Carbeque

Two interesting items during today's bicycle ride into work. First, the carbeque at 41st and Franklin. As I was downwind of it I began smelling burning plastic a good 3/4 mile away, and approached a fire truck just finishing the dousing of said SUV. Totalled, as all carbeque's are, but unlike the movies they just burn hot, they don't explode. This is the third carbeque I've witnessed in my life...another one here near my Franklin Blvd.

Two miles up the road I had to "take my lane" to pass this teenager on a bicycle with another teen on the handlebars. Oddly, they were going in the correct direction (going with traffic) as most teens are never taught to do. I passed them and in doing so, was bitched out by a car's driver who yelled at me to ride on the sidewalk. He possessed such powers of observation that he failed to notice that there wasn't one there on that section of MLK Jr. Blvd. He also failed to respect the law that states that I have the right to take the lane, I have the right to do what I did, so fuck him. But as I was trying to get past that confrontation, the two teens on the one bike came out of nowhere and hit me from the back left and I almost wiped out. I regained my ride, but these two knuckleheads ate pavement having flipped over the front wheel after it hit my bike. I got to witness a pretty cool faceplant on the roadbed.

That looked pretty damn painful! But I didn't stop; no, they didn't announce the attempted takeover, I was already back in the lane, they were already on their way down to the asphalt by the time I even knew what was going on, they weren't wearing helmets and it's almost to be expected when you're riding on handlebars that you're gonna eventually get yourself into trouble.

My first "accident" in over 5 years, and wouldn't you know it, I got hit by a bike instead of a car.