Get off the Road II

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:06:32 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

He says 'you cussed at me with my daughter in the car'. (!)

I find it amazing what people will take offense to when they've
already threatened you with a lethal weapon.

My favourite was the old lady that swerved *on purpose* to drive me
and my little brother off the road. Then, as she walked into church
(we were also on our way to church), she took the time to yell at me
for trying to get the boy killed.

And no, folks, I'm not just being paranoid here. She drove up
alongside, took her eyes off the road, looked at us, made angry "move
aside" hand gestures, and then began to swerve the car to the right in
an effort to drive us off the road. If I'd have been thinking
straight, I would have reported the woman at the police station around
the corner.

-Luigi

My friend from BC was in town (windsor ontario) and we went for a bike ride
around the city. About 30 minutes into it, we got a "get off the road". The
driver promptly got the finger.

I'm not usually that reactionary, usually I just laugh at them. But this guy
was such a typical [censored]-head, with his girlfriend and kid in the back seat,
gunning the gas and stomping on the brake.

How else are you supposed to deal with these people when you dont' have time
to explain the rules to them?

3 Weeks ago, I had a big silver jeep FLY past me in a narrow underpass
(although it is 4 lane, the person decided to stay on my lane and not move
AT ALL). So I put up my hands in a "what the [censored]" style jesture. The guy
sees it in his rear view mirror, locks up the brakes and comes to a stop
taking up both lanes. I completely froze, not knowing what to do. I couldn't
do a U turn, and I couldnt' hop on the curb to pass him. He gets out and
starts yelling "YOU DONT KNOW HOW [censored] MAD I AM RIGHT NOW" and he comes
right up to me (As opposed to you, I'm 5'6 150lbs.) practically ready to
punch me in the face. I put the bike down and walk away. He gets in his
jeep, skids the tires and drives away.. I assume he was either going to beat
his wife, or just got done doing so.

I rode to a nearby bike shop to call the police, but the owner was slightly
stoned and didn't want the cops there 🙂

Ended up calling them when I got home, and gave them the licence plate. They
told me to fill out some form, which I found an hour later online in PDF
format, which required me to print it up and fill it out, and then ride it
back to the police station. When I got there, the cop had no clue what to do
with it.

Mike
http://mikebeauchamp.com

"Badger_South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Great ride this morning - little brother is now waking -me- up with
coffee at 05:15 to go ride on his new Trek! Hahaha.

One dunderhead rides by swerving a little to yell out his passenger
side window for me to 'Get on the bike path'.

Plenty of room for him to pass, 35mph road leading to expensive homes
and a dead end into a development.

First time he says it, I ignore him. Second time, I utter a germanic
expression as he speed off. (I couldn't even understand what I said
given the wind and stuff).

So about 10 min later I turn down the final turn, and he's waiting for
me! Remember I'm a big guy, bodybuilder, 18" biceps, gotta be
formidable looking (but horrible for climbing,<g>😉 to a Cager, right?

Nope this little milquetoast has his window down and says 'you're
mentally challenged'.

I turn around and explain to him that Va law says cars must share the
road; bikers have same rights as cars; pass safely, etc.

He says 'you cussed at me with my daughter in the car'. (!)

I said, seeing him holding up his cellphone (?), 'Go ahead call the
police'. Him: "I will". Me "go ahead". Him "mentally challenged".

At that point a grin widely and say "have a nice day!"

Totally forgetting about this moron, we speed off into the morning and
race the sun back home for the Tour! Great AM ride.

At week 2, I'm getting stronger every ride. Amazing.

-B
Yeah, I thought 'dumbass', and 'wimp', but was so psyched to bike it
wasn't worth anymore of my time, heh, heh.

Carry a gun/cell phone. In this circumstance I would have drawn first one
and then the other.

