Finally back out on the road after a week off. I almost got run over by a truck. It was kind of my fault. Just as I started up a large, steep hill on a narrow road with no paved shoulder, a dump truck crept up behind me and held there. I knew he had a few cars behind him, so I was looking for a place to pull off and let them go by, but there were no cuts on my side of the road, just a driveway on the left side. No oncoming traffic, so I veered over and pulled into the driveway on the left to let them go by. The truck continued slowly on up the hill past the driveway, and since the other cars were pretty far back, I pulled back out behind the truck to proceed up the hill. Just then the truck came to a stop and began backing up and turning to back into the same driveway. He backed right toward me now, and squeezed me off the right side of the road in slow motion. I headed for the grass, but couldn't unclip in time, and toppled over onto the shoulder. I scrambled back to my feet cursing loudly at this idiot who is continuing to back across the road, downhill, on a blind hill. I never should have bailed to the left side of the road -- should have just kept going up the hill on the right. The rest of my ride was uneventful, but the adrenaline from that near miss probably boosted my average speed. 23 miles total.
Last edited by va_cyclist; 09-03-10 at 08:10 AM.