Riding during the autumn season....the good, the bad,  and the ugly.  The good is the changing of the colors, the fantastic scenery and the ability to see forever since with the crops removed the fields are wide open.  The bad are the little caterpillars trying to cross the country roads.  My objective is to avoid running over any of them since they all seem to be on an important mission.  Whatever that mission is I will never know but they seem determined to cross the road so I won't interfere by crushing them with my bicycle tires.  The ugly are the semis filled with grain.  Using the county roads they have turned into my lane, passed me with minimal clearance and generally are extremely rude when passing a cyclist.  I will admit on state routes I get more respect.  On my recent trek to Magnolia, most truckers gave me a load of respect.  Often they would change lanes well before they were near me and if there were a car in the on coming lane, they would slow down a place on there emergency flashers.  Tractors and other farm implements make up the second part of the ugly.  They too take most of the road and present a clear and present danger. On another note for the first time in a long time, I actually passed a tractor; a rarity. So, there it is, the good, bad and ugly of bicycling during the fall season

 

 

                                                From my first century since my TKR

 More excellent days for outdoor biking.  Had two near misses on one ride.  My normal route, 35 miles, to Goodfield via Eureka was the first.  This time of year is the harvest season so there are many grain trucks, tractors and various other farm vehicles that occupy the country roads around Tazewell/Woodford county.  Coming to a T intersection the road from my left is controlled by a stop sign.  Me having the right of way with no stop, a semi-truck full of grain pulled into my lane from the left.  It made a right turn and headed directly for me making no attempt to avoid a collision.  Of course, I had to detour into the corn field to my right or get hit.  On my return along DeeMack road, two cars going into the opposite direction  approached me.  All of a sudden the second car decided to pass the auto in front of it which put it in my lane going into the opposite direction.  Once again I had to hit the ditch.  Two close calls on one ride is highly unusual.  Indeed I have it on my bike cam and unfortunately made a mistake of showing it to the lovely Veronica.  She was not pleased and suggested I might need to give up my biking.  I normally do not show my near misses and probably should have not done so here She's probably right but ain't gonna happen.  I can hit the ditch with the best of them.  Other than that many good days of biking with more to come.