Monday, February 23, 2009

Drive by oranging

It happened Friday night while riding from the bowling alley to a friend's house for the post bowling get together. What makes it worse was a bunch of people had racks on their cars and offered to throw the bikes on as we were leaving the bowling alley, but A was in the mood to ride and I'll never pass up the opportunity to spend time cruising around on bikes with her.

We were less than a mile from the party and riding the last section on the sidewalk against traffic. Out of nowhere I feel something smash the stem of my bike and explode, covering me in liquid. My first thought was that it was a beer bottle (I'm from the south) and I started thinking about being cut by the glass, but then I smelled citrus and A, riding behind me, confirmed I'd been hit be an orange.

There were several factors working in my favor this night.
  1. I'd had most of a pitcher and fair amount of JD before leaving the bowling alley and house respectively. No doubt this dulled my reaction to being hit so that I didn't do anything stupid like swerve into traffic, fall off my bike, or try to chase after the perpetrators.
  2. I was riding bikes with A and spending a night with great friends. It would take a lot more than a drive by oranging to kill my positive mood.
  3. I love a good story, and how often do you get to reconvene at a party covered in pieces of orange and pants soaked in orange juice.
  4. Last but not least, it was an incredible shot. I mean, really. A guy leans out the window of a car doing 40 or 45 miles an hour (45 mph limit for all you exaggeration haters) and chucks an orange at me that hits directly on the faceplate of my bike stem exploding ALL over me. It is a horrible thing to do, but I was also a stupid kid once and I have to appreciate the beauty of shot. Incredible.
I've gotten some great feedback since the event. Thanks to Tingle for this great link on fruit defense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWCBOsJr-w

3 comments:

Anj said...

Whew! Glad you're okay! What a great attitude about the whole thing. I would have been livid.

Unknown said...

Good thing they haven't moved on to larger fruits, such as Eliot. Imagine him being thrown at your bike.

Erin said...

It was a drive by fruiting! Fo real! (Remember which movie that's from?)