two for two

you know, I wasn't even going to go there. usually, nay, almost always, it isn't worth it. but then a red neck in a pickup truck slammed on his breaks after passing the group ride...and because I'm running my mouth (and not expecting a truck to lock'em up and swerve into us), the next thing you know my STI lever is impaled in the dude's left brake light and I'm laying on the pavement.

Skip to 4 seconds later and a fat and pissed off red neck is stepping out of his truck and pacing in circle in the street cussing us out. He took off, we called the cops, the cops show up and then spread out in a dragnet to hunt the sucker down. We all rode home, no biggie.

Skip to Sunday afternoon...after the mtb race I rode home from Boerne back to SA...a nice chill 2hr spin back along a few back roads and a lonely I-10 access road. Well, that is until this lady decides to enforce "a Texas statute that says you can't ride on this road"

I told her she's smoking crack and to leave me alone...so she followed me, 5' back for the next 10 min, yelling and saying she's calling the cops. So I told her great! I'll call the cops too and our cops can fight it out.

The Cops show up. (that's two days in a row, for those that have lost count.)

Her beef, once again - bikers can't ride on this road. The Cop listened to her. Then asked me what I was doing. The cop then said "technically, you can't ride your bike on a road that has, at times, a double yellow line. that means that if a car passes you, he'd have to cross a double yellow line."

I inquire "well, wouldn't that make the car liable for a citation for passing on double yellow?"

Cop isn't flattered by my intellectual wizardry....and sends off the old lady, ammo in hand for the next biker she wants to berate.

The real beauty of this situation was that at least a dozen "bikers" rode by on this obviously bike friendly area (save for the old lady and the cop. That, and it was a morbid glimpse into how "we" are viewed on the roads by some...namely, the other drivers and some law enforcement peoples.

Law breakers!

So next time you're driving in NW San Antonio, watch out - it'd really suck to hit a biker...kinda reminds me of those deer crossing signs you see on I-80 up in Wyoming...

Oh yeah, I did a bike race on Sunday, too. Now I know, as an ex-pat Texan, why everyone else thinks it ludicrous to race your bike on the first weekend of February....

Somehow I managed to keep it upright, avoid the trees and rocks, not take a dirt nap in any of the corners, or implode myself from a severe lack of upper end training....it was really nice to be out in the warmth, sweating, wearing shorts, and seeing everyone after the long winter break. Luck did go my way in a big fashion on Sunday morning when I stood too close to a propane heater and melted my cargo shorts into a crispy mass of torched polyester.

The new Cannondale Rush gets it done, if you're curious about such things. I raced mine this weekend and there's nothing more fun than a bike that goes uphill well then wants to huck on the way down. The touch decision will be whether to wear spandex or baggies with this bike? I'm leaning towards jeans and commando really though...

FYI: you know your Tuesday Nighter is big time when it has its own DVD