Northern Colorado is great place to ride bikes.
Miles and miles of wonderful trails, great climbing nearby in the foothills, and lots of bike lanes. For the most part, drivers are aware of, and courteous toward, cyclists.
For the most part.
On Saturday, my route took me through a semi-busy roundabout. I waited my turn, felt certain I made eye contact with the guy driving the big truck pulling the motor home, and proceeded around my lane. Just before I passed him, he pulled in front of me.
Thankful for good disc brakes that stopped me a foot or two short of a collision, and for the driver that didn’t crunch me from behind.
So I proceeded around the turn and there, a few hundred yards down the road, sat the big truck and the motor home. The driver was walking to the back to wait for me.
Oh good. Now what’s gonna happen?
I pulled warily to a stop, and the guy walked right up next to me.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I didn’t see you with your big colorful flag, but I just missed you. I’m so sorry I pulled in front of you. Are you OK?”
How do you respond to such a sincere apology?
“Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty low to the ground. It’s easy to miss me.”
“Yeah, but I need to be more careful. That could have been really bad. I’m sorry if I scared you.
“So how far are you riding today?”
“I’m probably gonna do 35 or 40 miles.”
“Seriously? I just got done mountain biking 10 miles and I can’t wait to get home to my couch! You’re really gonna ride 40 miles, cranking with your arms?”
We talked for a few more minutes, then I headed down the road.
So, what’s the moral to this little encounter?
Well, maybe it’s that even nice people can make mistakes, and we need to cut ourselves and each other some slack.
Or maybe it’s that a sincere apology goes a long way.
Like I said, Northern Colorado is a great place to ride bikes.