My informal study has the majority of drivers being good citizens, factoring us in, annoyed maybe, even angered, but not acting out. As with our great land as a whole, I think the angry, ignorant, righteous, loudmouthed, entitled 10% work hard to eff things up for the reasonable 90. Might be 85/15.

In a 3 hour ride I'd get typically one douchebag driver per hour.

I have also observed that in my part of rural red Virginia, cycling may slowly be becoming part of the local fabric or at least drivers may be more aware that we are also moving vehicles and entitled to the road as as well. And in turn, I do empathize a bit with them in that there are a lot more novices out on roads they shouldn't be on, doing things they should not be doing. I know plenty of dipshit entitled riders. But still not an excuse to respond in kind with a motorized vehicle.

Sorry about the angry motorized dipshits. It's really not you they're angry about. But you're the lightning rod.

24 days to the Loop!

There's a line in an episode of Justified that seems appropo... "if you see one a$$hole, you've seen an a$$hole. If you see a$$holes all day long, you're the a$$hole"

I agree. And for the most part, a good many people still go out of their way to give space. Fair is fair. I just note the uptick. Yesterday, the close passes and then the unsolicited bird just soured an otherwise beautiful January ride day.

That saying's been around a while, and I'm guessing it's reading into my political views that has you thinking I'm an asshole. I don't ride like an asshole, and I don't see redneck dipshits all day. I'll agree that 95% of drivers are just fine, but all it takes is being coal rolled or having a beer can thrown at you to spoil a ride. It's the near death experiences that make one reconsider their choice of hobbies.

Technically, a proctologist would be the more appropriate noun.

Jest aside, there really isn't a need for this type of snark here.

Oddly, Napa was far worse than it is here in Bend. You’d think it was the opposite but was fairly regular occurrence there, while pretty rare here. Crazy that a giant Oregon pickup tends to be more civil than a Calif Tesla or Beemer.

Sure there was.

I'd say in general things are pretty good where I'm at, but I'm also in a heavily forested area with good climbs around and that probably helps reduce who is randomly using these roads. The issue I have is when I get to more rural areas that are farmed. I specifically choose unfrequented roads, but there is something about me (and other cyclists) that lifted trucks don't like. I bet 90% of my bad encounters are with bigger 4x4 vehicles and backwards people. The other 10% are people who don't know what to do with cyclists on the road.

I've noticed that here in horse country too. The biggest threat to my existence is a luxury SUV late for a tennis match or a kid's lacrosse game. It's all about them. The big black lifted trucks come in third behind a beat up minivan with one of those family kids stick figure stickers on it. They are pro life, just not mine.

Lighting a candle, when I give a wave to the person who makes room or waits behind me on a blind curve elicits a wave back now and then. Guys in pickups especially. They know I know that I'm slowing them down, that I'm not oblivious. On the bike, that is.

Another interesting thing. Here in Va we have a custom license plate minted during the Tea Party days. It's orangish and says "don't tread on me" and in my experience those are the folks generally looking to tread on me the most. But I now see a lot of younger 30's drivers with those plates who seem to get that my riding is a freedom and that I'm obeying the law. I call them the Libertarians. I wish them well.

 
Me to all of those drivers and this winter weather.

Back to bike racing talk, some good stuff across all three races today:

- echelons in AlUla
- a descending clinic in Valencia
- a real savage finish in Besseges

Entertaining stuff all around.

Catching up.....where are you accessing these?

All on Flo for us north of the border.

And only AlUla on Flo down south, other side of the Wall.

Echelons are fun. Merlier carried his Cyclocross form. I had to look back, but swore I saw him few races last month.

I was on a dirt road and a pickup pulled out of a driveway without looking right in front of me. I went around, and when it pulled even with me I expected to hear cursing and threats. Instead the guy apologized for his mistake.

Speaking of dirt, the Gravel World Champ conducted another descending clinic to take the W at Valenciana today.

Great race for Honsinger, top 10!

Pretty lame fan turnout. And coverage, there was about an 8 second gap between 2nd and 3rd, and they totally missed the pass.

I got Flo'd trying to get to the replay video. :(.

Great job for Honsinger. And "Livin' la" Vida Lopez De San Roman - 6th in the women's junior race.

Tibor Del Grosso looking like he's ready for full-time elite racing.

Just had the pleasure of getting Flo'd as well. So, pay to watch. Pay to watch commercials.

"Bob, It feels good because you're here. It feels good because you're leaving." Dr. Leo Marvin

I happened to see the relay race was up on Youtube yesterday. So I just went and checked to see if the other races were going to be there. Not seeing them, but I did see the winner of the women's race because Flo Bikes put up some highlights with the results in the title. I want to say some really bad words, but I think that's frowned upon on this side of the forum.

Ridiculous. My game was open Flo App on TV. As it loads, quickly glance at ceiling so I could arrow down with my remote to Replays knowing it would be first option, and hit Enter. Caught glimpse of Orange jersey, which didn't exactly give it all away.

I contacted them more than once back when I subscribed to them to ask them to stop putting the results in the titles. Got a response one time, they said they would pass the request on.

The response I got was along the lines of " don't use the app, go to the webpage, copy the URL of the page that has the race you want ahead of time, then paste in that URL into your browser but go in and edit the URL with the following code, etc." Just ridiculous.

Their website was a pain but where they would get me was Youtube. I would plan on watching a race later that day or week, and click on Youtube for nothing in particular, but their highlights would just pop up in my feed, usually with a picture of the winner and their name in the title. I

She came from way back to get that too. Dominant ride by Fem and good to see The People’s Champ Brand get second.

I actually watched it on this YT channel, which didn’t spoil it: https://youtube.com/...ossCX?feature=shared

Is that the channel where it's usually just ambient noise? No commentating?