Small Pleasures (Cycling Department)

I like to cycle up Elm St. on my way home from work, even though it's a little out of my way, just because I like to check out the scene on Greensboro's best downtown street. South Elm usually has a lot of street life at that time of day, and I like to be a part of it.

Drivers on Elm usually give me plenty of room, and most of the time I'm able to pedal with the flow of traffic since it's pretty stop-and-go at that hour. I've found that most drivers are very polite to me on my bike.

But yesterday I heard a rumble of knobby tires behind me, and a big red Hummer blew by; his right side mirror felt like it was about 6 inches from my ear, and I got a little wobbly in his Hummer-wash. Clearly he wasn't going to give any quarter to a mere cyclist.

But about 30 seconds later he came to a dead stop in traffic, so I blew right by him and kept on going; two blocks later I looked back, and he was still creeping along. He never caught up.

Heh.