Monday, November 17, 2008

Taken Aback

Temperature at departure = 38° F (3° C)

It was a crisp, clear morning and the bike ride in was going to be great.  When the temperatures drop, so does the use of the bike/hike path.  A couple miles into the ride I finally spotted a pedestrian walking a hunting dog off the leash and pretty far ahead of her.  I normally ring my bell about 3 times prior to saying "Good morning, coming up on your left."  Today I figured there would need to be some extra warning so the walker could get her dog under control.  Wrong.

After ringing 5 times without her head moving a fraction, I finally said my "Good morning, coming up on your left."  Her response was unsettling.  "I don't care."

It's true.  "You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!"  Wow, lukewarm is disturbing.

2 comments:

karen said...

Wow!
That's so strange.
Now, about our bells...
I've noticed that even the elderly are using ipods, and no one ever hears my bell or verbal "on your left" anymore. It's dangerous for them. And me...

Mark Studnicki said...

That's par for the course in Johnson County. Groups of people are even better. There's typically one bright person in the group that sees/hears you coming and moves, but the message takes 10 seconds to get relayed around the group, and everybody goes in different directions. The last one to get the news is always the one that gets pissed 'cause they're still in the middle of the trail when you ride by. It's almost as annoying as people driving while talking on their cell phones.