I hate traffic!

I know. Everyone hates traffic but its especially difficult on a bike. This morning Mike and I ventured over to beautiful Lockwood (sarcasm) via Highway 87. That's right. I said highway. It usually isn't a big deal since there is a wide shoulder, but to get onto the highway we had to take a left hand turn in one of the two turning lanes provided. Of course, to avoid getting run over, we opted for the furthest left lane which puts us in the center of the highway when we turn. The tricky part is getting back to the shoulder. So we are stopped at the red light and Mike yells "I'm taking it" and he's gone. Before I can react, my window has closed and the light turns green. The Ford Expedition to my right, which I was hoping to cut out in front of, hits the gas and flies out in front of me. Now I'm surrounded by cars in the center of a busy highway. I finally found my window and cut hard to the shoulder. I hate traffic!

We proceeded to do our Lockwood loop, which is actually to the North of Lockwood and much more scenic until with exception to the Exxon Mobile refinery, trailer parks, and livestock auction yard. The rest of it is actually pretty nice. As we come back, a truck with a water tank in the back turns into me forcing be to hit the brakes. I catch up again and he swerves into the shoulder in front of me again. I drop back, catch him at the intersection and make a right hand turn and he tries to turn into me again. I don't think this guy was being aggressive but rather was totally oblivious to my presence. I hate traffic!

I finally lost the truck without any real incidents. As we came back into Billings, we jumped back on the highway again. No problems this time but still not fun. I peeled off and went home fighting traffic the whole way. At one point I had to turn in front of a back hoe on the cross street with a tractor trailer on my tail and a sedan quickly approaching in the opposite direction. I made it home alive and my ride to work was much less eventful besides the two cars that rode my tail all the way down Montana Avenue even though there were two open lanes. I hate traffic!