get off my road

Date	Celsius ° (C*9/5)+32=F	Place of run	Duration (min)	start time	One loop	9 flight sprint
5 June	≈ 16	Nizhenskaya	≈25	07:20	1:14.70	32.05

Words: 690; two pics

            The big news today, of course, is the new record for the inside loop final sprint.  I was thinking earlier that I may have made a mistake when I achieved 1:14.87 way back in March, not long after I moved in.  Now I have successfully broken that record.

            This morning, June 6, I had a wake-up call when it comes to drivers in Moscow.  I needed to change my train tickets, so I thought I would go early in the morning and beat the crowds at the ticket office.  I may have written before about the early-rising sun here at this time of year. At any rate, nowadays, the sun baths the earth in sunlight by 5:00. 

            I took my borrowed bike down the elevator.  The bike is a beauty. It rides smoothly with shocks both on the front and the back wheels.  It’s a BIG bike, made for a tall person.  I like to say it feels like I am riding a giraffe; that’s what I will name the machine—the giraffe.

Anyway, at 5:45 am, the sun was fully up, but not many people. I was biking down a back road through a forest. Not a deserted road, but nothing major. The road sloped down gently. In front of me, only empty road for a two kilometers. I heard a vehicle approach from behind. 

            “Hoooonk!”  As I normally do, I put a big smile on my face and I waved energetically. I assume that someone who honks at me, must think they recognize me and want to greet me.

The dude honked again. Ok, so I was in the middle of my lane, but there was NO ONE anywhere near us!  It was BEFORE 6 in the morning!  I held my arm out to the left, indicating that he could, and should, take advantage of the wide expanse of empty lane to the left.  This guy obviously was making a statement...as was I.

He wanted everyone to know that he had every right to EVERY bit of that road, and that I was just a bit of annoyance that needed to be quashed before I got out of control.  I was making my rightful claim to a section of my lane that would allow me to have a momentary loss of concentration—by riding meter and a half away from the edge of the road, I was giving myself a bit of cushion should something unforeseen pop up suddenly, or if I should lose my mink for second.  I’ve never once claimed to be perfect.

Oftentimes in such situations, I will be so bold as to alter my path a bit and swing further away from the roadside, father into his path—a stupid, ridiculously childish behavior (remember, not perfect).  Just as this rash move entered my consciousness, my alert brain subliminally caught a glimpse of some hulking grey mass to my left and I stayed straight. Mr. I-Have-A-Point-To-Make passed close enough for me to see his stash of shotguns in the back seat--wait! This Moscow, Russia not Moscow, Idaho or Moscow, Iowa. Crazy people aren't allowed to carry around weapons of mass destruction here.

What lesson did I learn? I can never feel safe on any road in Moscow. I need to put a rear view mirror on my helmet. When my sons are here, we will carry our bikes on metro trains from park to park. Another thing is that I will bow to the will of the all-mighty, gas-guzzling majority out there, and express my distaste with such morons using digital 0s and 1s on the pages of my blog.
           Again, I’ve been accused of naïve thinking.  “How can you live here for two years and not understand such things?  Bicycles can never ride on the street.  Aquaparks in Russia often have green water.  Kids see no romanticism in traveling by train in a crate of people next to the toilet.”   I’m learning.  Thanks for your patience.