Classic case of self-entitlement

"There's too many self-Indulgent wieners in this city with too much bloody money!" - Memphis Raines, Gone in Sixty Seconds

So now that Daylight Savings is in effect officially, I can once again start my irregularly scheduled bike commutes to work.  I say irregular because my after-work obligations are constantly changing and because of that, I don't have a set schedule of when I can bike commute to/from work.  I tend not to do any bike commuting prior to Daylight Savings taking effect because that usually entails riding part of the way home in the dark.  And seeing as how I need to be mindful of inattentive drivers in the light of day, I trust them even less in the dark.

The bike to work this morning was very nice.  I rode at a relatively leisurely pace (at least for myself) and just tried to enjoy the beautiful spring morning.  There are times when I try to set a new PR for time but this morning wasn't one of those days.  Door-to-door, I've only made it to work in under an hour just once, doing it in something like 58 minutes.  But I usually average anywhere between 1:05 and 1:10.  The times vary because of how many times I have to stop due to traffic/traffic lights, and also depending on how fast it takes me to ride up River Mountain Road.  There are days I struggle and there are days I struggle less.  Today seemed like a mighty struggle.

I made it this morning in 1:05; however, I ended up having to wait through 2 *very long* traffic light cycles at the River Mountain Road/Cantrell intersection, despite having pressed the pedestrian walk signal several times.  In fact, if there weren't any cars behind me, I doubt I would have gotten the green light when I did and probably would have waited through yet another cycle.  If not for that very long stop waiting for the light to change, I probably could have contested my PR time.

If traffic is moving quickly on Maumelle Blvd, I usually end up taking Crystal Hill Road instead for safety reasons.  I figure less traffic means less chance of me getting hit.  However, this morning traffic was deadlocked so I stayed on the Blvd all the way (riding on the shoulder, of course).  That allowed me to witness the classic case of self-entitlement.  Picture if you will, both lanes of traffic stopped bumper-to-bumper as far as the eye can see.  Just as I get to the Shell gas station at the intersection of Maumelle Blvd & Counts Massie, a very new-looking white Mercedes pulls out onto the shoulder, puts on it's blinkers (hazard lights) and proceeds to drive on the shoulder for as long as I could keep it in sight.  They probably made it almost all the way to I-430 before merging into the right lane.  Call it what you will, but that is definitely someone who thought they were very important indeed, that they didn't need to wait in line like everyone else.

I only wished I had been a little faster riding - that I could have gotten in front of them before they turned onto the shoulder.  I would have held them back for sure.  But then again, my friend said they may have tried to run me off the road.  Probably better that they went ahead, on second thought.

Upon arriving at work, I was told that the power was out for part of the building so our computer network was down.  It's too bad I wasn't told sooner - I could have ridden more!