the misbehavior of random men will never cease to amaze me. i was just riding my bike to the library. it's a little purple e-bike. when some guy ripped out in front of me from a cross street, almost making me crash. on his BIGGER tougher e-bike. then he slowed down so i had to almost stop pedaling completely, and he started to serpentine widely so i couldn't pass him and every time i got close he cut me off and slowed down.
this was outrageously absurd because we were on bikes, so we were about 1 metre apart from each other and i could have just spoken - not even shouted - and told him to fuck off or cut it out. but i was also acutely aware that the same proximity would also make it very easy for any escalation to turn ugly, so i just kept slowing down to try to let him get ahead of me, until he finally got bored and cut down another street.
i was pure fuming like. how are you going to harass me on a BIKE. you're on a fucking E-BIKE dude. the other awful men whose esteem i'm sure you hold yourself to think you look stupid. they're on podcasts saying biking lowers your testosterone. why are you beefing with ME
the other week i was outside reading while my bike parked nearby when a group of old guys passed it and started talking about it. they all started complimenting the model of the bike but then one of them was like "you wouldn't catch me dead riding one that color though" and the other guys were like "hahaha can you imagine??"
don't get me wrong i could not care less but im so baffled at the ability to be infected with the brand of toxic masculinity that makes you incapable of associating yourself with purple, but also feel macho on your electric bicycle. like how do you not realize other men who think the same as you think that you look stupid on your steel-gray e-bikes. they're calling you names from their diesel trucks. you should be on my side.
