Training for Ironman Wisconsin, I was led to believe that I should just keep biking the course so it just becomes commonplace. And it has. I'll make my way there, bike part of it and bike home. I'll bike just the course. I'll bike the course over and over again. When my miles go up, I'll bite off more and more of the course. The bike portion of the Ironman Wisconsin is 112 miles--possibly the bulk of the time will be spent on a bike. Training for that second portion of this triathlon is essential to surviving/finishing the race.
I'm biking enough that I see other cyclists out and they give the nod. As we pass, it's a quick hello to fellow passers-by who are on two man-powered wheels. The difference between me and them is that I don't enjoy this biking thing. It's boring. And I still have this thing about cyclists who don't acknowledge runners. There's no community among bikers and runners when it comes to 'the nod'. I've tried time and again to give the nod/wave to cyclists while I'm running, but usually I get nothing in return. I feel no affinity to the cycling culture even while I'm biking. Cyclists pass by the opposite direction and say 'hello' or nod but I ignore them. I'm not them. Yet, here I am--biking among them--on their courses.
As Brian and I were biking an easy 40 on the Ironman "Loop", we moved through many small communities. Like Cross Plains, where I slowed to halt at a stop sign.
While my bike was at a stand still, waiting for the car across from me waited, the driver looked me down and waited like we were playing chicken. I turned the wheel left and right to balance while she sat. A moment passed and she turned left. As I began to pedal, she stopped her car right in front of me, rolled down her window and waved to me to approach the car. This is what she said:
I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU PEOPLE NOT STOPPING AT THE STOP SIGN. THERE IS A STOP SIGN. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO STOP. YOU KNOW, THERE ARE KIDS IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD WHO SEE YOU *BLOW* THROUGH STOP SIGNS AND THEY THINK IT'S OK, SO THEY BLOW THROUGH STOP SIGNS TOO. THINK! THINK! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF IT.
She drove away in black Toyota Camry on Monday at approximately 11:45AM, leaving me with no response. She drove down the road. At my fight or flight, I was left to wonder if I should bike towards her, so I could respond in some way.
Now I'm being lumped in with cyclists. Just great. I'm like a man without a country.
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