Friday, August 22, 2008

An end to my morning zen....

I went for my usual morning ride on Wednesday. Something was wrong. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then, I realized the previously quiet roads of Mountain View and Los Altos were jam-packed to the gills with cars. What was going on?

Then, I realized. These were no ordinary cars. No. They were almost entirely SUVs...and minivans...all driven by a particular demographic - white women in their early 30's to mid-40's. And, they were diving into certain driveways with no sign of yielding to me, the lowly bicyclist that stood between them and their prize. I can't blame them. If I'd just spent the last 12 weeks trying to entertain miniature people, I'd be driving like a bat out of hell to ditch them for 6 hours on someone else's doorstep, too....

Yes, it's "Back to School" which signals an end to the peaceful morning ride season. Only 9 more months till June!

6 comments:

Velo Bella said...

there really is no worse driver (imho) than the distracted mom/dad dropping their kids off to school.

I pass by about 3 schools in my commute and its unbelieveable what I see everyday...and almost always the driver is totally clueless as to any existence of any world outside theirs....

Itinerant Rick said...

yea, the distracted parent driver is a nuisance. Once the guv signs the 'no texting while driving' bill that just got sent his way maybe we can lobby for the 'no distracted parent driver' zones for a couple miles around every school. That ought to stop the minivan/SUV parade - no sense in driving them if you have to drop them off 2 miles from the door.

place_holder said...

maybe people will give asian female drivers some slack... but do watch out for them, because i do.

EB said...

Any distracted driver is a bad driver. Yet another reason for me to not breed :).

Jackie said...

Plaid dresses with white collars. Plaid pleated wool skirts. Saddle oxfords. Wool sweaters. Heat wave and new wool clothes to wear on the first day of school - pick any year from kindergarten to high school.

...but we always had to walk to school - and it was a long way, too.

Groover said...

Haha - I always only realise that school is back on when the commute time suddenly doubles again ... and I really don't get the obsession with big huge gas gulping 4WD's. Even here in Australia all schools I know can be reached via sealed roads ... especially the ones in inner city Brisbane.