Black Forest Ride
I was out for a ride in the Black Forest yesterday. I was riding through one of my favorite canyons, and came up behind an older man driving a Mercedes.
Apparently this old man was either extremely lazy or just didn't like curvy streets (then WTF is he doing driving up this canyon?), but he was driving slowly and using the WHOLE road. The road snaked along a river with a whole series of left-right curve combinations. As soon as I could see that there was no traffic coming the other way, I set up to pass him, and the asshat would fade over into the opposing lane so that he could "straighten" this twisty road.
It doesn't happen often that I get frustrated while riding, but I finally got tired of this joker and hit the horn so that he would wake up and realize that he wasn't alone. I was able to pass him a minute later, and within seconds he had disappeared from my mirrors.
Then later, I was taking the Autobahn home. It was a 120kmh (75 mph) zone. I was following a car and another one merged into the right lane. We moved to the left (passing) lane. As the car in front of me was adjacent to the one that had merged, the asshat in the right lane accelerated hard (it was a diesel, so I could see the dark exhaust cloud), and started pacing the car that was trying to pass him. At about 150 kmh (90 mph) the car in front of me was able to get past the asshat, and I just punched it to get away from him. After I had passed both, I moved over to the right lane and dropped my speed back down into the "legal" range.
A couple of miles later, the Autobahn drops to 100 kmh (60 mph) and just one lane. As I slowed to 100, the asshat passes and cuts in front of me. My thought at this point was, "feeling better, you PNG*?"
I decided to keep a fair distance between me and this guy, because he was acting like his BMW was an extension of his otherwise non-existent manliness. Again, we're on a stretch of Autobahn, one lane in each direction, doing 60 mph. I'm trying to keep a 2 second buffer.
The asshat then decided to clean his windshield ... for like 30 seconds straight. My visor was already pretty smeared with insect remains, but this pushed it over the edge. I had almost no visibility at this point. I was so pissed off with this guy, but there was nowhere for me to go - I can't pass him, I can't pull over (no shoulder) and I'm not armed. To show him what I thought of him, I used the only "weapon" I had - I hit him with my high beam and made sure it was directly in his rear-view mirror. About 1 mile later, the Autobahn splits, so I watched which route the asshat took and then split off on the other lane. The asshat had taken the "official" lane, so I took the shortcut. Both routes merge again at the entrance to a tunnel, and I was able to get into the tunnel with about a 1/4 mile head start, and didn't see the asshat again.
Other than these two asshats, it was a beautiful day for a ride. I rode about 230 km (140 miles) through some beautiful country. I shot some video which I'll be editing today and posting to YouTube tomorrow.
* PNG - Pencil-Necked Geek.
Apparently this old man was either extremely lazy or just didn't like curvy streets (then WTF is he doing driving up this canyon?), but he was driving slowly and using the WHOLE road. The road snaked along a river with a whole series of left-right curve combinations. As soon as I could see that there was no traffic coming the other way, I set up to pass him, and the asshat would fade over into the opposing lane so that he could "straighten" this twisty road.
It doesn't happen often that I get frustrated while riding, but I finally got tired of this joker and hit the horn so that he would wake up and realize that he wasn't alone. I was able to pass him a minute later, and within seconds he had disappeared from my mirrors.
Then later, I was taking the Autobahn home. It was a 120kmh (75 mph) zone. I was following a car and another one merged into the right lane. We moved to the left (passing) lane. As the car in front of me was adjacent to the one that had merged, the asshat in the right lane accelerated hard (it was a diesel, so I could see the dark exhaust cloud), and started pacing the car that was trying to pass him. At about 150 kmh (90 mph) the car in front of me was able to get past the asshat, and I just punched it to get away from him. After I had passed both, I moved over to the right lane and dropped my speed back down into the "legal" range.
A couple of miles later, the Autobahn drops to 100 kmh (60 mph) and just one lane. As I slowed to 100, the asshat passes and cuts in front of me. My thought at this point was, "feeling better, you PNG*?"
I decided to keep a fair distance between me and this guy, because he was acting like his BMW was an extension of his otherwise non-existent manliness. Again, we're on a stretch of Autobahn, one lane in each direction, doing 60 mph. I'm trying to keep a 2 second buffer.
The asshat then decided to clean his windshield ... for like 30 seconds straight. My visor was already pretty smeared with insect remains, but this pushed it over the edge. I had almost no visibility at this point. I was so pissed off with this guy, but there was nowhere for me to go - I can't pass him, I can't pull over (no shoulder) and I'm not armed. To show him what I thought of him, I used the only "weapon" I had - I hit him with my high beam and made sure it was directly in his rear-view mirror. About 1 mile later, the Autobahn splits, so I watched which route the asshat took and then split off on the other lane. The asshat had taken the "official" lane, so I took the shortcut. Both routes merge again at the entrance to a tunnel, and I was able to get into the tunnel with about a 1/4 mile head start, and didn't see the asshat again.
Other than these two asshats, it was a beautiful day for a ride. I rode about 230 km (140 miles) through some beautiful country. I shot some video which I'll be editing today and posting to YouTube tomorrow.
* PNG - Pencil-Necked Geek.