Oreos of Death

The things I do for my kids. I know I would do anything for them but I never imagined it would mean risking my life just for a pack of Double-Stuff Oreos from the local Sheetz. A ride to Sheetz is becoming the norm for me. It used to be a drive so I guess I'm at least improving the environment and burning off the calories from the iced latte I always get. Anyway, I knew I'd be heading there today so I suited up and took the long route. I debated going a little further than normal but opted to just keep is sort of simple and headed out onto one of the busier roads in the area. I've gotten much better at navigating in traffic, which pretty much means I've grown some balls when it comes to owning my little portion of the road. Well today I damn near got neutered twice. For those that live in the area, this part will make sense, for others, just do your best. So I headed out onto 205 where there happens to be no pavement beyond the white line. This means my fat ass hangs out into the regular travel lane. In a 55 MPH zone. I pretty much keep my eyes glued to my mirror since there's a blind turn right where I come out before opening up to a nice long straight stretch of road. Well, a nice person in a white Ford sedan decided that even though there was plenty of room to slow down, plenty of time to wait a second or two, and plenty of time to see me in bright green jersey, they decided to come insanely close to me. Normally I check, re-check, re-re-check, and re-re-re-check the damn mirror and I did it this time just like normal. And damn near bailed out into the ditch because they didn't look like they were going to give me any slack. And then, to make me even more pissed off, they pass me, slowly drift over the white line in front of me (well down the road), then slow down and make a fucking left turn. I mean, 10 seconds was going to kill you? I'm no speed demon on the bike but that left turn you made was so damn close to me, I FUCKING PASSED YOU BEFORE YOU COULD EVEN FINISH PARKING YOUR FUCKING CAR!

ARgh. Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. So I peddled on, passed a pedestrian (walking on the wrong side of the road), took a side trip, made it back to 205, crossed over 301, took another side road, and eventually made it to Route 3. No issues here except I wasn't fat enough to make the sensor in the road realize I needed a green light to make a left turn so I had to wait for a truck to pull up behind me. Headed out on Route 3 where there's plenty of room to the right of the white line and made another side trip before crossing over 301 again and heading into Sheetz.

Now we get to my other close call. Leaving Sheetz and going East on Route 3 is always tricky, even in a car. You have CVS traffic and four lanes to deal with, two of them are turn lanes with various turning destinations. Well, the one car was nice enough to stop to let a car go in front of them so I headed out as well and they suddenly hit the gas like I wasn't allowed to cross. Ass hats were nice enough to at least give me more room than the other driver but at least I'm learning that it's best to treat every car on the road like a mortal enemy. As long as I assume every driver is out there to kill me I'll be safe. I think.

Photos:
At the end of the road on one of my minor detours.

Weather:
Temps were about 85F to 90F. Humidity was high. Sun was out. Winds were moderate.

Fluids and Fuel:
Breakfast was granola and yogurt with an iced coffee. Had a bottle of plain water until I got to Sheetz then nothing for the final 4 miles home. Recovery was a veggie wrap with bacon, iced latte, and a shower.

Aches and Pains:
None really although my feet still fall asleep occasionally.

Gear:
No special gear but I serious thought about getting a baseball bat to use on dumbass drivers.

Experiment:
Took my knife to hold my cards and my large pepper spray since I was going by the dog road. Also took my phone. No issues carrying any of them.

Splits:
Finish - 1:13:00