Near Miss

Or, as George Carlin would say, "Near hit."

I left the house at 5:40 AM, and the temperature was 47 degrees F on the front porch. The weather guesser on Channel 4 described conditions as "warm and breezy", and she was right. Of course, in Denver Weather-speak, "breezy" means a sustained 20 mph wind, with gusts to 25, or so.

As is my luck, the wind was from the northwest, as I headed north to the lab. It was okay, though. The warm temps made up for the wind.

At one point on the morning route, I turn east for a few blocks, going slightly uphill. The street I am on, at that point, is the through street. And, except for one 4-way, all of the streets crossing have a stop sign, while I don't.

Taking advantage of the tailwind, I was riding along at a pretty good clip, as a Chevy or GMC SUV pulled up to one of the stop signs, on my right. I kept my eye on him, as I approached the intersection, prepared to hit the brakes if he rolled on through.

Lots of people do that on residential streets at 6:00 AM.

But, he came to a complete halt, and I entered continued on. Then, as my front wheel reached a point directly in front of his driver's side headlight, the guy gunned it off the line.

"Broken leg," I thought to myself, as I watched the high-mounted bumper heading toward me. In the split second it took me to stand up and begin to sprint, I was wondering if I would get completely run over, or if I'd be thrown to the curb on the other side of the street.

VVRRROOOM. All I could hear was his engine. I was up, cranking as hard as I could, grateful for the tailwind, when the bumper of the vehicle passed about a foot behind my rear wheel.

Then, the guy hit the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road.

I was so happy to not get hit, I didn't even think to get mad. My heart was pumping like Uma Thurman's, after the O.D. scene in Pulp Fiction, and I just cruised on up the hill and made my turn to head north, again.

I don't know if it was just one of those instances where he saw me, but I didn't register on his brain or if he just didn't look. Maybe he was taking a sip of coffee.

Maybe he was trying to run me down. I don't know. I really don't even care.

All I care about is, I avoided him.

I'll take a near hit, any day, over the real thing!

x