Moron on the left.

photo(4)Today a cyclist rode by and said, “You’re on the wrong side of the path, moron.” Which is pretty ridiculous, I mean, look at what I was wearing! Would a moron have this kind of fashion sense?

I should explain why I run on the left. When I’m running on the Burke Gilman Trail by my house in Seattle, I always run on the lake side of the trail. This is because there is a dirt path there and I don’t have to run on the paved part with the cyclists. The problem is for the first two miles the dirt path is narrow and sometimes disappears for 10 or 20 meters. I’m not going to go all the way across to the other side for 5 seconds when the dirt path disappears, and then go all the way back across to the path when it reappears, just to appease some “everyone stay to the right on the pavement” moron cyclist crap.

As you can see from what I was told today, some cyclists get really mad that I would have the nerve to run on the left side of the road. Since it’s my blog and I get the final word, I want to point out to the cyclists calling me a moron: my bike is nicer than yours, and I can ride it faster too.

Published by Ben

Ben Collins Professional Triathlete

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9 Comments

  1. Hi Ben, I found your website when I googled for a review on the ISM saddle. Since then I have been enjoying your blog.

    This happened to me when I was running around Green Lake. Anyways, people shouldn’t be cycling around inside loop of Green Lake. At least that is what I think.

  2. Only in Seattle do people spend more time worrying about everything and everyone else – except for themselves (or is it themself or oneself?). Next time just dart back and forth across the trail and see how they like it. You should have noted more details – who they were riding for, bike, and whether or not they were sporting a triple. Then again you are better off wasting less energy on this. We’ll get him this summer.

  3. Yeah, that sort of snobbery on B-G is petty- I’m sorry to hear you ran into it. Go do cougar mountain instead, a lot fewer people 🙂

  4. “I want to point out to the cyclists calling me a moron: my bike is nicer than yours, and I can ride it faster too.”

    Sweet – I’m thrilled to know I’m now the only one that secretly thinks the same thing when I run across some PITA cyclist…

  5. Thanks Angela. Sounds like your foot problems have been giving you a chance to revisit some fun activities that don’t involve riding in the rain. I’m a little envious (though not enough to actually risk injury). Try rolling your foot over a lacrosse ball. It’s harder than a tennis ball and you can dig it in to those pesky plantar tendons.

  6. I don’t know what it is, but the burke-gillman seems to bring out the worst in people. Everyone thinks they’re lance armstrong and you shouldn’t even be on the trail when they’re on it. They even yell at you when THEY’RE the ones walking in the middle of the path and people are passing them in both directions. The part around freemont to the u district isn’t so bad.

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