Dump Truck Tales
Boy, today was a blueprint of yesterday's weather;
Sunny, 72 degrees with a 10-12 mph wind that pushed me out and really sucked the life out of my already-tired legs on the way in.
My plan was to cross the Trestle Trail Bridge and head west. But I forgot about road construction and obviously took a wrong turn as my detour. Within five miles of my house I had no idea where I was. All I knew was that it was an industrial park that I didn't want to be in. (Classic Phil!)
Eventually I ended up going out on the road I was looking for. But I tried a left instead of the usual right and I'm not so sure where I was again. I was just sure I was going in the right direction toward home after the halfway point of the ride.
How did I know that? HEADWIND. Just like yesterday.
At some point I rode past the Larsen Tavern and I was on a road called Grandview for a time. The view was pretty good, but I wouldn't go so far as to say grand.
Anyway, I was on a quest to find a road that I KNEW would take me back into town. I found the very same one I was on yesterday, only going in reverse order. It was all quite accidental.
It's on this stretch heading home that the dump truck stories both happened.
In the spirit of fairness I wanted to write about the first incident, since yesterday I had some yahoos in a car yell at me, "Get off the road", for no reason at all. Idiots.
But not all drivers are idiots out there.
The problem with the road I was on is that it is narrow, with no shoulder to escape onto if needed.
At one point a car had pulled out of a driveway and was starting to come toward me from the other direction. I heard a truck behind me jack-braking to slow way down. He stayed back there behind me until that other car had cleared and then he came around me. As he did I gave him the old highball wave as a show of appreciation for doing the right thing. (and keeping ME safe)
Instead of endangering lives by trying to zoom around, he was patient. So see, there are some good guys out there!
To my surprise, that wasn't the only dump truck story to tell from today. I was obviously on some kind of route they were taking to and from a construction site, because 20 dump trucks must have passed me.
Only a couple of miles after the first incident, the same scenario played out once again. Only this time I could hear a truck slowing down behind me as I climbed up a slight hill. This meant it was a no-passing zone. I also meant that the driver behind me could not get a clear look ahead to see if any cars were coming from the opposite direction.
So that truck driver played it safe, did the right thing and slowed to wait behind me until I got to the top. I thought I had heard a horn farther back at some point as well. I just kept my head down and pedaled.
When I got to the top of the hill and the driver could see it was clear ahead, he pulled around me. Again I gave the wave of thanks.
Then right behind him a motorcycle with a couple of people on it buzzed around me and then around the dump truck ahead of me. The motorcycle driver slowed down just so he could line up with the cab of the truck as he flipped, no not flipped....it was more of a steady finger that he held up in the dump truck driver's face for about 15 seconds before buzzing around the truck.
What an asshole this guy is.
I was hoping the truck driver was close to the site where he was dropping his load so I could catch up and say THANK YOU in person for doing right thing. Poor guy didn't deserve the finger from that impatient smart ass jerk on his motorcycle.
Two dump trucks.
Two drivers who made the right choice and did the safe thing.
One jackass on a motorcycle who apparently had somewhere very important to go. There's extra time in hell for guys like that.
Thank you dump truck drivers...whoever you were out there today!
63 miles in less than 24 hours. Time for a little rest. I'm beat.
RIDE ROUTE
Who knows?!
30 miles/128 average mph
Repeat of yesterday's nice Weather; Sunny, 72, Wind 10-12 mph
2020 SEASON MILES
Indoor: 125.6
Outdoor: 500.2