"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Eventful Saturday Ride

Well my riding partner and I had an eventful ride last Saturday. We were doing the mid-Michigan Festival tour. (Any festival within reasonable riding distance from our homes) The first 27 miles were pretty good with the wind at our backs.

On the way back first we were nearly hit by a lady in a car. She just smiled and waved. I luckily flinched and cleared my partner, good thing she stopped or I would have been a smear on the road.

A little further and a big dog nearly got us.

Finally we got into town and I got yelled at by an ignorant person in a full sized black pickup truck. It was at a three way stop where I rolled up at the same time as two cars. I stopped and let the two cars go. Then I went. Mr. Pickup Truck starts yelling : "What, don't you have to STOP?" Then as he passed me, he yelled: " You know you have to follow the same rules as a car." I was pretty angry.

What is it with Pickup truck drivers?

Anyway, we survived the ride and I finished my first Metric Century.

Almost all drivers seem to be courteous to me, exept for the big truck drivers (not normal pickups.....but semis... and the big trucks like big load carrying trucks... those industrial/civil services trucks). Why is it that the ones with the biggest, most dangerous vehicles, are the ones who try their best to hit me?

It is almost as though they have a sense invulnerability. Like some how common courtesy ceases to be necessary while they are in their vehicle.

Road rage...its becoming an epidemic!

The majority of irresponsible drivers I encounter drive pickup trucks. I once had one speed up to pass me so that he could make a right turn in front of me. I locked up the rear wheel and bore down on the front and barely missed him. In another incident recently, a pickup truck driver passed me on a road with little shoulder. I swear his right-hand mirror missed me by about 2 inches. There are more stories, most of which I've forgotten by now.

The other bad lot are cars full of teenage boys. These guys feel all-powerful driving in their beat-up old cutlasses and dodge neons. They love to shout and jeer as they go by. I always am tempted to challenge them to a race on the bike! Of course, any type of mouthing off to such beligerent drivers has to in some way be backed up by a bigger stick, usually not present due to me being solo on a bike and them outnumbering me in a big car.

Pickup trucks are generally higher to insure. I think insurance companies have picked up on their higher rate of ignorant drivers. Even Lance mentions pickup drivers in Texas in his book.

I know plenty of courteous, good-driving pickup truckers. However, there are equally as many ignorant, macho ones who I think get a little extra pleasure teasing guys with shaved legs in tight clothing...