Long Tom

I set out to do my 33-miler with all the big hills today at around 3:00. As I reach the base of the first big climb, I see a pack of cyclists ahead of me about 1/4 mile. This is very rare as I live out in the toolies a bit.... so this hill is about 1.5 miles long, and not super steep. I think of it as a warmup because there's so much climbing to come.... so I rarely hammer it. This time, I thought, sheee-it.... this is MY turf, I can catch those wankers! So I tried. It was all I could do to maintain the gap- couldn't make up any ground.

Got to where the real climbs start and figured they hadn't turned onto that road, but after a bit, there they are about 1/4 mile up still. Jeeezus. I tried like hell to catch them, again, but again all I could do was keep the gap. They stopped at an intersection after the hills, and we chatted. A bunch of 25-year-olds on aero TT or Tri bikes, very expensive. I told them they were fast, and that the best was yet to come IF they followed my suggestion as to a route. We rode together a while- they are indeed fast- but they opted not to do SufferClimb part II.

So that was fun, and I'm whipped tonight.

There's a long downhill after the first set of climbs, kind of a rural highway where people go 55 mph or so. I'm bombing down that at around 35 mph when suddenly a horn goes off right behind me. Oh dear God, here it comes. It kept blowing. It's right behind me. I whipped my head around and saw it was a vehicle that was an odd pinkish-red color but that's all I got. It's MAYBE 5 feet behind me; I'm still going 30-35. I mean he is RIGHT on me. There's absolutely no reason for this. I'm about 6" off the fog line at this point but I hold my line. No way I'm getting on that shoulder at this speed. He stops honking; I bet that horn went for a continuous 6-8 seconds. Seemed like an eternity. I wait for him to pass; gonna get the plate and call the sheriff. After a bit I glance back- he's gone! Must have turned in to a driveway.

At this point I'm way down this hill, and somewhat stunned. I kept going, but my ride loops me back up to the top of that hill again after 8-10 miles. When I got there I went down it, slowly this time, peering up these rural drives, looking for the son of a b!tch. Didn't find him.

I don't think I got enough of a visual to do me much good, but it was a very memorable color. I see that again and it's on.

So.... had a great ride, but had some dumbass risk my life out of malice. But I ride that route a lot. This isn't over.

All I can think of is that he thought I "belonged" on the shoulder. I'll let him explain that one to the cop or even judge, good Lord willin'.

Nagrom_

Hey, at least you aren't bitter about it. Glad you aren't holding a grudge.


Wait.

zymphad

Happy you didn't get hurt.

SirHustlerEsq

These guys are way less dangerous than people Facebooking while driving. There's nothing to win here and the police won't care if you're harassed, they didn't care when I was run over.

Also, "Go Stars!!!"

dbdg

had a similar experience on my ride today. I was riding the final portion of my ride, heading towards home. The street I live on has neither shoulder nor bike lane. So I was about 11" into the lane. Its normally a busy road, but this was Sunday morning,and it is 4 lanes. As I rolled up to the last stop light, a car kept honking behind me. I didnt think much about it as I get that alot both on the bike and out for a run (side affect of sporting DD's and running/riding in a sports bra/short skirt). When the light turned green I took off, but this car came up behind me and swerved towards me. The guy in the passenger side yelled out the window, "get on the sidewwalk."


Idiots.

Silvercivic27

? Ghost car ? Is it October yet?

thump55

Some guy got assaulted by semi-automatic poultry in the other thread, and you're complaining about a horn?

ctpres

Friday I was on a typical TX road with 3 foot painted shoulder - heard a LOUD truck coming up so I moved over to the outside edge a bit. Lifted pickup with big mud tires got right beside me and blasted his air horn. I managed to hold my line and give him my best regards in sign language. You never know what they are thinking.

StanSeven

I doubt a cop or a judge would do anything. In the drivers eyes you were going 20-25 mph slower than he probably wanted to do and you were blocking him.

I'm not saying the driver is right but that's probably his POV.

f4rrest

You're better off not escalating it if it's your normal route and you think it might be one of their regular routes as well. They could easily kill you with their car without consequence.

On the other hand, if you can next time slow and get off to the side, get a vehicle description/plates and call it in.

alwaysonjohn

this is why I try not to ride alone. I have some feeling that there are too many Dexter's out there to be safe and it just takes one to hit me and seriously injure me. I'm glad your okay, which is more important than teaching that person a lesson.

zymphad

Even if he killed you the judge wouldn't care, driver would be allowed to keep his license and out on $5K bail.

MattFoley

So after the honking, what did he do to severely harass you?

Long Tom

This.

I hear enough tales of woe here, in terms of the law doing nothing, to realize it's probably not gonna resolve the way I'd hope- in a ticket.

But funny thing is, out here in redneck rural western Oregon, a high proportion of the types of dumb****s that would do this sort of thing will already have had, shall we say, substantial interactions with the police. Or even warrants out, or probation. On top of that, a rural sheriff department has a different sort of relationship to the populace; they are elected, and tend to have some genuine..... paternalistic authority, is maybe a good way to put it.

