oldfixguy

So, I'm on my little commute home tonight - just rolling along. I seen this group of roadies coming my way. Nothing unusual. Just a group of sausage wrappers. about the time they were 150 or so yards in front of me they break into a sprint. 6 or 7 riders break out across the entire road and just start stomping. Well, I'm rolling up the street in the opposite direction. No one seems to notice. About the time they are about 50 yards away I decide I'm not going out like that, let myself down into the drops, hike my butt up and start stomping. I don't even look up. Just head long into the center of the group. WHOOSH. We all pass each other safely to a group cursing at me. Um, sure. This is my fault. WTF?

Shrox

Thats the spirit. Dicks, probably just hiked THEIR asses off the coutch from watching the tour thinking they're all the new Lance. Give 'em hell bruth

Cjzoller

Who was going the "wrong" direction? What side of the road was this on?

bbattle

What were you doing on a closed race course?

vw addict

I would type something clever here, but this is just plain stupid.

oldfixguy

Two way residential. I normally take that way as it parallels a major road but is of course safer.

oldfixguy

Stupid until you understand that I literally had no place to go. The guys were curb to curb. I just didn't see myself yelling out like a frightened child to try and wake them up. I wasn't hating on them I just seen my choices as stop and yell or do a gut check. Had they been 6 or 7 old ladies I would have stopped. I don't mess with old women. Meanest thing on this planet. Hyenas piss themselves when a pack of old women roll towards them. Only fools go where angels fear to tread. Grown men - OK, who wants to dance.

vw addict

Game of chicken then? GAME ON! Shoulda stopped them and challenged them to a round of derby.

itri

Since their clothing was more aerodynamic, they had right of way.

As an afterthought, this would have been a perfect oppotunity to turn it into a pursuit. You just had to make a U-turn and go all out.

seau grateau

You decided not to do something that would help avoid a conflict (yell out) and instead attempted to create one. Wrong + wrong = ?

Scrodzilla

I think you did the right thing OFG. They fanned out intentionally when they saw you coming and you powered through them. If they were curb-to-curb, at least half of them were riding on the wrong side of the street. You may not have been looking but I guarantee they all were. The only thing that would have made it funnier is if you somehow managed to clothesline one of them without falling off your bike.

ashlandjet

Dude
You made us proud! Mash on!

sulr

I think If I saw them, I would have just stopped, putting my foot on the curve with my bike still in the position I was at (if I was on the side closest to the curb) and let them go around.

Or just stay in that spot and keep going. Either way they were totally wrong.

sausage wrappers

ichitz

HAHA!

anyway, i don't think u were wrong. I don't think anyone should fan out like that in open traffic and force other people to stop.
That's essentially the same thing as cars driving close and running us off the road.

xavier853

There are a bunch of riders training for Pelotonia around my neighborhood. I would do it but you have to make a very hefty donation which I cannot afford. You have your typical "im the next lance" guys that yell at me as I pass them, and you have the others that are really trying hard to make it.

The roadies haven't been much of a problem though playing chicken. Its the stupid 12 year olds that play chicken with me.

PedallingATX

Those guys=amateurs. I've never ridden with a group of experienced roadies that would ride like that. We go 2 lines wide at the most, but usually just one line

MysticRats

I wouldve stopped and done a no handed track stand with my arms crossed
and gave them all a hard stare as they passed by.
(Note to Self: Learn How to Do a Jedi-like No Handed TrackStand ).

dsh

I approve of playing chicken with them, but it would have been even better if you were doing a wheelie.

cobrabyte

caloso

I think you just happened to be riding past the sprint line of the local roadie training ride. Were you near the city or county limit?

cobrabyte

Exactly what i was thinking. Sounds like the OP has a chip on his shoulder, or was looking for a fight. Not like the roadies were doing the right thing, but definitely seems like an overreaction on the OP's end. If it was me, I would have moved out of the way and went on enjoying my ride without a second thought of it. I get the whole "don't tread on me" thing, but this is a minor annoyance at best...not worth the battle IMO. Seems there was plenty of time to react, but chose the wrong way to do so.

caloso

Yeah. I try to do at least one group ride a week. Our sprint lines are out in the country so it tends to go two lanes wide but on the occasion that there's an oncoming car or bike, people are pretty good about calling it out and moving over. Intentionally riding through the middle of a sprint is just dangerous to all involved.

JesusBananas

If no one noticed you, how does that make them "evil roadies who deliberately tried to run you over"?

sknoslo

I had a similar experience the other night, but with an SUV. Dickhead went on the wrong side of the street and flipped his brights on. I had one hand on my bars, ready to bail into someones front yard, and the other hand was giving that bastard the finger. At least now I can say I played chicken with a SUV, and won.

plowmanjoe

he said "seems"

as if he wasn't there.