Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Bicycle vs. Huge Diesel Pickup

I had to stop at the dentist this morning, so I got an early start.

At the first traffic signal of my commute (Cassia / Latah), a guy in this huge white dually-diesel pickup had to stop at the red light, while I went through on the green light. His light turned green and he roared on by.

The next light up the way (Latah / Rose Hill) turned yellow just as he was approaching, and he slammed on the brakes. I got another good look at his awesome truck. A triple roll bar -looking contraption, with five huge spotlights mounted along the top. (I don't think it provides any actual roll-bar functionality; it's probably just to mount the lights on. But it sure looks macho! The few feet of space in the pickup bed that are lost... a small price to pay for all that macho vibe!)

I couldn't have done any better if I'd written the script... the light turned green just as I got there! I very much appreciated the furious roar of diesel torque, as he "floored it" to keep the guy on the bike from getting the hole shot.

The dentist's office is only another quarter-mile up the road from there... and imagine my delight when I pulled into the parking lot, and there was Diesel Boy, just shuttin' 'er down. Hahaha! I walked through the door just ahead of him.

2 comments:

Clancy said...

Most trips under 2 miles can be just as fast on a bike. I had both kids on the Xtracycle once going from a soccer game to the school carnival. A parent, who drove her Suburban doing the same route, was miffed when I showed up at the school at the same time.

RAC said...

Great story!
When I used to work on 8th St (before BoDo), I could easily beat the Chinden traffic nightmare by taking the greenbelt from my home off Glenwood.