Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Missed connection

Male driving large dump truck. 7:15am, the super narrow part of Clairmont before it meets Crestwood Blvd. I was the blonde girl on the bike that you narrowly missed mowing down. Your coy little truck brushed up against my sleeve as you pushed me off the road. I can only assume that was a thinly disguised attempt to throw me off of my bike onto the ground where you could then 'rescue' me and provide mouth to mouth.

Well, Mr. Big Truck Man, two can play hard to get. My superior balance skills thwarted your effort for a damsel in distress style encounter. And the finger that I flashed your way...well, that could mean so many, many things.

I guess you will just have to wonder. (wink, wink)

Until then...get your fat ass truck OUT OF MY LANE!!! I was going roughly the same speed as traffic, thankyouverymuch. I am sure you saved tons of time getting to the stoplight 2 seconds sooner than I did. Phew.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, you're lucky that you could handle the situation. Trucks can be really dangerous, especially if the driver isn't aware of the traffic or generally overstrained.

    I had a similar experience last year. I was riding on a bike lane in the city center and a large artic truck approached from behind, slowly overtook me using half of my small lane (!!). That was so scary, cause he came closer and closer and to my right were some parked cars and I couldn't swerve. He wasn't much faster than me though, and cause there was a traffic jam anyway I could ride past him 100m later..

    I just don't know what's wrong with some drivers. It seems that same have a certain reflex "cyclist" -> "must overtake", no matter if there is a red light or traffic jam ahead of them, and no matter how dangerous it is.

    The only thing that would kind of help is to write down the license plate and report it to the police. But so far I was always too busy handling my bike in such situations and didn't even think about looking at the plate.

    It's good to get really angry! It only happened to me once that I got so frightened that I had to sit down for 10min before I could ride on. Of course the driver was long gone by then, probably didn't even notice what he did..

    Keep on riding and don't let stupid drivers spoil your commute,
    Anna (from Austria)

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  2. Bully for you, Elisa! Lucky for him, you weren't inadvertently running the sharp end of your house key along his quarter panels as he drove past.

    Snide remarks aside, I'm glad you stayed upright and weren't injured.

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  3. Sad part of Velofolk's comment:
    Lucky for him, you weren't inadvertently running the sharp end of your house key along his quarter panels as he drove past.

    The sad part you ask?
    the key might get injured.

    Great work Elisa. If only the truck guy was intelligent enough to find and read your post. But maybe your sign language was enough. 8)

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  4. Would it help if you controlled the lane more defensively? Were you riding on the right bank of the lane? I have a narrow stretch of road on my way to work and I am very defensive about it. I do get some close calls but no sleeves have been brushed yet. Then again, I do not sport a skirt.

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  5. i agree about controlling the lane

    if you are on the edge, cars will try to squeeze you out, EVERY TIME!

    on the other hand, aww, i'm sorry that happened..

    wle.

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  6. I can't believe he BRUSHED YOUR SLEEVE! What an asshole. That's so scary. But I bet he totally wanted you.

    I should try these missed connections some time. Most of mine would start with, "Dear douchbag in BMW..."

    -Dottie

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  7. Glad you are keeping a sense of humor about this. It makes me mad! how scary.

    ~Trisha

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  8. At least you have not been flicked a cigarette at...that feather stays in my cap :)

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  9. He works for somebody. If you could get a company name, you could change his behavior real easy.

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something on your mind?