Relax and enjoy life

Yesterday I rode my bike all day and it seemed that everywhere I went, people were in foul, shitty moods. C'mon already! The sun is out, the weather is beautiful, what gives?

My patellar tendonitis flared up again in my left knee, so I took it easy riding to work in the morning. Halfway across the I-90 bridge I coasted for a bit to give it a break and next thing I know this guy rides right up next to me, half startled me, and then proceeds to bitch me out for stopping pedaling without telling him! WTF? I gather he was drafting behind me and almost hit me when I slowed. Not my fault if you do that and don't announce your presence. That sort of thing drives me nuts.

Leaving Bellevue after work I was cruising down the bike line alongside traffic backed up on 108th. Traffic started moving but a car stopped to let another merge in from the gas station. This dude in some convertible Lexus starts screaming at the top of his lungs, "Go F***ers! Go F***ers! F***ing idiots!" Then he sees me about to pass and purposefully pulls his car into the bike lane to impede my path. WTF? I told him he was in a beautiful convertible on a beautiful day and should be enjoying life a little more. His response was great. "You f***ing bikers. You should have to deal with traffic like the rest of us." Hmmm....that's why I ride my bike. I avoid traffic and get to relax.

I rode to Greenlake for drinks with some friends and ended up in a tangle with a fellow commuter as well. I've done a fair amount of riding lately in just street clothes, and I find that without the team kit, I get yelled at more by other bike commuters. Weird, isn't it? I pulled up at that crazy Greenlake intersection next to another biker who then screams at me for pulling up next to him and not telling him I was there. He wasn't even moving and was in the far right area of the bike lane so I assumed that meant he wasn't turning left. Sorry dude....whatever.

Are there too many freakin' people here from California now or what? Everyone needs to take a serious stress pill and enjoy the sun. Damn folks.