James H Haury

That is cruel and unusual.

James H Haury

I prefer a light antitank weapon and a few extra rounds.

Bikepacker67

This happened to me yesterday.

Unfortunately for the B*tch driver, she was approaching a very long red light.

I just pulled up right behind her, took off the shades, and glowered at her in her rear view.

You could tell by her furtive eyes, she was more then a lil' scared of this 6'3" 215#, angry male.

Roody

You can respond however you like (but calling the cops is not reccommended). Cycling is a fiarly public activity, and unfortunately some members of the public are rude and discourteous. These people do not pose a threat to you, so try not to let them ruin your day.

It sounds like you might be new to cycling. Are you sure you understand and follow the laws and safety guidelines for cycling? If you're not sure, you might want to read other threads in this forum, take a class, and/or ride with some more experienced riders for a while.

genec

How about recoil... isn't a bit tough on a bike while rolling?

I am waiting for particle beam myself... the power supply will be heavy, but think of the lights I can run with it on a night commute.

Niten

Personally, I get a little warm glow of empowerment, knowing my mere presence is enough to throw some people into apoplectic fits. Then I flip the Vs because I'm American, and doing so is a pretentious affectation.

Sometimes I act like I'm going to ride the bugger down and give him piece of my mind. I say things like, "Hold me back! Hold me back!"

Later I weep for the species...

Bikepacker67

Ehhh.. weep all ya want, but that assertiveness is what brought us from scared lil' monkeys to bipedal overlords.

It's the "management" of aggression that is the problem. Not the aggression itself.

Look back to the animal kingdom - they seem to manage their intra-species spats in relatively harmless ways... especially given that they often come locked and loaded with claw and fang!

James H Haury

A light antitank weapon is a rocket launched from a tube open on both ends. The gases should push you forward if anything.

77Univega

--- The angry and abusive motorists will be on their own bicycles after the oil runs out--SOON:
www.hubbertpeak.com/campbell/

lilHinault

I like one of the observations by one of the peak oil scientists, saying that verification of Hubbert's theory is less and less a matter of projection and more a matter of just observing the data year after year, for better or for worse, it appears to be playing out exactly "according to plan".

And yeah I think some of the anger in some motorists is the subconscious realization that they'll be out there on a bike soon.

digger

If it is just a "get off the road" or "you're a queer" or "woot woot" or whatever, then Let it go, do not aggravate the situation.

If they threaten your life or threaten you with physical harm, then get the license plate, car description and description of person, if you can. Then call the police. If the police state they need a witness, horse*****. The police should at least knock on his door and state that someone complained about death threats or threats of physical injury from him. If the police refuse go over their heads to the supervisor. Push it!

Digger

Rex G

Before bothering to report an incident, see what constitutes verbal assault in your area. In my jurisdiction, if the words do not contain a specific threat to commit a specific ilegal act, there is no crime. Examples of NON-criminal statements would be "I'm going to get you" or "You'd better watch your back." A very common threat that does cross the line into illegality is "I'm gonna kick your a**," but there may be reluctance to make an arrest for such a commonly uttered phrase unless behaviour reinforced the threat. The statement "I'm going to kill you" is specific and in Texas can result in the higher charge of terroristic threat IF the threat is imminent as well as specific. OTOH, "I'm gonna kill me a bicyclist," in and of itself, is neither specific nor imminent unless reinforced by additional behaviour. Your laws may vary; this is not legal advice, of course, just my $0.02 derived from 21+ years of wearing a badge.

MsVicki

Luckily, I have never had anything hateful yelled at me. Thank goodness, I would not want to start crying....HA! Most of the time, if I happen to ride on an actual road, I get "Hey, baby!" or "Woohoo, I love you!" or wolf whistles. Geez, I am an ole grandma, so I figure the guys yelling such things need help, and I just ignore the poor fellas.

Once I got a "Sorry, didn't see you!" when someone almost ran over me. I glowered at him, but restrained myself from giving him the finger or yelling something rude. When you are a woman, you just never know how people will react.

My suggestion is try to ignore or, depending on the situation, maybe a smile and a friendly wave. You don't need trouble, and you just never know.

Niten

The ability to yell, "BLARGHHHMLANNNGH!" or whatever out the window of a car made us rulers of the planet. Man, now I weep for all the species.

Would you trust an ape with anger management issues with a two-ton, internal combustion missile?

gordyt

It's always a mixed bag here in Humble, Texas (N.E. of Houston). On most days...nothing. Last week I got yelled at twice in two days. First day by some lady passenger in a car telling me I should stay on the sidewalk. Second day by an SUV loaded with obnoxious young men yelling something about getting a "real ride".

Oh well!

--gordy

Paul L.

First I must say I hardly ever get yelled at but this morning I decided to do a metric century before work and got honked at 3 times and yelled at twice and a thumbs up once! I figure this is mostly because I strayed down into Johnson Ranch. Johnson Ranch is a housing development about 20 miles from anywhere that offers cheap housing but no infrastructure. It onlly has 1, 2 lane road supplying thousands of houses and all these people go to work at the same time which leads to a lot of backup. I figure a frustrated motorist is one who is tipped to the dark side a little easier. I just wave hi to them as if they are a friend honking at me to say hi! After all, that is usually what I use my horn for! I figure this is a peaceful way of getting them even more ticked off. After all, they failed to accomplish their design obviously..

dynaryder

I got yelled at on the way home yesterday. Some chick leans out the window of her SUV and shouts,"go Lance go!". The nerve of her!

I wouldn't be caught dead on a roadie. And I am way,way sexier than Lance!

noisebeam

Do you ever ride on Broadway or Southern? Or cross I-60 on some of the NS roads that have narrow lanes? That is a guarantee to get you a honk or yell for every 2-3mi in my experience.

Al

BJS666

Masturbate profusely.

webist

No worse than a head wind.

chemcycle

Weight weenie....