Friday, August 9, 2013

Need to rant here a little bit. Over in Champaign last weekend and read in the newspaper (that's right, I still read a newspaper)a bicyclist was killed by a 23 year old in a pick up truck. The driver of the truck told police that as he was passing the bicyclist, the biker, for some unknown reason "lost control of his bike". He hit the biker and killed him. Today, after my brother told me to stay off the bike until we closed on a deal, I disregarded his warning to ride my Friday Fifty. On a lonely country road near Metamora I observed a huge dump truck in the distance coming in my direction. Not a problem since there was no other traffic on the road. As the truck neared it began to drift into the middle of the road. As it got closer, the dump truck actually came into my lane. I figured it would correct its course, but the nearer it got, it was still on my side of the road. I could have insisted I had a right to my space and challenged him. But, as I tell people, I might be ignorant but I'm not stupid. I not only had to go onto the gravel shoulder but actually wound up on the grass near the tall corn. Cursing and giving him the traditional California "howdy do" I dusted myself off and was able to continue my ride. I was fine but I wondered what the driver of the dump trucks lie would have been after he hit me and they dragged my cold dead carcus from the side of the road. I suspect it would have been something like, "for some odd reason, he lost control of his bike and swerved into my path". I think I need to get into a safer sport like skydiving without a parachute. Okay, rant over.