While on an overnight ride in Mystic, CT this past week, I was preparing to make a left turn across a busy road into my hotel. As always, I merged into the left lane, only to see that there was no space for me to slink my way to the front of the line of cars waiting for the light to turn green. Despite what some believe, I have always found that making myself visible by going to the front is safer for me and everybody around me. From there,I can clearly communicate where I am going and can even direct cars around me. Most importantly, I can set the pace for the whole line of cars to make the turn, rather than try to go from standing still to automobile speed in one second just to keep up with the car in front of me and not slow down the car behind me.

Anyway, it turns out the left turn arrow doesn't operate at the hour I was traveling, so when the light turned green, it turned solid green, and not only did all the cars in the left turn lane want to moto ahead, all the cars in the oncoming lane did, too. So after two cars ahead of me made the left turn, there I was, stuck in this chaotic intersection with my fully-loaded panniers and my soaked-to-the-skin t-shirt, waiting for a break to make my turn, while cars behind me leaned on their horns and drivers in oncoming traffic swerved unnecessarily to avoid me. Needless to say, this whole situation ended up with a guy yelling out of a passing car "Stupid f-ing jerk!"

The truth is, he was right. I should have just taken the crosswalk a few feet away and crossed this turnpike like a pedestrian. I know it would be wrong and that the way I attempted to make the turn was correct, but it would have been a lot safer for me and the drivers around me would have known exactly what to expect. Sometimes you have to compromise.

Bottom line: This is the first time in 50+ years of riding that I remember someone yelling a derogatory remark at me for the way I was riding. I've had kids and rednecks holler stupid stuff for fun, but this really cut...because "stupid f-ing jerk" really fit the situation this time!