Friday, December 11, 2009

And I didn't beat him silly...

On the way to work yesterday, on the bike of course, I was behind a silver SUV at the stoplight getting off the highway. They toodled along under the overpass to the Stop sign, obviously not in a hurry.

From there, I passed them between the Stop sign and where the lanes become one, pulling well ahead of them as I went over the hill, losing them from view.

Apparently this somehow had upset them greatly, because the next time I saw them, they just about hit me coming into the work parking lot, tires screeching as they braked and made the corner, then proceeded to tailgate *very* closely, and swung out twice in what I perceived to be an attempt to pass me between the entry and the garage (maybe 500 feet, tops - even on the bike I'd never think to pass someone there).

Now that's an angry person. And on camera where they worked too.  Clearly someone wasn't thinking very clearly.

I had performed a clean pass, I didn't cut them off, and they had to work their SUV very hard to catch up to me.

I swung into my parking spot, with the SUV still tightly attached to the tail of my bike, where they decided to go straight. As I did my 270 degree loop to park and watched them drive by then accelerate to well over the speed limit in the parking garage, I decided I needed to find out who this idiot was who had endangered my life, so I followed them into the parking garage at a more than reasonable distance, slowly since all those cars make me nervous on the bike.

When they parked near a corner of the garage, I passed by, and went to near the top of the ramp, turned around and stopped at least 10 parking spots away to ensure there was no altercation and waited. If they were coming out and at me, I'd drive away. I hate getting into fights anyways, and no way someone could sucker me into one at work.

The person studiously looked away as they got out of their car, hiding their face from me, shoulders hunched in what I took to be embarrassment. Apparently they were through their road-rage moment and reality was settling in as they realized the absolute stupidity of their actions. He got his bag out of the back seat, and started to walk towards the stairs/elevator, keeping his face away from me the whole time.

At that point, I clicked it into gear, causing them to look up. As I drove by slowly, I made sure to get a very good look at his face. Tall, trim, not quite lanky, bearded. Never seen him before at work.

If this hadn't been at work, this would have been a very, very different interaction (but still not physical).

In all my years of riding (I've racked up about 110K motorcycle miles in the last 7 years alone), this was an absolute first.

Unbelievable...

1 comment:

  1. jeez! it is so not worth it to prove some point - what an idiot.

    ReplyDelete