I was biking back from Rapunzel's school, carrying Rapunzel on the back of my super kick-ass pedal-powered mom-mobile customized by my favorite Contraption Captain, love you dear. Rapunzel is sitting in the back seat, talking about her day. I'm pedaling up a nice bike lane.
My route is a short carefully selected trip down a quiet back road, right onto a busier road with a good bike lane, and then, the one tricky part, I have to get over to the left so that I can make a left hand turn onto yet another road with a bike lane.
It's not that tricky. The left hand turn is at an intersection with a traffic light and I choose to go left here because I feel having that light makes it just a little safer for me. Usually.
We come to where we make the easy right hand turn and there are no cars in either direction. Cool. I bike a ways up this road and start to approach where I want to make my left hand turn. Still no cars. Cool. Also the light ahead of me is red, so even if there were cars not like they'd be slowed down a lot. I get over to the left side of the lane and head up the last few yards to the red light.
A car comes up behind me. I watch them approach in my rear mirror. I feel a little uneasy. I got my darling Rapunzel and this car is really coming on too fast. But it's a red light, right? Yes, it is. The car comes up just as the light turns green. I signal with my hand that I will make a left turn and start heading through the intersection.
Car is in a big hurry. They are turning left also. They kindof want to get around me and so they get over onto my right side. We both complete our turns. I would like to get into my bike lane but of course I can't. There's a Ford Explorer on that side.
The Ford Explorer is in the bike lane and I am in the car lane. The driver looks at me like "what the fuck are you doing over there" and I look at them and say with my eyes "you look fucking ridiculous in that skinny-ass bike lane over there!" A car is behind me. Another car is in front of me. And now a car on my right.
I roll my eyes. Finally the car in the bike lane manages to fall in to regular traffic behind me and I move over into the bike lane.
What's the moral here kids? Don't be in such a goddamned hurry and you won't end up trying to force a camel through the eye of a needle. Sheesh.
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