Stuff I Think About While Riding My Bike II: Electric Boogaloo

After riding the same path to and from school and home for the past 6 months, it has become so second nature that my mind tends to....wander during the trip. With that I present to you, Stuff I Think About While Riding My Bike II: Electric Boogaloo!

Note: SITAWRMB does not contain any electricity or boogaloo...ness

1. Sudden Loud Noises
The following are actual events. It's 1am on a Wednesday. I'm riding home from work through the park. I pass the trees by the creek and suddenly.... a loud rustling from a tree!  After a minor heart attack, I bolt out of there and weep silently the rest of the way home.

Now, any rational person would think it was a squirrel or a duck or a fox or just some branches falling out or something...rational.  Heck, add the word "rabid" to any of those previous options and that'd still make more sense than the conclusions I jump to. Yes, even rabid branches.  No, my mind jumped instantly to the facehugger from Alien.

Yeah. Just try and out-irrational me

2. Constant paranoia that there's someone behind me.
I wouldn't say that I'm constantly paranoid exactly, even though I just titled this section as such. But my perpetual heightened self-awareness is heightened even more so during my daily commute to the point that I'm constantly looking behind me for other bicyclists.  This isn't completely baseless paranoia, but give me a reason and I will run with it. Coincidentally, I would run with it in the same fashion I would run from a facehugger.

It started once when some other biker was riding oh so silently behind me, oblivious to the fact that I was oblivious to him. He grunted "ON YOUR LEFT" and angrily passed me, and that's all it took to put Captain Irrational in charge of the USS Glenn's Thoughts every time I ride to class. "Why wouldn't you just pass me to start? Why coast behind and get all huffy? Why even tell me you're passing me? I'm already as far to the right as I can be without being in the grass! Just do it! Now I have to worry about getting to class on time and whether or not some jerk is stalking me on their bike? I bet there's some dude behind me right now! FORGET YOU MAN!"

You again! 

3. Ghost?
At night, my mind's likeliness to make crazy conclusions triples at minimum, and septuples on average. Like this one time that I'm pretty sure I saw a ghost. For reals.

There's one section of the park I ride through that actually has some lights and right on the edge of the light, I saw someone walking into the darkness. Now by the time I got to the light and into the darkness was only a few seconds after the person. And yet, I didn't pass anyone for the rest of the way out of the park. And this was the only sidewalk. A sidewalk that had no other paths and was surrounded by tall grass that no living person would rationally walk through on a cold, dark night. Therefore the only conclusion: ghost.

No living person would be in the park this late. Well... except for me.

4. Overly Cautious Bikers
I'll wrap this one up with a look at another type of bicyclist: the overly cautious biker.  Let's break down their common characteristics: Moderately fancy helmet, fleece vest from REI, New Balance shoes, one of those straps for their right pant leg so the chain doesn't rip it, a flashing, retina burning headlight, and no less than 3 rear flashing lights on their backpack, helmet and bike respectively.

Saftey is a good thing, especially on bikes. But, I would say moderation in everything, even safety. Too much "safety" and it just becomes a hazard for others. Mainly the eyes of others. I mean, seriously. It's not even dusk. You don't even need your lights on right now. We're the only two people in the park, well removed from any kind of motorized vehicle. Calm down with the lights there, Blinky. Sheesh.

If it weren't so annoying, it'd be like a laser show! Wait...that'd still be annoying.