Taking up space

can lead to conflict

It was sunny. I needed to ride.

I hopped on Bepe and strained to power it Hilltop avenue. My cold legs strained against its’ single speed glory.

Bepe is my 1984 Kuwahara. It once was a mountain bike. Now, with only a single speed freewheel on the back, it rides like a big BMX. It’s nimble, quick and really playful.

At the top of Hilltop, I found an Langly to be completely empty, save the cars parked on either side. A narrow lane, big enough for one way traffic went down the middle.

Delighting at the wind in my hair, I checked over my shoulder and began weaving playfully down the middle of the road. Turning feels good. Hopping over sewage covers feels good. I was doing both and feeling great.

Out of nowhere I heard beeping and shouting. The culprit? An angry man in a Porsche SUV. I could have gotten out of his way, if I ducked into a driveway or one of the short spaces between two cars. But then I would have had to break to let this pushy, beeping Porsche driver pass. I was moving at quite…