"Mike Beauchamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| My friend from BC was in town (windsor ontario) and we went for a bike
ride
| around the city. About 30 minutes into it, we got a "get off the road".
The
| driver promptly got the finger.
|
| I'm not usually that reactionary, usually I just laugh at them. But this
guy
| was such a typical [censored]-head, with his girlfriend and kid in the back
seat,
| gunning the gas and stomping on the brake.
|
| How else are you supposed to deal with these people when you dont' have
time
| to explain the rules to them?
|
| 3 Weeks ago, I had a big silver jeep FLY past me in a narrow underpass
| (although it is 4 lane, the person decided to stay on my lane and not move
| AT ALL). So I put up my hands in a "what the [censored]" style jesture. The guy
| sees it in his rear view mirror, locks up the brakes and comes to a stop
| taking up both lanes. I completely froze, not knowing what to do. I
couldn't
| do a U turn, and I couldnt' hop on the curb to pass him. He gets out and
| starts yelling "YOU DONT KNOW HOW [censored] MAD I AM RIGHT NOW" and he comes
| right up to me (As opposed to you, I'm 5'6 150lbs.) practically ready to
| punch me in the face. I put the bike down and walk away. He gets in his
| jeep, skids the tires and drives away.. I assume he was either going to
beat
| his wife, or just got done doing so.
|
| I rode to a nearby bike shop to call the police, but the owner was
slightly
| stoned and didn't want the cops there 🙂
|
| Ended up calling them when I got home, and gave them the licence plate.
They
| told me to fill out some form, which I found an hour later online in PDF
| format, which required me to print it up and fill it out, and then ride it
| back to the police station. When I got there, the cop had no clue what to
do
| with it.
|
| Mike
| http://mikebeauchamp.com
|
|

Mike Beauchamp said:

He gets out and
starts yelling "YOU DONT KNOW HOW [censored] MAD I AM RIGHT NOW" and he comes
right up to me (As opposed to you, I'm 5'6 150lbs.) practically ready to
punch me in the face. I put the bike down and walk away. He gets in his
jeep, skids the tires and drives away.. I assume he was either going to beat
his wife, or just got done doing so.

Wow. Well, easier for me to laugh, being uh, large, and a fighter by
trade; so nobody's gonna intimidate me, even with a tire iron. (it's
good to be cool, b/c yeah, you don't know who is gonna pull a piece).

I just have to get off the bike and stand there and take a deep breath
- people see me and shrink away. Only happened once on the bike. I
laughed at that time, too. ;-p

But they don't realize...they may be 'mad', but you're keyed up on
adrenaline and in the aerobic zone and could kick most guy's ass who
get out of a car, still sleepy, being like twice as fast as them,
reflexes up and stuff.

But I was very happy at how quickly I was able to blow it off, and it
didn't even rate an extra heartbeat, returning to the ride and bike
talk and pacing. That makes me feel good - pfft, dumb cager. Next
topic. ;-p

-B

"Mike Beauchamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My friend from BC was in town (windsor ontario) and we went for a bike

ride

Quoted message said:

around the city. About 30 minutes into it, we got a "get off the road".

The

Quoted message said:

driver promptly got the finger.

I'm not usually that reactionary, usually I just laugh at them. But this

guy

Quoted message said:

was such a typical [censored]-head, with his girlfriend and kid in the back

seat,

Quoted message said:

gunning the gas and stomping on the brake.

How else are you supposed to deal with these people when you dont' have

time

Quoted message said:

to explain the rules to them?

I had one of these macho dickwads the other day. I was alone, and I don't
get hassled when alone, usually just the lecherous stuff- hey baby or
whatever. A car honked at me, so I figured I was too far out and went back
to the side. I'd probably been going around a pothole or something, so I
figured they were just warning me that they were approaching. As they
passed, the driver felt he had to yell something at me. I should mention I
was in a horrible mood and depressed and was out on a ride to feel better!
SO I said something like, "Get lost". I figure that' s it when I see them
pull over at the side and park. Then, I hear a voice say, "Hey, sweet pea."
I assume it's some harmless horndog, but no, it's the driver again!
Obviously he's one of those guys who just can't let anything go, especially
a mouthy woman. He's leaning out of the passenger window and says, "DId you
tell me to [censored] off?" But the tone was really menacing, as if the
unfinished sentence was "And if you did, I'll teach you a lesson." He sort
of said it like "You talking to me?" Really creepy. I said, "Geez, get over
it!" And then he started yammering about how he used to ride a bike and he
knows about how to do this and that, and I didn't catch most of it because I
was worried the idiot driver would swerve into me. Finally yelled, "Get lost
already!" I hate yammering men. But he was scary, his whole attitude was
like hairtrigger, that he'd teach me a lesson. Finally they passed and I
noticed there was an intersection up ahead and the light was red. It also
seemed they were slowing down a lot, hoping I'd pass them again. I decided
not to stop at that intersection, thinking who knows what a jerk like that
would do? I should point out, the driver was a woman! Anyways, I turned into
a street and waited for the light to change and gave them a long head start.
I didn't run into the shmuck again. He was one of those guys who would have
been just as abusive to a guy, a jerk either way. I rarely get that kind of
scary stuff.

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:24:31 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

But they don't realize...they may be 'mad', but you're keyed up on
adrenaline and in the aerobic zone and could kick most guy's ass who
get out of a car, still sleepy, being like twice as fast as them,
reflexes up and stuff.

