What A Difference A Day Makes

This was the scene outside of the Smartworld Coffee shop on Sunday Morning. 4 bikes belonging to people who used their bike instead of their cars. (Okay, 2 of them are ours) We had a nice chat with a couple of guys who were riding their mountain bikes back from a ride at the Tourne Park a few miles away. You could ask for a nicer day but you wouldn't get it! After breakfast and coffee we headed over to the supermarket to pick up some things we needed at home. I will admit to being glad the A&P is only a little over a mile from home because groceries are heavy. After a couple of chores we loaded up the toy wagon and headed over to Deer Pond Park for some mountain biking. The park is a great place to spend the afternoon riding on buff single track without too, too much climbing. (Just enough to keep you honest).

The foliage is lush and the woods are peaceful. I only get one day a week off during the season so when the weather is this great, the rides are extra sweet! After the ride we hung out for a nice picnic lunch that Cathy cleverly thought to prepare so that we would be spared the usual ravenous post ride drive back home.

That's why after a day like that it is such a shock to get back to the commute on Monday. This morning was a bit on the chilly side for the first of June but the brilliant sunshine and deep blue sky made my morning ride to work refreshing like a dip in a cold stream on a hot summer day. But one realization marred the perfection of the day just a little bit. My ride started a little earlier than usual today so there was definitely more traffic than when I leave home after 9:00 AM. I realized that people must be more pissed off about their jobs than I knew. Aggression. That's the word I can come up with to describe the vibe out on the road. People just drive with aggression. Naked, ugly, aggression. Cutting each other off, speeding, tail-gating, flat out intimidation. It's kind of scary when you see it from a point of view outside of a car. As a society, I am not sure I like where we are headed. I know I sound crazy but I really believe we would all be better off if more people rode a bike sometimes.