Lots to learn here. Thanks
Being a bicycle commuter for more than 40 years, who drives for a living, and owns cars, and also an all around recreational cyclist, conversations like these are food for my soul.
I guess like everyone here:
I can sincerely empathize with these experiences because I have them too. It does happen, of course. It's really dangerous out there.
Because of the omnipresent threats I limit my time on the road and ride vehical-free trails and roads for fun.
But I must ride the roads to get to work, save gas, save time, and get some exercise.
I don't want to come off like some know it all jerk. Or pretend that I'm writing something new no one ever thought of -
But here's the thing, people tend to get in a hurry even when they shouldn't be, because it's part of the program and they can't deactivate the subroutines sometimes. Could be chemicals, drama, pain of all sorts, distractions, not just phones, deficits of all kinds, concerns, worries, excitements, erotic urges, who knows right?
They're all out there scurrying around like seemingly mindless bugs.
Why even more than ever people fail to use the effective and well designed turn indicators so convenient and courteous because I speculate that they figure "well it's obvious what I'm going to do or there no one out here who matters for as far as I can see, I don't know.
YEs it's really pretty pathetic.
So at this point it's unfortunately a kind of norm. And to be honest I've got to laugh at how petty and ludicrous this road rage crap is.
And yeah I've had my scrapes I won't even dare to write about or try to explain because that's hard work writing down the details.
When I'm driving at work I'm extremely courteous and professional, especially to cyclists,y buddies out there! It's made me more cheerful. There are lots of riders out there doing their thing, their way, and they're all cool.
But when I'm alone riding it is easy to forget. Someone wrote about getting low on sugar, and that does have profound effects Consider the driver's out there. There are a lot of drowsy type 2 diabetics out there particularly on the evening commute!
I love riding to work. Too bad for those who have to drive a great distance to get to work. It's tough for them. How can you not blame them for personalizing their cars, mind of being in a hurry because they have to punch a time clock? I mean come on , these are the people we are afraid of.
So it's bitter out there sometimes.
We just have to cope as best we can. Escalating conflict is not advised. Right.
But when you realize someone behind the wheel does something that is going to hurt you real bad, you can't be blamed for having an emotional response!
We're emotional beings and not Spock from the Star Trek scripts. We're all a bunch of impetuous Captain Kirk's and Catwomen from Batman.
I'd be more suspicious of someone who doesn't express their feelings than not. It's good to let it out Keeping it in hurts too. Just saying.
Make friends not enemies.
I used to ride as fast as I could, hitting sprints of 30 mph between lights. I've found that 14 mph works pretty good on 45 mph boulevards for example, I have fewer right hooks than when I was jamming Now I ride a single speed. The big bummer is it is hard to accelerate on a single speed with being stuck in a tall gear.
But somehow it flows better and I like that.