Wednesday 31 October 2012

RTA


So, I am now nearly finished cycling the USA.  Just a few more miles on a big wide road, with plenty of room for cyclists.

But it hasn’t all been this way.  The low point of my journey happened a few days ago…….I was hit by a car.

A lot of people have been asking me which is was the best and worst state.  The best state is a tough one, Oregon and Colorado win for scenery  but Kansas and Missouri had such fantastic people, Alabama had such crazy accents, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons were stunning (Wyoming) and Kentucky had the best looking women.  But the worst state?  Without a doubt Florida!

Don’t get me wrong, Florida is a nice place overall and has plenty of good points to it too  (I had a fantastic time in St Augustine and met some great people), but as a cyclist Florida has been horrendous.  Mainly because of a combination of narrow roads with no shoulder and a handful of awful drivers. 

So a few days ago I was cycling on a typical Florida road when a car brushed into me and Holly.  I was knocked wildly off course, but luckily the car was not travelling too quickly so I managed to keep the rubber down.  The driver of the car didn’t even realise he had hit me.
I managed to catch up with the car at a junction just down the road, and to my disbelief the driver didn’t hear me shouting from about 2m away* as his music was so loud.  I had to bang on his car to get his attention….which probably got me more attention than I wanted, but he certainly needed to know that he had hit a cyclist.

Thankfully modern cars are smaller and softer than this!
In the end, no harm was done to me or Holly, but the incident left me shaken and with an all new high heart rate from all the adrenalin pumping through my veins.

Maybe this incident has left me with a sour taste in my mouth, but I was certainly relieved to get past Miami and leave the busy Florida roads behind me!



* I am not an angry cyclist, I was just shouting to get the guys attention to let him know that his driving had just nearly caused an accident.

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