04.19
Last night, my girlfriend and I were driving through town for some dinner when I spied up ahead two cyclists riding two-abreast down the same three lane street I was on. Approaching them from behind, I saw the first rider speed up and disappear into traffic. The second hung back a bit.
The road narrowed to two lanes for construction and I found myself behind the second cyclist in the center lane. He was a thin lad in black, wearing a Chrome-style backpack and carrying a U-Lock at his waist. Me, being the cycling kinda guy, gave him some room and in general tried to not be a dick motorist. The second cyclist moved to the far right lane and I passed him, only to stop in the left turn lane when the road returned to three lanes. The light at the intersection was red.
Ahead I saw that the first cyclist had also stopped for the light and was talking to the driver of a grey pick-up truck in the far right lane. I was several cars back in the queue but I could see that the first cyclist was pissed off. What I assumed was talking was really yelling.
“Oh shit – here’s some road rage” I said. My girlfriend asked what happened but I could not say. I only assumed that the driver of the truck had come too close or tried to hit the riders. But who knows, really.
From behind, the second rider appeared. He swooped past the trucks rear and smashed the driver’s side tail light of the truck with his u-lock. The light popped and plastic showered the street. The trucks alarm or impact sensor (dunno which) went off in pain.
The second cyclist paused for a second and then took a hard left, cutting across the middle lane and far left turn lane against the light. The first cyclist finished yelling with the pick-up truck driver and followed his partner, fleeing the scene.
The truck driver, perhaps finally realizing that his vehicle had been assaulted, squealed the trucks tires and also cut across the waiting traffic to pursue the cyclists. By the time the light turned, and I was able to make my turn down the same street, everyone was gone. I circled the block, much to my girlfriend’s dismay, to see if I could find the truck or the cyclists. What was I going to do? I don’t know – but I didn’t want to see anyone get murdered.
We couldn’t find them, so we went about our way, still rather shocked by the whole thing and not knowing really what to do. Our town is pretty quiet and the urban cyclists are few. I haven’t heard of this sort of thing happening on our streets, but I just may not hang out in the right circles.
It disturbed me because just an hour before, I’d finished my daily bike commute home from work. I had been on my bike, riding through the same city streets, thinking how different everything looked from the bike than from behind the wheel.
Things look incredibly different now. Stay safe out there, everyone.