Day 2: Chicken Bike Rant and other tidbits

Technically, this is Day 3, but i skipped yesterday because i forgot. That "new leaf" lasted 24 hours....

But i'm back and here's how life is going.

Yesterday i went for a bike ride, early early in the morning.
I decided to take the path past the spillway around WRL, instead of going on the road on Winstead. 
When i came to where the path meets the road, there is a 4 way stop. There is another road coming down from a hill that dead in to the cross road. The path making up the 4th of the stop. 
Two cars and a cyclist were coming from the south. The cyclists raced through the stop sign across my path. NO shocker there. HE was a racer and obviously had to make sure his STAVA numbers.  The cars stopped. I arrived exactly when the racer went through the stop sign.  He obviously thought he was more important than me, so I needed to stop.

I signaled for the first car to go ahead, since I wanted to wait my turn and be courteous. That driver proceeded.
Just then, another two guys on mountain bikes came down the hill.  They waved at the car waiting at the stop sign and me and flew through it.

I've been sitting at my stop waiting for my turn to go. I turned right and started down the road.
The last car waiting at the stop sign revved up behind me, and laid on the horn for several minutes.  I was going faster than the two mtb'ers, so i passed them.  She decided to speed past all of us, just to slam on her breaks in front of me, turn and go up another road.

What's wrong with this picture??

"I" was the ONLY one that obeyed the law, and "I" got honked at!!!

Now, i know that when riding in a group, the stop sign issue is a compromise, since, and i spoke to a police officer about this, that if the first person stops in a group of riders, then goes when safe, as long as the group is together, not everyone has to stop.  However, if you are on the bike by yourself, you need to stop and take your turn.  That racer was a dick, no doubt, but so where those other mtb'ers.

I hate to rag on this beat up subject.  But this wasn't a case of no one in the intersection, as most cyclists claim is the reason they don't stop.   This was a "I'm on a bike, I can do as
I please, and I  please to ignore the law".   Aside from just being good manners, it's an opportunity for something really bad to happen.  Those cyclists are banking on me, and the other cars stopping.

One day, a cyclists and a motorists are going to play chicken, and the cyclists is going to lose.  

I know this falls on deaf ears, because if I so much as mention "stop sign" to a rider, I get flogged as if i said something very bad about their mamma. 

Here is my second point. The last car driver, took it out on ME.  There is that ripple effect.

As I did my loop around the lake, only one cyclists, other than me, obeyed any of the stop signs. In face, i was stopped at one, checking my phone, when two guys FLEW past me, and then slowed down. I took them easily.  So they weren't even TRYING to make their Strava numbers.

So here is the bright light on this.  The ONE cyclists that did obey the law, was wearing my same team kit.  I didn't know him, but he was stopped when i rolled up to a stop sign, going the other way. He waved at me, and went on his merry way.  Did that hurt his numbers? Probably not, because the guy could make up the time. He looked fast.  ;)   I wish i had my camera on to take his picture.  He was so fast I couldn't even catch up to him to praise him. But well, here you go, my fine Mirage Teammate. Snaps to you and may you live a long, prosperous life.

On other news, I'm almost finished with the book, "The Martian". What a fast read. The author did his homework and has spun an awesome tale. I can't recommend this book enough. If you are a space nerd, and want a GREAT story, pick it up.  Or at least, read it after the movie comes out.

I got the calming collars for my cats in the mail yesterday.  Flynn broke his off this morning. NO easy feat.  So much for the calming collar.  He's a big boy, but that took some real cat strength. Neo was still wearing his when i left for work.  We'll see how long that lasts.  I guess it's back to the diffuser.

I took off the plastic from the sofa. So far, so good.  No pee bombs.  Fingers crossed.

It's Friday, and I'm looking forward to a calm weekend, before a month of travel starts. 

Be good to each other and Happy Friday.