ON MY COMMUTE TODAY...

I believe a little background into my commute is necessary to set the "scene" for those readers that are new to my blog. I have recently taken residence in Huntington Beach. I do a one way commute on my bike on Tuesday evening Nortbound, Wednesday morning Southbound, Thursday evening Northbound and Friday morning Southbound. Every other Friday I will do both South and North bound commutes. The reason for the one way commutes is I have my son on Monday, Wed nights and every other weekend.

The commute is 65 miles and about 1.5 hours of the morning commute is in the dark and about 3 hours of the evening commute is in the dark. Northbound commute avgs 3.5 hours to 4 hours depending on headwinds and traffic-- it IS during rush hours. And Southbound is between 3.5 hours to 3 hours and 45 mins. As you can see riding at night and predawn can lead to some interesting stories.

Soooo this morning I am 2.5 miles into my commute and it is approx. 5:15 am and I see another cyclist. We go through the same intersection and I pass him as we turn left onto PCH. We later come up to the same stoplight and I ask:

Me: "Mornin' where you headed?"
Joel: "That way" (as he points South with his right arm and then sprints off)

So I think what a jerk and go back to doing my own thing. I had specific goals for my training today and figured I'm not going to chase him I've got my own thing to do.

But he sat up and slowed down and there he is again.

Me: "So where you headed?"
Joel: "McArthur" (I didn't hear him until the third time I asked)

At this point I noticed he seemed agitated almost angry so I said:

Me: "Dude... lighten up it's a beautiful morning and we're on our bikes"
Joel: "F' off (and some other stuff not safe for children reading this blog)

So I wonder what set him off. Why would another rider who apparently has the same degree of motivation as me act so obtuse (Shawshank Redemption). Let's see how many things we had in common:

1. We are cyclists
2. It was predawn and we were on our bikes
3. We both went to bed last night looking forward to riding before work.
4. We both must be pretty serious about our training to be out predawn
5. We both must have really busy schedule with family and work

just to name a few of our similarities. So where did it go wrong? Maybe it wasn't wise of me to try to make a friend and I should have just put my headphones on and let him approach me if it was meant to be.

INTRO to ON MY COMMUTE TODAY....

I thought I would begin a series of posts where I talk about my commute not from a "I rode 65 miles with an Avg speed ....blah blah blah". No it would be more of a reflection on the day's/night's events. I will focus on things like the people I meet the things I see and yes I might even include the motorists that do stupid things.