Cyclist Wannabe

Yesterday, my dad, David and I ventured out onto the streets of Portland with our alternative means of transportation...our bikes...for a leisurely bike ride. My brother and dad rode to my house, in SE Portland, and from there we headed toward the Willamette River. It was such a beautiful day out, about 80 degrees with a light breeze. We snaked our way towards downtown Portland through old neighborhoods with cute little bungalows and huge maple trees that made an umbrella over the road. We made it down to the east side of the waterfront and enjoyed the Portland skyline for a moment (as seen in this picture) before we carried on and crossed the Hawthorne Bridge to the west side of the city and made a loop back over the Burnside Bridge and carried on back to my neck of the woods. By this time, we were getting tired and hot and the way back home was pretty much all uphill so we ended up getting off the bike route and blazed our own trail back to my house the quickest way possible. Now my brother and dad are more bike savvy than I when it comes to the rules of the road. I just figure that people should be watching out for us cyclists, and yes I included myself in that group. Well we were finally in the last lag of our leisurely bike ride and were cruising down a hill toward Burnside. I was just happy that I didn't have to peddle uphill anymore and I could enjoy my ride down this hill with the wind blowing in my face and cooling me down. Well I came barreling down this hill right into the mainstream of traffic on Burnside as a bus came racing up the road. I heard my dad scream "EMILY!!!" as I turned onto Burnside and watched the bus swerve out my way. As I was thinking "that was close, I could of died," the bus stopped in the middle of traffic and gave me a look that could of killed me since he wasn't able to do it with madman driving skills. The bus driver seriously gave me the death look for like a minute. I felt like he was slowly killing me with his glare, or maybe at least my ego. As the bus driver sped off, I sheepishly got back on my bike and rode back to my house in silence thinking that maybe I shouldn't be a part of this cycling thing after all.