Hooray, after many days of nothing more than biking on a trainer in the basement, I was able to ride outside. Nothing better than a beautiful day with temps in the 60's and a SW wind at 15-20 mph. A 35 miler to Magnolia was my favorite route when those wind conditions exist. And, I only encountered two semis which is about ten less than I normally see on route 89. No close encounters of any kind which make the journey quite enjoyable. One of the best of this spring. Last week I was able to ride twice on my regular route around Tazewell county. Having both front and rear lights in full brightness mode I was pleasantly surprised when a car actually waited to pass the car ahead of them until I passed. Planning on complementing them on social media, alas, later another jerk pulled around a car and came into my lane heading directly into my bike path. Taking evasive action, I gave the driver an uncomplimentary hand gesture. In addition, coming into an intersection and have no stop sign in my lane, another idiot who had to stop according to the sign, pulled out as I was in the crossing and forced me to brake and divert. He was barraged with vile and vitriolic language that would make a sailor blush. He apparently took no offense as he continued down the road. Oh well, it is what it is. These are the conditions bicyclist endure on their rides so we must always be on the alert. On another note, little Ruthie has removed her training wheels and will soon be riding like the big girls! Still waiting for proper conditions to see if I am capable of a century. Time will tell. Later, so stay tuned.
