Its a Manic Monday!

So my task today was to fit in a 2 hour tempo ride concentrating on keeping my heart rate consistent and my cadence consistent. I had the mantra in my head "the only thing that changes on a hill, up or down is the gears". I was so focused that I had 10 miles out of the way before I knew it. I have my first manic encounter shortly before this. I almost get hit by a Town of Carmel Cop who seemed so busy doing police business that he didn't notice me until I sat behind him at the light on Rt 6. I was surprised that this did break my focus, I actually thought about this for a brief second, I let it roll and kept going, as if I was on a mission, which I was.
My second encounter of the day happened shortly after this when a guy tried to pass me on the left when I was clearly, hand off the handle bar to signal, making a left. He almost has a head on collision and forces me to stay in the middle of a two lane road for way too long. Eventually a nice guy flashes his lights and lets me go. What killed me about this is that had the guy from behind me let me go, I would have had plenty of room to get across safely.
Yes, there is more. I told you it was a manic Monday. I am now on the path, a perfect place to do a tempo ride, because intersections are few and the terrain is fairly consistent. As I come to one of the busier road crossings this guy in a Forrester decides to stop by the path as if he is allowing me to cross. As I start my crossing, he starts to go, then stops and starts yelling at me that I have the F%^$%#$ stop sign, and he should have kept going to teach me a lesson about crossing the street. Really? OK, now its 18 miles into my ride, and I am starting to show a bit of fatigue with maintaining this tempo shit, so trying to bounce back after this encounter was difficult. I did persevere. In a few minutes I had my rhythm back and I was heading down the last stretch of path having to avoid the dog who is not on a leash and chasing everyone (sorry Jon, this really spike the HR for a bit), finally reaching the road and a sense of accomplishment, 20 miles down and 1:10 min on the clock. I was cruising, totally focused on my goals. Totally enjoying this moment. I actually wished that every person that had too much to do today to the point of making them stressed and angry could share this moment with me. I was tired, but I was refreshed.
As I make my way around the final reservoir and take the lane down Brick Hill Road, people behind me are laying on the horn trying to get me to move over. I wanted to ask them if they really needed to go more than 10 MPH over the speed limit in that neighborhood? I was already pushing 12mph over the limit down that hill and somehow had a Honda on my ass laying on the horn. Come on, there are kids that live on this street and going 42MPH is plenty fast enough, plus there is no shoulder to speak of the the road is chopped up enough that it is dangerous for a cyclist who cannot scope out a line.
Yes, one more, this one just made me angry. OK, it took until I was 1 mile from home, at the corner of 202/100 at a stop light to get my blood boiling to a point that letting it go was nearly impossible. I am sitting in front of a line of cars at the intersection, and yes I was the first to get there. The light turns green and the guy behind me lays on the horn because I am in his way. So I did what any typical Southern NY Cyclist would do, I take my time in the intersection, making sure that I am following the NYS penal code "when a cyclist deems that the conditions on the shoulder are unsafe they can take the lane". I made it difficult for this guy to pass me for a good 1/4 mile figuring that the shoulder was non-existent and what was there was really chopped up. When he finally did pass me, he rushed to make the next right into the animal hospital. I really hope he was only late for an appointment, for his pet's sake. Surprisingly, after I did this, the stress was gone. With 3/4 of a mile to go, I cooled down as much as I could seeing that my street is nearly vertical. It was one of the best rides I have ever had, as I accomplished all my goals and I didn't allow myself to get caught up in all the problems that people I encountered had.

Tomorrow, a time trial in New Paltz.