My time of death would have been 9:26am, June 16th 2013.  To be fair it would have been a nice day to die.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing and I was doing my second favorite thing in the world: cycling.  Another positive aspect: my death would have been sudden and painless. 

See, I was out training for Bike Virginia.  The fam was staying at Shrine Mont, the Episcopal Church retreat near Bryce Resort and I took the opportunity to get up early and ride some in the mountains.  Some cyclists seek flatter ground and, to be sure, the flat places of the world are easier to ride but you get to know yourself when the highway heads up.  You fight the Man with the Hammer in the higher places of the world.  Maybe it's a mental defect but I love it.  Setting a cadence and gear I can push endlessly up that hill.

On this particular morning I was rolling down a hill at about 40mph – a long, flowing, sweepy decent that I had earned.  The climb up the previous side of this hill was pretty grueling so I was enjoying the payoff.  As I was descending I noticed that the upcoming intersection was oddly shaped.  It looked like a "Y" and I was going from bottom to top of that Y.  My road bent to the right – it was a continuation of the road I was on but there was a stop sign on the right.  I thought, "whatever, I don't have a stop sign and I'm going right".  The stop sign, even though it wasn't for me, was important.

At that stop sign I spied a guy in "dualie".  With a giant trailer.  "Cripes", I thought.  I'll be lucky to survive if this yokel decides to turn now and squeezes the turn with that trailer.  I pointed to the right to indicate to him that I intended to turn at the intersection.  He smiled and nodded his head…..right at the end of that nod his face changed slightly.  He made an urgent gesture that looked somewhat like he was trying to "push me away".  It took me a split second to understand that he was warning me.  I wasn't sure of what, there was no problem or danger I could discern.  I was traveling at a high speed but the intersection looked clean – no skratch or debris….at the last second before entering my turn it occurred to me that there was one hazard I hadn't thought of: there was a car somewhere beyond the trailer that wasn't where it should be.  I tightened my turn to the point where the bike was right on the razor's edge of a wipe out that would have exposed by pasty white ass to the tarmac in a most unfriendly way….:)

That maneuver, and the truckers warning saved my life this morning.  There was a car coming around the truck at the intersection – at speed.  He was running the stop sign and there was nowhere for me to go: both lanes were occupied.  One with a parked truck and the other with a moving car.  I'm writing this so you know how it ended but only because of that drivers warning and my last-ditch move.  That idiot missed me by about a foot.  He was shocked and scared, he thought I was hitting his car.  His wife was screaming.  They were both convinced they were about to be part of something terrible.  Fortunately they weren't.

Unlike the trash truck incident, there was no question as to what would have happened if that car hit me.  It would have been a combined impact speed of above 60mph.  Fatal, for me anyway.  After pulling over to ensure that everything was still where it should be, I continued.  I try to be philosophical about these things.  I do not now nor have I ever believed that things happen for any particular reason.  As my tour guide in Puerto Rico put it: "people that believe that everything happens for a reason are just along for the ride, don't believe that".  I don't.  However, it is hard to escape the fact that I skipped church to go on that ride.  I don't know if there was a reason involved this morning but I think it reasonable to infer some guidance……and I'll also not pre-judge my dualie driving brethren again….:)

Yes, there is life outside of City Council chambers.  In the political world, the VA Republicans have selected a Mr. Jackson as our Lt. Gov candidate and Mr. Obenshein as our AG.  The candidate for Governor was never an issue.  Those of you who thought the Republican party in VA needed to moderate in order to remain viable, well, you're out of luck.  Indeed, we appear to have doubled-down on social issues.  All 3 are staunch social conservatives and Mr. Jackson has a way of articulating his social stands that make the life of democratic ad maker easy even if his stand on issues is the same as the other two.  Mr. Obenshein appears to have introduced a bill requring women to report miscarriages to police.  I dont think it's an exceptionally strong ticket.  

It's early but none of them is really running *for* anything.  I've seen longer "issues" pages for local races than Mr. Cuccinelli's issues page.  It's kinda sparse for the Governor's job.  The single biggest challenge for all 3 wil be to grasp the concept that there's far more to governance than abortion and "freedom" (well, freedom unless you have lady business – that needs to be watched with a sharp eye – its too dangerous to be left to the owner of said business).  Mr. Cuccinelli is starting to turn that corner but, if his issues page is any guide, seems to be struggling a bit – and it isn't going to get easier as the Democrats are not likely to leave those issues alone.  If our ticket gets around that bend and starts to execute on a broader agenda, we'll be fine and they might be able to bring a leadership role to Richmond.  If not, I don't think it bodes well for useful action in the GA but I'm happy to be wrong.

However, if I'm not wild about the republican nominees, the Democratic nominees are just head scratchers.  Democrats have been waiting for this moment for 4 years.  Salivating to run against Mr. Social Warrior himself – Ken Cuccinelli – and the best game they can bring is Terry McAuliffe?  T-Mac from the Bill Clinton era?  If I were a democrat (and at least some number of you out there are convinced I am), I'd be furious.  The machine that turned out Obama victories in republican districts two cycles in a row nominates a back bencher from the 90's?  A disaster.  If the Democrats select Sen. Northram for LG, that race might get interesting.  I want republicans to win but I also think it's healthy for our state to have a vigorous, tough election that forces leaderhip positions from the candidates on the sticky issues of the day.  We're all better for it and this ain't it.

A complete non-sequiter but what is with the weather?  I was wearing long pants and a sweatshirt on Sunday night.  I'm about a month behind in my preperations for a couple of cycling events this summer.  Pretty sure I'm going to bail on the Diabetes ride – I'm just not where I need to be and I'm sick of riding in the cold.  Saturday I did do about 20 miles in the rain but that was it.  The garden is still a shambles.  We haven't even cleared the tomato cages from last year.  Over the winter we had grand designs on building some raised beds and producing a bumper crop of veggies but that's gone by the wayside.  We'll be lucky to get some plants in the ground at all.  Today it's muggy but not hot…and it's going to rain some more.  Maybe I should plant rice?  The mosquitos are going to be aweful and the cicada are just getting started…It's going to be a heck of a summer!