How did your ride go?

Mine ended up like this:


ahem..... calm down......... okay, it went like this.
I joined Dave, Elise, Art, and Luis for what should have been a very nice day to ride a bike.
We were riding right on the fogline (near Champoeg State Park, no paved shoulder beyond this at that point) about 2.5 miles into our planned 35 mile ride. Along comes this neanderthal in a dark blue Dodge Durango, Oregon License plate # YDS 956 who thinks he owns (in his words) the whole F&$%&ing road. He lays on the horn continuously as he passes within 2 feet of us in an attempt to brush us off the road. I was the lead rider and I motioned him back (with ALL my fingers) in an attempt to discuss his behavior and why he felt the need to do that. To my surprise he was in such a hurry to have that discussion that he made voluminous smoke from his tires as he backed up the 70 yds to talk.

The idiot said we had no right to be on HIS f#$%$ing road. I informed him that indeed we did, and that in fact we were tight against the right side, where we certainly had the right to be. He said if he ever saw me there again, he'd run me over.

I took exception to his threat,(okay, full disclosure, I did so by whacking his passenger mirror with my hand while saying to the effect of "well then he'd need to talk to the police". I was thinking it was a good way to insure they'd be involved. No broken glass or other obvious damage, but I did not inspect it closely.) He showed me that his threat was serious. As I was walking away he put the vehicle in reverse, turned the wheels towards me, put it in forward, and gunned it. Yup, this moron hit me, knocked me and my bike to the ground, damaged my front wheel in the process, a few scratches on aerobar, brake lever, and handlebar tape, and an injured ankle. I'm beginning to lose my faith in drivers.

We noted the license number and immediately called 911. The very polite, though possbily bicycle law ignorant, Marion County Sheriff came out and interviewed us.
The officer said there are always two sides to a story. I agreed but pointed out that I had 4 cycling witnesses as well as the owner of the home the incident happened in front of.

No matter what may or may not have been said (always two sides to a story) he USED HIS VEHICLE AS A WEAPON AGAINST ME.

Yup, an update will follow as this plays out.


Other than that it was a good ride. This was one of the "training series" rides I lead for a social bike group I belong to. The participants are showing great progress and I am very proud of them. The group averaged over 16 mph for today's ride, and by most accounts it wasn't too hard for anyone.

I did a little pre-ride after fiddling with glove issues that cost me the time required to "ride to the ride". I ended up with 9 miles pre-ride to add to the 35 group ride.

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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............44...............0.................44
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......463.....+.........0........=.......463
Year to date....964.....+.........30.......=.......964
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