rmfnla

I think most of them are cranky because we're having fun on our bikes and they're not...

Shiloh253

I actually had an awesome encounter today. Out for a ride on one of the few streets with a bike lane, I stopped at an intersection and an older gentleman pulled up next to me. He rolled down his window and I was expecting some berating, but instead he wanted to shake my hand. "Good to see more cyclists out! Keep up the good work!" I talked with him for a moment, turns out he used to race competitively in the western US.

Giant Doofus

I just remembered another great one. I pass a homeless guy on my route pretty often. We always smile and wave at each other. I often ride in work clothing when it's not too hot, usually a dress and a pair of low heels. As winter approached I swapped out the heels for a pair of boots. When I passed him on the first day I wore those boots, he hollered out "BEAUTIFUL BOOTS!"

Daniel4

Just remind yourself that as a cyclist, you're amongst the least of the motorist's worries.


2012 Annual Auto Issue: Survey reveals top gripes among drivers

Expedia 2015 Road Rage Report
https://tinyurl.com/kl9bdy3
“51 percent of respondents reported that they loathe sharing the road with bad drivers, more than cyclists, buses, taxis, joggers, and walkers combined.” Combined.

pankewr

I fixed the problem of potentially hearing others people's whining and criticizing by purchasing a pair of Bose noise cancelling earbuds, now I truly don't bother myself with others...noise. I ride where I'm legally allowed and ride defensively.

Joe Minton

Some time ago i shared my encounter with a ranting rage-filled driver here on BF.
He cut me off and I fell trying to stop without striking his car. He jumped out of his car, still calling me names, and came towards me and I pepper sprayed him thoroughly and called 911. I had a couple of witnesses and, it turns out, he had a serious warrant related to some sort of violence.

He went away in a black and white and I just went on my way.


A man once yelled: "Get on the sidewalk" as we were stopped at a light. I asked, "Are you joking? It's against the law." He repeated, louder: "Get on the sidewalk!" I said: "Oh! I see, you aren't joking -- you're just stupid!"

Joe

Hugh Morris

@pankewr how long have you been riding without sound? Do you think it affects your ability to be aware / defensive on the road?

I got the classic honk and sexuality slur today... Especially without any spandex in sight, I really can't see where they're coming from saying that playground insult, but it seems to be the most common (rhymes with bag). disappointing displays of ignorance, but at least they didn't swerve around.

rmfnla

Exactly!

When a driver is being a butthead I always want to point out that I am one less car for him/her to be stuck behind...

sam21fire

A few years ago while touring down the California coast with one of my daughters (young, smart, hottie) she was about 200 feet ahead of me when a pickup truck full of high school boys passed us (slowly), hooting and hollering at her. She immediately raised her hand with thumb and forefinger 2" apart... I started laughing so hard I almost crashed.

pankewr

The ear buds I use do allow some noise through, ignorant comments are filtered out quite nicely.

raceboy

The corporation I work for sponsors a bicycle club. On a Saturday group ride a car drove by us and the passenger shouted, "Get a real job!"

G1nko

I was stopped at a light where the right lane is right turn only and the left lane is left turn or straight. I centered in the left lane at the limit line because I was going straight.

Some guy in a big SUV pulled up on my left so he was half in the lane next to me and half over the other side of the road. He rolled down the passenger window and yells at me the typical "Get that f*#@ing bike out of the road!" I notice there's a young child in the passenger seat and responded something to the effect of "Nice mouth. Right in front of your kid."

When the light turned green he started through the intersection and I followed. He then lunged his SUV to the right blocking me from going forward. I stopped and he started down the road again. I started going forward and he slowed down and did it again, pulling into me, trying to force me up on the sidewalk. I think it may have happened a total of three times until I just stopped and let him get down the road until I couldn't see his rear lights any more.

That was the day I put in an order for a bike camera and I've recorded every inch of every ride since.

rmfnla

One of my riding groups is a bunch of highly successful doctors from Cedars Hospital...

MMACH 5

I've shared this before:

One Monday morning in 2009, I came to a stop at a red light and a pickup truck pulled up next to me. The passenger rolled down his window and said, "You know, you're not a car."

I looked over and gave him the "just a minute" sign with my index finger. Then I proceeded to act like I was rolling down my window. I leaned over and said, "I'm sorry, come again?"

Both guys in the truck busted out laughing, I started laughing, the light turned green and we all went about our merry way.

Hugh Morris

@MMACH 5 very well played; i would've come up with that one in the shower after the ride.

MMACH 5

I wish I could take credit for it.

I read a "wouldn't it be cool if I said this" type of post, before this happened.

Daniel4

It takes 3.3x longer for a speeding motorist going at 70km/hr to pass a slow moving motor vehicle at 50km/hr than a bicycle going at 15km/hr.

So by being on a bike, those yelling motorists should thank us for not slowing them down.

alexaschwanden

Today i had two cars honk their horns at me as if that is going to do something.

Daniel4

Are you sure they were directed at you? Most of the time when I hear a car horn and I check, they are directed at some other motorist.

noglider 

When drivers honk behind me, I acknowledge that I know they are there by turning my head back twice. My thinking is that turning twice shows it's not an accident or coincidence. Also, once they know I have positively acknowledged their presence, the course I take appears to be deliberate, i.e. if I don't decide to move over, it's because I have decided not to move over, and they have to deal with it.

Daniel4

Or do a quick shake as if the honking has startled you and about to fall over.

noglider 

Maybe I should rehearse a fake startle so I can send the message that honking is way overkill.

caloso

If the road ahead is clear, sometimes I like to give them The Look a la Armstrong and Ullrich.

mgw4jc

Next time (hoping there's not one) you should get the license plate and call it in.


Love this. And lucky you saw the post about the idea before it happened.

Yesterday afternoon there were 2 accidents on the interstate. This caused a lot of drivers to divert to secondary roads. I turned onto a side road where cars were really backed up in the opposite direction. They were trying to turn right onto the clogged secondary road I had just turned from. One guy was apparently not happy with sitting in such traffic and blamed it all on me. "Dumb f*****g idiot!" I just laughed and kept going.

Hypno Toad

I have a thick skin for the road ragers, but yesterday really pissed me off in a lot of ways. My wife joined me for a ride, her first ride with her road bike this summer (she hasn't really bonded with that bike). The route is 90% MUP, but to connect the MUPs requires a county road that has a broad shoulder. There is one stop light on the county road, where the shoulder becomes a second traffic lane, that's where the issue happened.

We approached the light just as it turned red, another rider had stopped on the curb. My wife was behind me and took position on the curb with the other rider, however, I'm more experienced and took the right lane. The is no shoulder on the other side of the light, and the right lane ends 150 yards past the intersection. As the light turns green, I hold the right lane and keep a mellow pace watching for the other biker to pass and make sure I don't drop my wife. However, the lovely man in a minivan behind me shouts "MOVE OVER *****!" to my wife, then punish passes me, before cutting off a car when he merged at the end of the right lane. I blew the man in the van a kiss and he let me know I'm #1 .

This left my wife shaken, I don't expect she'll ride that route again soon.

I hate road ragers, and I hate poorly designed intersections.