Space hog? Hell yeah.

I was riding down Bank Street this morning, on that long hill between Sunnyside and Riverdale. There are quite a few parked cars along that stretch, and you get up a pretty decent speed. I came through the Sunnyside intersection under the yellow light, but I'm pretty sure the pickup behind me had to have run the red. But hey, that happens all the time.

Lately, of course, I stay the hell out of the door zone, always aware of how much more dangerous it is than traffic. Especially at the speeds you can get up to on that hill. The street's two lanes wide, so I pulled out so I was riding at the far right edge of the inner lane, and zipped down the street. I noticed the truck behind me (noting that it had probably run the red light, with slight amusement.) I actually appreciated the fact that the driver wasn't crowding past me, although he could have pulled out to pass me at any point, it wasn't that busy.

It wasn't until the bottom of the hill, though, that I heard the engine rev and the truck pulled way out across the yellow line and passed me, with lots of space, which I also appreciated.

It was the annoyed honk of the horn that made me shake my head though. For a moment I felt a half-twinge, thinking, "that driver's cursing 'those damn cyclists taking up space on the road' right now." But I couldn't bring myself to feel bad about it for all that long. The truck had room and I wasn't slowing him down all that much, really. I was out of danger, and it was a lovely day. One honk didn't really do much to wreck that. I made a sort of sweeping gesture taking in the wide, quiet street and a sort of mild exasperation with the driver, and continued on my way home.