Sunday 8 September 2013

the horse rage ride

the horse rage ride by rOcKeTdOgUk
the horse rage ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

I'm sure we've all heard of road rage, one driver taking exception to anothers supposed bad driving and remonstrating with them and of course I don't think there are many cyclists who have ridden on the road who haven't come across a car driver who thinks the highway code applies to everyone else apart from them. So on today's ride, a figure of 8 via Stourport on Severn is was quite startling to come across horse rage between two female horse riders. I came up to them from behind on a narrow lane, i slowed down as i usually do and waited for an opportunity to pass, usually after asking the ride if it was ok. But this time i just looked on as the horse behind the first tried to worm its way between the hedge and the lead rider. The lead rider shouted " slow him down, I'm leading", the rear horse continued to push its way forward. "slow him down FFS!!", came the next shout, the rear horse was now parallel and suddenly the lead rider just lashed out with her arm and smashed it into the 2nd riders chest "i F**King told you i was leading" she then turned the horse 180 degrees and headed back towards where i had completely stopped, As she passed she said a cheery "thank you" as if the incident hadn't occurred, the 2nd rider also turned and followed her in silence. I was a bit shocked my self!
Thankfully the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I got to Stourport and the great tea and cake at blossoms tea room and it was here i overheard the owner telling a customer that today was carnival day and that the road was about to close to all traffic. Luckily i managed to cross the rider with seconds to spare to avoid this and headed for Astley and Ombersley. The second loop of this figure of 8 is much hillier than the first and a lot tougher, It was quite chilly but not quite chilly enough for a gilet, the rolling nature of the roads took its toll on my legs and i was quite glad as I got nearer and nearer home, in the end i did 47 miles and could have gone around the block a few times to make it 50 but really had no motivation to do it, this isn't to say the ride ended on a downer though, i thoroughly enjoyed it even when i found my self heading for "stourbridge" rather than "stourport" at one point
ride 114
47 miles
total 2393
Sept 79
commute 942

No comments: