Nasty and nice

One very nasty road hog and one pleasant cyclist passed me this morning.

First the road hog. I was riding uphill on a quiet city street when a car zoomed by, very conspicuously gunning its engine. At the next stoplight, I pulled up behind and photographed his license plate. The driver jumped out and suggested that he should have photographed me riding outside the bike lane. Now, that striped bike lane along the street was full of the usual February loose sand and icy patches -- hardly a suitable surface for uphill riding -- and Minnesota law clearly treats bicycles as legitimate vehicles. I pointed out that I had a right to be in the street, and further that he did not have a right to threaten me with his car, and that he had to leave at least three feet of space when passing me. At that, this not very gentlemanly fellow said, "That means YOU have to keep three feet from ME, you f****** b****!" So here's the photo. If you see this guy, make sure you leave him plenty of room.

A friendlier guy, riding a bike toward downtown, passed me and commented "you really know winter's over when the recumbents come out." I told him I'd been riding all winter, including in the snow. He asked, "have you stayed up?" "Noooo," I replied, "have you?" He laughed and answered that he had gone down a couple times too.