bad riders, bad drivers - be careful

There have been a lot of blogs, news, articles - whatever about spring, cyclists and what the law is for riding a bike...

Today I went out for a lunchtime ride. No big deal, just getting a little exercise. County road 5 is always kind of stressful for all of the dumptrucks and traffic coming to and from Windsor (I-25 is a mile away, but many choose to take the local road). There was a guy in front of me on a felt tri-bike. One of the aluminum ones, think it was yellow and he was wearing a NB Winderful jersey. I'm maybe fifty feet back watching him come up on a couple of kids riding side by side on the shoulder. There's a dump truck approaching us and so I slow down (too many bikes in one spot on the shoulder) and wait for him to pass. This yahoo on the felt lurches past the kids and into the lane... The guy is lucky he didn't get hit. Even though the dumptruck driver didn't give much space, he also didn't run over the idiot on the felt. Good job - dumptruck guy!

Now just when I'm starting to think that drivers are looking out for cyclists on this road - there's a small hill with no shoulder before you get to the intersection. One of those roads where the white line curves away from you because there is no more asphault - only a shallow ditch. Double yellow line on a narrow road. I'm as close to the side as I can get and am almost blown off the road by a semi (probably same company as Mr Dumptruck) that passes me with no space while there is oncoming traffic. Seemingly gunning his engine to speed up the hill and not have to downshift.

I kinda wish I would have yelled at the guy on the Felt for the sake of Mr Dumptruck. I also wish I had something bigger than a semi to put some fear into the other driver.

Be careful out there folks. There are idiots on both sides...