For lots of reasons, I really do not like law enforcement. Imagine my contempt at being dragged down from behind on the North Shore yesterday for - wait for it - disobeying a crossing guard. WTF? The verrrrrry short story is that supposedly I and my riding companion willfully disobeyed a crossing guard and were subsequently made to wait an hour (yes, an hour - my power file proves it) in the freezing coldness while Glencoe five-oh wrote out violations. An hour. A freaking hour. We were never asked what happened nor were we offered a warm place to wait, like the back seat of the SUV that sat there idling for the duration.
The real kicker with me is that I was never asked what happened - did you see the crossing guard? No, there was a car in front of us obstructing my view not to mention that I was sitting behind 6'3" of fine humanity that was in the way as well. There were no signs in the street indicating that it was a school zone. The crossing guard was not wearing or holding any sort of bright green, yellow or orange indicator of any sort. There was no traffic control at the intersection - no stop sign, no traffic light, nothing. We were passing a car that was sitting in the right lane, going nowhere. Only after going around the car did I even see the crossing guard as she was stepping off the curb - there were no kids in the street, she used no audio or visual indication that I was to stop til she screamed, 'what's the matter with you?' How about, 'I didn't see you at 30mph and couldn't stop in ten feet or less.' Yes, there was a killer tailwind, we were doing an interval and again, there's a power file to prove it.
My big beef is that I was never treated fairly and never given the opportunity to explain that I was powerless to stop - it was an honest mistake. Had I seen her, I would have stopped - no doubt. I know that cyclists get a bad rap for behaving badly on the North Shore but in this instance we weren't willfully being disobedient. We got lumped in with the prevailing shit attitude on the North Shore about people on bikes. They wasted an hour of my time and will now waste even more of my time when I go to court where I will hopefully be given a chance to defend myself and be listened to - fairly.
So to blow off a little steam here's a happy happy playlist:
Everything in It's Right Place - Radiohead
The Day I Tried to Live - Soundgarden
Passive - A Perfect Circle
Burn - Nine Inch Nails
Cryin' Like a Bitch! - Godsmack
Don't You - Candlebox
Drift & Die - Puddle of Mudd
Rise or Fall - BRMC
Famous - Puddle of Mudd
Firestarter - The Prodigy
Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins
I finished all 4001 e-pages of 'Atlas Shrugged' this morning. Might be my most favorite book of all time. 'Shutter Island' by Dennis Lehane starts tonight - have to read it before seeing the movie.
The real kicker with me is that I was never asked what happened - did you see the crossing guard? No, there was a car in front of us obstructing my view not to mention that I was sitting behind 6'3" of fine humanity that was in the way as well. There were no signs in the street indicating that it was a school zone. The crossing guard was not wearing or holding any sort of bright green, yellow or orange indicator of any sort. There was no traffic control at the intersection - no stop sign, no traffic light, nothing. We were passing a car that was sitting in the right lane, going nowhere. Only after going around the car did I even see the crossing guard as she was stepping off the curb - there were no kids in the street, she used no audio or visual indication that I was to stop til she screamed, 'what's the matter with you?' How about, 'I didn't see you at 30mph and couldn't stop in ten feet or less.' Yes, there was a killer tailwind, we were doing an interval and again, there's a power file to prove it.
My big beef is that I was never treated fairly and never given the opportunity to explain that I was powerless to stop - it was an honest mistake. Had I seen her, I would have stopped - no doubt. I know that cyclists get a bad rap for behaving badly on the North Shore but in this instance we weren't willfully being disobedient. We got lumped in with the prevailing shit attitude on the North Shore about people on bikes. They wasted an hour of my time and will now waste even more of my time when I go to court where I will hopefully be given a chance to defend myself and be listened to - fairly.
So to blow off a little steam here's a happy happy playlist:
Everything in It's Right Place - Radiohead
The Day I Tried to Live - Soundgarden
Passive - A Perfect Circle
Burn - Nine Inch Nails
Cryin' Like a Bitch! - Godsmack
Don't You - Candlebox
Drift & Die - Puddle of Mudd
Rise or Fall - BRMC
Famous - Puddle of Mudd
Firestarter - The Prodigy
Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins
I finished all 4001 e-pages of 'Atlas Shrugged' this morning. Might be my most favorite book of all time. 'Shutter Island' by Dennis Lehane starts tonight - have to read it before seeing the movie.
