CaptnDan
10-16-2006, 3:36 AM
This happened about 6 hours ago, but I am still really PO'd about it. Sorry, but it has nothing to do with fish or anything... I just had to vent. I guess in my mind, I didn't really resolve the situation to my satisfaction at the time.
It was a beautiful cool evening, so I went out for a ride. I was heading toward a local marina where I knew a few of the guys would be when I saw two of them coming toward me. I pulled a quick U-turn and joined them - I knew they were headed for the donut shop. It's a ritual of sorts. Some of them go every night after the marina.
So now the three of us are cruising down one of the main streets, a 5 lane road. We're staggered in the lane, I was #3, #2 was ahead of me by about 30ft on the left side of the lane, #1 was about 60 ahead of me, in the same part of the lane as I was.
As we approach a shopping center, a guy makes a left out of someplace, I guess it had to be a fast food place or something and starts accelerating in the left turn lane. After the first two bikes are past him, he just starts coming over... I'm right next to him. The timing couldn't have been better, because as this is happening, the right turn lane into the shopping center is starting to open up. As I move into it, thumb on the horn button, this guy keeps on coming. Finally, I let off the horn and slam my fist on the hood of his truck. Ah, NOW he knows I'm there....
So I pull ahead, and this jerk comes into the lane behind me, and gets right on my butt. Now I have had it. He's going into the parking lot, so I'm going there too... As I get into the parking lot, Bozo decides to pull up next to me and actually has the nerve to say "You better not have dented my hood..."
I went off. Considering the way we edit expletives here, the conversation was about 90% ****'s. His excuse was, "I saw the first two..." Well, that's just great. If you miss two, it's OK to kill the third???? Everything he said made me more irate.
By now, the other two guys have figured out where I am, and are roaring into the parking lot. I've got one hand on the door handle of the truck and the other, uh, inside my jacket. The older and wiser of the three of us puts his hand on my shoulder and says "Don't." OK, he's right.
So I look across the hood of the truck. I tell the guy, "I didn't dent your hood." Then I put a nice imprint of my boot heel in the middle of his door. I added "But I did f**** up your door."
I walked back over and sat back on my bike and hit the starter. The others did the same. As we left the parking lot, the guy was still sitting there.
Why don't people realize that when they drive a vehicle, they have responsibilities? A moment of inattentiveness can literally kill somebody. This guy wasn't watching where he was going. If I had been in a car, I wouldn't have had as much room and he would have hit me, probably forcing me onto the sidewalk - a sidewalk full of people. All because he couldn't be bothered to look before he moved. All three of us have extra lights on the front of our bikes. We are far from invisible. This joker was either too distracted, or in too much of a hurry to have the slightest concern for anybody else.
We continued on to the donut shop. I had a raspberry filled and a chocolate frosted. And a chocolate milk. It was good. The ride home was uneventful.
It was a beautiful cool evening, so I went out for a ride. I was heading toward a local marina where I knew a few of the guys would be when I saw two of them coming toward me. I pulled a quick U-turn and joined them - I knew they were headed for the donut shop. It's a ritual of sorts. Some of them go every night after the marina.
So now the three of us are cruising down one of the main streets, a 5 lane road. We're staggered in the lane, I was #3, #2 was ahead of me by about 30ft on the left side of the lane, #1 was about 60 ahead of me, in the same part of the lane as I was.
As we approach a shopping center, a guy makes a left out of someplace, I guess it had to be a fast food place or something and starts accelerating in the left turn lane. After the first two bikes are past him, he just starts coming over... I'm right next to him. The timing couldn't have been better, because as this is happening, the right turn lane into the shopping center is starting to open up. As I move into it, thumb on the horn button, this guy keeps on coming. Finally, I let off the horn and slam my fist on the hood of his truck. Ah, NOW he knows I'm there....
So I pull ahead, and this jerk comes into the lane behind me, and gets right on my butt. Now I have had it. He's going into the parking lot, so I'm going there too... As I get into the parking lot, Bozo decides to pull up next to me and actually has the nerve to say "You better not have dented my hood..."
I went off. Considering the way we edit expletives here, the conversation was about 90% ****'s. His excuse was, "I saw the first two..." Well, that's just great. If you miss two, it's OK to kill the third???? Everything he said made me more irate.
By now, the other two guys have figured out where I am, and are roaring into the parking lot. I've got one hand on the door handle of the truck and the other, uh, inside my jacket. The older and wiser of the three of us puts his hand on my shoulder and says "Don't." OK, he's right.
So I look across the hood of the truck. I tell the guy, "I didn't dent your hood." Then I put a nice imprint of my boot heel in the middle of his door. I added "But I did f**** up your door."
I walked back over and sat back on my bike and hit the starter. The others did the same. As we left the parking lot, the guy was still sitting there.
Why don't people realize that when they drive a vehicle, they have responsibilities? A moment of inattentiveness can literally kill somebody. This guy wasn't watching where he was going. If I had been in a car, I wouldn't have had as much room and he would have hit me, probably forcing me onto the sidewalk - a sidewalk full of people. All because he couldn't be bothered to look before he moved. All three of us have extra lights on the front of our bikes. We are far from invisible. This joker was either too distracted, or in too much of a hurry to have the slightest concern for anybody else.
We continued on to the donut shop. I had a raspberry filled and a chocolate frosted. And a chocolate milk. It was good. The ride home was uneventful.