thank you, bee, for stinging me in the ear

I was riding down to Santa Cruz from Felton on Sunday afternoon.

At the end of the ride, there's a narrow and twisty one way road that dumps you out of the residential area near DeLaveaga into Santa Cruz.
This day was only the fourth time I'd been this way, and the first two times I rode it I didn't know this road was one-way. So I always went really slowly around the steep, blind curve.
But two rides ago, I realized that it is one way (my way) so since then I've beeen taking the middle of the lane. No worries.

So on Sunday, I'm coming down this same one-way street.
I'm in the middle of the road.
I'm going fast.
I'm stoked.
As I approached the blind curve, I intentionally kept my speed up and cut a closer turn, pushing myself to get better at cornering with full panniers. I made it around the corner with no problems.

As I straightened out and scrubbed some speed, about 30 seconds later, a Ford Explorer turned down the street and proceeded to drive up the one way street towards me. As he approached me, I gently waved at him and pointed to the three bright red and white signs that read "DO NOT ENTER."

I figured he would get it, stop, and turn around, so I kept pedalling. Curious, I looked back.
He did not stop. He kept driving up the hill, against the flow. When he got to the blind curve he...

What do you think he did?
That's right.
He kept going.

That scared me and angered me. Thirty seconds ago, I was flying down that hill, near 25 miles an hour. That would have been a disaster had we collided.

So I pedalled after him.
I didn't get far, though, before I saw him doing a seven-point turn on this narrow, tree-lined road to get going in the correct direction. There were four cars behind him (in front of him?). They weren't too happy, either, I reckon. But I bet none of them were as scared or angry as me.

I stayed on the shoulder of the road as he came back down the hill. When he approached me, I waved, forced a smile, and motioned for him to roll down his window.

Me: "Hey there...that's a one way street, you know."
Him: "Yeah, I know. That's why I turned around."
Me: "I'm on a bike and came down that hill around that bend about 30 seconds ago. If one of us had been about 30 seconds earlier, it would have been a mess."
Him: "Yeah, I know. That's why I turned around."

Baffling logic.
So I just said "OK, thanks, have a good day" and moved off the road. I gave him a full minute head start and then moved onto the road.

Interestingly, about three miles back, before I was flying down that hill, a bee flew into my ear and stung me. Bee stings in the ear hurt, it turns out. I had stopped riding just long enough to get the bee and stinger out of my ear. Turns out that took about 30 seconds.

So, thank you, bee, for stinging me in the ear.
Had you not stung me and slowed me down, I would have collided with that Ford Explorer.

options

It was nice to wake up early one morning last week and run through my options on ways to get to work.

First thought at 5am, when the alarm sounded: I'm gonna ride!
Second thought at 5:25, when I was still in bed: It's 5:25 and I'm still in bed. It sure is cozy in here. I 'm going to stay in bed and catch the 6:05 bus.
Third thought at 5:50, when I got on my bike: I'm not going to get to work as early as I wanted to, but at least I get to ride.

It was interesting when I was running through my options that driving didn't even come to mind.