanted to have some on hand.

Like usual, I rode in the streets. Call me hard-headed, but I truly believe the more cyclists are visible in the streets, the more motorists will begin expecting them and driving more carefully because of them. I also believe cyclists must follow all the rules of the road if they want motorists to respect them (I'm shouting at you Hipster Cyclist who blew the stop sign at the four-way by the Marriott) and take care when driving in the same streets cyclists are riding. Unfortunately, there's always going to be those who don't like cyclists (again, thanks to cyclists like you, Hipster Cyclist!) no matter what.

I could have rung my new bell at the annoying motorist!
I stopped at a four-way then proceeded forward. Right after the four-way, the road widens with two lanes going straight and two lanes curving off to the right. I've taken this route so many times and never had a motorist demonstrate displeasure at my going straight, but for some reason, the person driving a maroon van decided I was impeding his desire to go right. First came the honk, then the less than required 3 feet of clearance while passing, then speeding up to cut in front of me to go to the right. If the person had merely waited 5 seconds, he could have easily merged right from behind.While I dropped the F bomb in my head (okay, I may have uttered it aloud), I didn't make any rude gestures. No sense in adding to the bad behavior already demonstrated by the motorist. (The new bell is courtesy of People for Bikes.)

The rest of my ride went smoothly. I visited the used book store where I found M.F.K. Fisher's only novel, Not Now but Now. I have several of her other books that center around food, so adding another Fisher work to the shelf makes me quite happy.

From there I went to the hardware store for the super glue. When I returned home, I tallied up my mileage for the week: 16. Yeah, pick yourself up off the floor over that number!  This gives me 5 days of riding so far this year, and 18 miles. 195 days to go to meet my 200 days of riding goal. 6982 miles to go to meet my 7000 miles goal. Me thinks I need to pick it up to meet these goals!

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