1) UPS truck passing me on Jefferson, 25 yards short of the final summit. The pass was done in a blind corner and pinned me between the truck and a berm on the outside of the road. Had an oncoming motorist appeared on the other side of the blind corner, either that car or me would be in big trouble. What's amusing is that while this UPS driver was Mario Andretti going uphill, he goes downhill like my 93 year old Grandma. 25 yards past the final summit, I was stuck behind this formerly impatient UPS truck going 5 MPH below the posted speed limit.
2) Arastradero Road. 50 yards short of the final summit, two cars pulled in behind me. The first patiently waited for a spot where the road opened up and passed. The second, seeing that we had now approached another blind spot, patiently waited, then passed at an open section. Faith restored.
3) One mile later. On Page Mill from Arastradero to Arastradero, I was buzzed by a large truck hauling "Golf Accessories by Mail" or something like that. Aside from the fact I found it odd a Golf Accessories truck would be coming down from Page Mill, I was annoyed that now two personal drivers had treated me with great respect and two professional drivers had tried to kill me. At least this guy may have had an ulterior motive - you know what they say - "Cycling is the New Golf"
4) Fremont Ave, Sunnyvale. From the left turn pocket, I see a driver pull up to my right in the straight lane while I was waiting for the light, her face buried in some sort of device. Since her window was open, I decided to express my opinion.
"Don't Text and Drive"
"I'm not texting, I'm making a music playlist"
"Right then, carry on!"
The difference is subtle, but apparently important.
5) Speaking of driving like my 93 year old grandma, a woman who was probably approaching said age pulls out of a mall on Fremont directly in front of me. I screamed in horror, but she don't hear so well so she never really noticed. I wonder about people driving over age 90 even though my grandmother does still drive. Of course, she drives 3 blocks to church on Sunday, in a town with a population under 2000, and she's surprisingly spry and quick witted for her age. But she knows the trips to Joliet passed a ways back.
I didn't end up riding 53 miles but the extra calories burned from aggravation earned me this...
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3 comments:
That golf truck was probably leaving Palo Alto Hills Country Club, about a mile up Page Mill.
My grandma had only one speed. This made her slower than all traffic on the freeway and a terrifying speed demon on mountain canyon roads.
That's right: the golf course is off Alexis. A map is here. I was doing intervals on Alexis one time, brutally hot during late summer's mid-day sun, when I saw a guy hosing down the green. Good to see precious water resources were being put to good use increasing the ambient humidity above the quickly-drying turf.
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