Plus, you've got metal on the bottom of your shoe, and strong
bicycling legs to use it.
--
Rick Onanian

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:06:32 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

He says 'you cussed at me with my daughter in the car'. (!)

Had a road-rage guy (while I was driving) force me to the side of
the road, yell at me for allegedly cutting him off and putting his
young son (in his passenger seat) in danger, and then proceed to
harass me on the road, until he finally decided to purposely cause a
collision at a red light. I guess he forgot about his original
concern for his son.

ObBike: I was on my way back from riding on some trails. My mountain
bike was on the trunk rack and he bent the bike's front wheel.
Insurance covered it.
--
Rick Onanian

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 10:08:30 -0400, Rick Onanian <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:24:31 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

But they don't realize...they may be 'mad', but you're keyed up on
adrenaline and in the aerobic zone and could kick most guy's ass who
get out of a car, still sleepy, being like twice as fast as them,
reflexes up and stuff.

Plus, you've got metal on the bottom of your shoe, and strong
bicycling legs to use it.

Is this a sub-section to part B.2 'kick 'em and run while screaming
like a girl'?

I got the lungs for it, now - that's for sure. ;-p

-B

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 15:03:30 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Is this a sub-section to part B.2 'kick 'em and run while screaming
like a girl'?

I could run, to the end of my driveway, with a snail chasing me, if
my life depended on it. Apart from that, I'll need a bike or a motor
vehicle to get away from anybody...and the bike will only work if I
don't have to go uphill for long.

Er, come to think of it, my ass-kicking ability isn't particularly
up to par, either. Maybe I should try to _avoid_ confrontations...
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 15:03:30 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Is this a sub-section to part B.2 'kick 'em and run while screaming
like a girl'?

I could run, to the end of my driveway, with a snail chasing me, if
my life depended on it. Apart from that, I'll need a bike or a motor
vehicle to get away from anybody...and the bike will only work if I
don't have to go uphill for long.

Er, come to think of it, my ass-kicking ability isn't particularly
up to par, either. Maybe I should try to _avoid_ confrontations...
--
Rick Onanian

Shortly after I went to work in Elyria Ohio I was going through town which has stoplights every couple hundred feet. I had no trouble keeping up with traffic on my old road bike. The intersections are quirky and sometimes a bit narrow so you generally claim the lane before you come to a stop. I had one idiot follow me a ways through town (a redneck in a jeep), passed me with the accelerator floored. As he passes he shouts "get off the f*****g road and on the sidewalk or I will shove that bike up your ass." I shrugged and laughed, continuing on my way. A few days later I encountered hime going the opposite direction as me. He made a point to start shouting obsceneties, which fortunately I didn't hear all that well. A real nut case. I haven't seen him since. I have noticed however that traffic is far more tolerant of my presence now that I ride a recumbent.

'bent Brian

"Rick Onanian" wrote: (clip) My mountain bike was on the trunk rack and he
bent the bike's front wheel. Insurance covered it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
His or yours?

"bentbrian" wrote:.(clip) He made a point to start shouting obsceneties,
which fortunately I didn't hear all that well. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I got a guy mad at me one day (I was driving my car) when I pulled into the
lane of traffic ahead of him, and he didn't like it. We were waiting for a
light, so I was stuck with his angry behavior. Every time he yelled, I
smiled and waved. It really got him mad and frustrated. When the light
changed, I drove off, but he was so busy reading me off that he didn't start
up right away, and the cars behind him started to blow their horns. One of
my fond memories.

Leo Lichtman said:

"Rick Onanian" wrote: (clip) My mountain bike was on the trunk rack and he
bent the bike's front wheel. Insurance covered it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
His or yours?

Mine. I was the only one with a bike.
--
Rick Onanian

Leo Lichtman said:

Every time he yelled, I
smiled and waved. It really got him mad and frustrated. When the light
changed, I drove off, but he was so busy reading me off that he didn't start
up right away, and the cars behind him started to blow their horns.

If I could only retain the presence of mind to remember this
strategy, which has been suggested here before... Smile and wave as
if you know the person and don't realize they're angry. Confuse the
hell out of 'em.

Unfortunately, I cannot retain said presence of mind in a
confrontational situation.
--
Rick Onanian

Doug Huffman said:

Carry a gun/cell phone. In this circumstance I would have drawn first one
and then the other.

Another vote for this course of action, especially in VA which is a "shall-issue" state for concealed carry permits. While I am less likely to indulge in emotionally satisfying gesturing and cuss-outs when riding armed in order to avoid escalating the situation, it is nice to know that I have an alternative if an extremely cyclo-unfriendly driver attempted to "teach me a lesson".