TrekJapan

I've been on a commuting tangent and have gotten some folding bikes and darn near forgot I had a road bike. As long as it's two wheels I'm happy.

Took a week off work and decided to get some miles in this week. Took my Trek 1.5 from Hamby town to Naha in Okinawa Japan (roughly about 20 km) rode up and down the streets in Naha and then humped back the 20km.

I guess I picked a bad time with my early morning ride and caught the rush hour. I think I almost got taken down at least 5x easy. One guy looked me dead in the eyes from a parking lot and turned right in front of me. Right in front of me.

I caught him at a light and yelled "Gomen Nasai Wa" . Which means "tell me you're sorry". He did. I guess he probably figured his other option was getting drug out of the car by a large American and pummeled. I probably wouldn't have but it was just remarkable how right in front of me he pulled out. Scary.

After that I think I had shell shock or something and everything seemed a lot closer than it probably really was. But seriously I had about 5 pretty close calls.

For some reason it was only on the ride down. The ride home was pretty uneventful and stress free. I've never had a ride like that one down here. Maybe once or twice somebody will do something that'll get me ultra aware and anticipating their foul up but these were more along the lines of "screw a bike, I gotta get to work"

Never again am I cruising to Naha during the work week. I usually do it on the weekend and it's a blast.

Just one of those days I suppose.

John

ptle

That sucks I went biking today and had a close call. I was on a two lane road, which was a road often used by cyclists. There are also "share the road" signs every two miles. One lady in a piece of crap car, which probably costs less than my bike accelerates pretty quickly. I heard her coming up behind, but did not bother to look as I thought she was just passing me quickly, but she passes me within a foot going probably 50-55mph. The speed limit there is 40mph. I was pretty pissed off about that.

gabdy

It really bothers me, but I give way to everyone on the road, regardless who has right of way. It really sucks the momentum out of me but I err on the side of safety. I will not risk my life just because I have right of way. Too many morons out there.

cyclezealot

Many of us can relate.. I find the worst happens in shopping center parking lots.. Happened to me too. Because the twib was moving at only 5 mph, he braked just in time to prevent me from looking at the underside of his engine.

EGreen

You'd never get anywhere here in NYC or any other big, congested city.