road rage

i'm minding my own bidness, riding up mt diablo when this guy comes blasting past me. he's a big guy, broad shoulders kinda beefy. his bike has one of those bike deelie-doos from junior high -- the kind for strapping down your geometry book or hauling someone on the back. no hello, no flick of the hand. he looks good but soon i notice he's slowing really fast, sorta tanking. keeping my same slowish pace i come alongside him and then pass him as the road tips up slightly. i don't look back but on a bend i see he's a little way back no longer looking like he'll blast past anything. so la-la-la on i ride, back to the peace, quiet of a lovely solo ride up mt diablo. but pretty soon i get this feeling i'm not alone. there's no sound, no gear shifting but i have this inkling there's a big beefy guy sitting right smack on my wheel just dangling there for no good reason. kinda like when our little daisy has been to the cat box and well has a little extra weight hanging from her tail. anyhow i take all i can take, try to stop thinking about the little poop on my back wheel, so finally after about ten minutes or so, i glance behind and he says Hi all friendly and nice. I wave my hand and say do you want to go around? He says, Oh do you mind? And I say, Well yes I do, I sorta wanted to ride alone. And then he says Well why don't you go around which makes little sense because i'm in the front and he's the dangler. i remind him that i did in fact go around him about fifteen minutes ago. So he goes around me. He's slow now and I don't want to be stuck with him, so I announce I'm going around because at that particular point it's possible to go around since I'm behind him. What's your problem? he calls out. I don't want company I tell him (okay, i screech). Chill Out! he says. Get some manners i tell him (again screeching). Chill out he repeats in a mocking sort of way (Cheeel out) because I probably sound like some nutso crazy woman at this point. so of course i spend the next thirty minutes going way over my assigned hr level just making sure i drop the little turd for good. i probably could have handled the whole scene better. oh hell.

saw a good movie tonight -- Inconvenient Truth. And oh my god, the person sitting right behind me was making all this noise...