Regardless, I get the chance, I'm calling this or anyone else who pulls crap like that in, and we shall see where it goes from there. I'm also not opposed in the slightest to having a face to face conversation with the driver on the side of the road, though funnily enough, they seem to be endowed with a certain "vehicular courage" which fails them when it occurs to them that oops, actually "they" are not 5500 lbs, made of steel, and packing a 300-HP engine. "They" are a fat **** who really doesn't want to get out and talk to the person they were just bullying with their vehicle. Or so I've seen it play out a couple times, when I've stopped, gotten off my bike, started taking off my shoes...

I don't get this pissed about the little stuff that happens all the time. This was a very dangerous situation; I was going fast, and he was extremely close to my rear wheel. For a long time. I really hope I find him.

Deep breath.

Weatherby

You have to be careful because in some states, nearly everyone is carrying a firearm.

Long Tom

True. I myself had a concealed permit for many years. Oregon is an open-carry state, meaning I could perfectly legally strap my Glock to my bike in plain sight. Not going there; though I might if drivers were as aggressive towards cyclists in this area as guys report them to be in other areas. I do a lot of miles out here and generally don't have problems, other than occasionally people doing something stupid. This sort of harassment is pretty rare... every 10th ride maybe, or less.

It did remind me that spring dog season* is here, and it's time to buy a new pepper spray. My definition of "dog" could certainly expand to include someone physically coming after me.

*seems like spring is when I get chased. By summer, the dogs are lazy in the heat, and plus the owners have fixed their fences, realized they need to close their gates now that they are outside, etc. but spring... last spring I had to give several dogs a snootful.

10 Wheels

Have you tried using a mirror?

Long Tom

No.... wouldn't have changed anything in this case, though. I had nowhere to go.

For the record I'm a very courteous cyclist and routinely bump over to the shoulder to help cars our when I can do it safely. If I can't, I take my line and hold it, and hope that the drivers aren't idiots. As we all know sometimes they are, and very occasionally, malicious idiots.

PatrickGSR94

11" off the fog line is not the right line to be taking, especially on a descent. At that location cars THINK they can squeeze past you, and are more obligated to honk and/or get enraged when they can't. They maintain their speed until the last minute, then get pissed when they have to slam on their brakes because they suddenly realize they can't safely pass.

This is why I use the full lane by default, and always use a mirror. I can anticipate what cars may or may not do that are coming up behind me. If there are cars stacking up with no room to pass then I'll find a place to pull off (a driveway or similar, NOT the gravel on the side of the roadway). But using the full lane allows motorists to know for sure, from a greater distance back (and earlier timeframe) that they cannot indeed squeeze past, and can compensate accordingly.

If I'm climbing I'll move over to the side if it's safe for the motorist to pass. But on a descent I'm out there in the center or even left of center, every time. I have MUCH fewer issues that way.

banerjek

This.

In my experience, riding too far right dramatically increases harassment. I have much better luck riding left, paying attention with the mirror, and moving over as they reach you. They seem to like that you know they're there, especially since they expected to be blocked. So it's possible to make people feel good about deliberately slowing them down.

If visibility and/or road aren't particularly bad, I would invite passes and lane sharing for a 35mph descent. But in the OP's case, this sounds like a clear case of harassment -- riding someone's ass is incredibly dangerous. In that situation, it would have been more tempting to gradually slow down and be ready to bail since you could be in front of some meth addled lunatic.

FLvector

It's not surprising that you were able to catch up with the Tri bikes since they aren't designed for climbing. If you were having difficulty bridging the gap on the hill, I doubt you'd be able to hang with these guys on the flats on your road bike.

So if you would have found this guy down the long driveway would you have knocked on the door and reamed him out for honking and following you too close? I doubt this would turn out well. And calling the LEO's probably wouldn't do much either since there were no violations except pissing you off.

I agree that its best to take the full lane on a decent since drivers are tempted to squeeze around you when riding a few inches off the white line. Just write this off to the driver being an idiot and having a bad day. I try hard not to let idiot drivers influence my ride, but sometimes its unavoidable.

popeye

What we need is a small helmet cam that records fore and aft at HD and lasts 2+hrs. I'm tired of all the crazy **** I have to put up with on a daily basis.

Jiggle

Whoa man, you barely escaped that aggressive honking! Better call law enforcement. This aggression shall not stand.

f4rrest

I'd say tailgating 5 feet off on a descent is the aggressive part.

RIRview

You get an F in creative writing. Come to think of it, you also get an F in reading comprehension.

"It kept blowing. It's right behind me. I whipped my head around and saw it was a vehicle that was an odd pinkish-red color but that's all I got. It's MAYBE 5 feet behind me; I'm still going 30-35. I mean he is RIGHT on me."