I’m sure I’ve written on this subject before. I know thousands of other cycling bloggers have, so I’ll make it short in case you’ve heard it all before.

I’ve had two rides this week that included some questionable car driving and unquestionable aggression. The first was on Saturday morning (always a weird time on the road here in France), when I was honked at by a driver and given the doigt d’honneur by the passenger. Later in the ride a car that looked a lot like the little black Twingo that assaulted my calm drove by again and yelled something unintelligible.

I know what you in North America are thinking, ‘at least he didn’t pull a gun on you’ (I’ve heard this happening more than once), and it really only hit me because of the rarity of such events. Maybe every 3 or 4 months…maybe.

Today the drivers just seemed to be fed up with their de-confinement already and wishing they were back in their government-subsidized house arrest. Cars passing me far too close, oncoming cars passing other cars and squeezing me over to the non-existent shoulder, that sort of thing. One was Belgian, but I’m not going to make any conclusions…yet.

The other day I happened upon a Facebook post from somewhere in the US that was the usual ‘us vs them’ conversation between car drivers and cyclists, and I quickly realized once again that, man, I got it made in France. I’m sure these go-nowhere arguments exist here, but for the vast majority of my many rides all over Southern Europe people share the road. I don’t have a lot of experience riding back home on roads, but from what I gather from my friends that do, it’s not always the case.

Feel free to tell me how lucky I am.