Troul 

Was out riding near woodward ave during the cruise week & passed by a distressed classic car. It was not firing up, & i roughly could hear it struggling to bang a spark. I circled around, asked if I could take a peek. After a minor points adjustment, the Mopar was back in action. The old guy offered me cash, I declined. He offered an ice cold water, that I greatly appreciated & accepted. He was rather shocked that a young cat could know such vintage adjustments.

Tony Marley

Lots to pick from.... My 10-year old daughter and I were riding coast-to-coast on a tandem, pulling our BOB trailer. In a town west of Gettysburg, PA, a guy that turned out to be the President of a small, Mennonite university called out from his front porch to ask if we'd like a glass of iced tea. We spent an enjoyable hour on the porch with him, sipping tea and discussing life.

Flip Flop Rider

helped a 5 year old put his chain back on in the neighborhood

indyfabz

Goofin' around on U.S. 2 somewhere near the MT/ND border during a construction delay.

Koyote

That's a nice shot. The MF camera?

Iride01 

I had someone holler out from a car at they loved my jersey.

indyfabz

No. Nikon 6006. The Mamiya was stowed in a pannier. I wouldn't have taken it out in that situation. Didn't know when we would have to get moving again.

aplcr0331

The vast majority of my interactions are neutral, but when there is an "interaction" for the most part those are positive. I try to give out good karma, always smile at drivers, salute when they wait for me to cross or when they back up so they give me room, eye contact and a head nod when waiting at a stop...whatever. I'm positive with them and give good feedback. Wave when they pass me if they've waited behind me because of oncoming traffic. I do try to avoid higher traffic areas or climbing on narrow roads with lots of traffic and no bike lane or shoulder (although I'm unable to avoid these all the time) so I don't feel in the way so much. Avoid city traffic cycling as much as I can and mostly stick to outer areas.

I also never go looking for "interactions" either. I don't take pictures of cars parked in a bike lane to post on a FB group...I just ride around. I walk a lot too and have been yelled at or had things thrown at me (a bottle once, but it broke and shattered at my feet and not my head thankfully) so I guess I assume *******s are around...but again it's a rarity. I don't sneer when people might come out to far at a stop sign they're used to floating through as long as they stop and I can make it around. **** happens.

My cycling heuristic is way different than a lot of other cyclists apparently. If you've ever been a part of a commuting cyclists group it appears that when not talking about lights they complain-complain-complain about drivers, parking, taking the lane, etc. My measure is this...HIT or NOT HIT. That's it, my "fear" is not that great of vehicles besides there's nothing I could do about it anyway (other than staying inside but **** that) so why let it get to me? Bike's are fun. At least, they're supposed to be and there's plenty of other things to get my dander up over. Gotta chill a bit and ride on people.

Gresp15C

I lived in Texas for a while. He was asking if you needed help running over the armadillo.

But my weirdest experience was that I ran over a small armadillo on my bike! This was more than 20 years ago. I was riding along a bike path in a park, close to dusk, and a little armadillo came skittering out of the bushes, and before I could swerve, my front wheel went over it. Somehow it got caught between my pedal and frame, and being on a bike with a coaster brake, I couldn't back pedal. By that point I had one foot on the ground, and somehow the armadillo managed to release itself, and went skittering off, completely unfazed. I was a bit shook up, but continued my ride.

genejockey 

The Spring wildflowers are blooming all along my routes, which is nice.

dmanthree

Had a positive exchange with a cop today, although very brief. Cranking along Vanderbilt Drive in Naples, I spotted a local sherrif with a radar gun looking for speeders. I see him, he sees me coming at him and aims the radar gun at me. I approach with a broad smile, he smiles back and yells "20!" Gave him a thumbs up and rode on.

Yeah, I had a little tailwind. ;-)

10 Wheels

Same with me riding into California. Yelled 19 MPH

Parkyy16

Hahaha! My dream is to get a speeding ticket on the bike. Haven't done it yet, but got a cop buddy a couple hours away. He told me he could get me a fake ticket for speeding on bike for me to frame up.

dmanthree

I wish. Even though I had a tailwind I was still 15MPH short of a prized ticket! But on a secondary road with a lower speed limit I was a lot closer; about 5MPH short.

FWIW, the cops here in Collier county seem OK.

Korina

Aside from niceholes I do get a lot of polite drivers mixed in with the others; small town driving seems to encourage that.

Last summer I was grinding up a short but very steep hill I hadn't ridden in a couple of years (flat trail = no cars); a hs/college kid was doing sprints up and down the hill, and the coach encouraged me at the steepest bit near the top. A young woman driving up it also gave me the, 'You're doing it! Nearly there!' as she passed.

jaxgtr

I rode my bike at night when my kids were very young and my wife worked 12 hr shift at a hospital. It was the only time I could ride, so I was riding my normal route and I have picked up a nail on the road and I was changing the tube under a very dim street light. I police cruiser drove by as I was trying to position my light and he stopped, backed up, turned on his spot light so I could see better. We got to chatting and found out he also rode bikes. He had that patrol area, I told him what time I normally rode and I would see him each time he was on duty. He lives in my neighborhood now and we ride quite often.

reoc01

I do bike delivery and bike is the most efficient way ti ease traffic and crowd.

5teve

I made a conscious decision some years back to actively look for good driver behavior. I'd had a couple of close passes, some relatively (in hindsight) minor intimidation and harassment encounters and I found myself riding along in kind of a "ready to be offended," frame of mind. Looking for slights, expecting rude if not outright dangerous behavior. It began to seriously influence my state of mind and my cycling experience. Cycling has always been a source of great joy and satisfaction for me so this was not acceptable. So I decided to start looking for chances to acknowledge polite passes, patient drivers, etc. I found myself waving and thumbs-upping a LOT of people, like 90+ percent! It helped me get out of that negative state of mind, and get back to enjoying riding again. And it made the occasional rude or inattentive driver a bit easier to shrug off. I still wave and acknowledge polite drivers, though sometimes I feel a little foolish because I end up waving at most of the cars that pass me. But it's better than expecting and anticipating the worst.

Cougrrcj

Best was on my morning commute a few years ago, I'm stopped at a red light near the local community college, about ten miles into my commute... and I hear a young female voice from the car next to me say "Nice Legs!". I turned my ~60-yr old white mustached face to her and say "Thanks!"

I smiled the whole rest of my day!!!


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