"Cyclist Rage" Topic

So, it's been about 2-3 weeks since I've been seriously riding my bicycle again. Mainly I've been commmuting home from work, or running short errands.

It's been a while since I've spent significant time in the saddle, so I forgot about Cyclist Rage!

Today, I'm just doing a quick there and back to a local store. On the way back, some redneck (yes we have them in Jersey, especially since I'm in "Piney" territory this week) makes a hard right into the shoulder of a secondary street missing me by about a foot. when he pulls back into the road, I give hem "the look." He sneers at me and drives off.

RIGHT then and there, the instinct I forot I had kicked in.
I upshifted, even before I stood to stomp on the pedals. I satrting stomping until i ran out of gears, and then sat, and starting cranking! 20, 30, 35 MPH, catching up, hoping the light stays red.

IT CHANGES before I can catch him. Mad, I start to crank even faster, hoping to catch him at the next light. It doesn't change, so I eventually run out of steam and lose him. I slow down back to a regular cadence and catch my breath.

I'm still wondering what I would have said or done if I caught him?

Some times it is good that they get away………

Did you yip at him as he made his panicked escape?

You be careful – most drivers are careful about bikers and pedestrians, but enough aren't that you have to be ever vigilant. I don't know how many times I would have been squished by drivers yakking on their cell phones if I had crossed a street when the pedestrian light flashed on.

I was squirted with beer by a girl-passenger once. They had failed to note the plethora of lights, iffy junctions, and the plentiful cross-country possibilities when they did it.

I chased them for over 10 minutes. each time I caught up, they lost another window to my trusty D-Lock. The looks on their terrirfied fat little ing student faces was worth every moment I spent regretting it. The girls screams got higher-pitched and louder, reaching a pitch only audible to dogs, bats and Japanese Porn-stars. The girl kept screaming at the guy to 'go faster', to 'go THAT way', to 'run him down, stop him' while he shouted back at her, increasingly helpless, emasculated, unable to protect his little squeeze, or his precious Peugeot 205.

Eventually they actually abandoned the car and ran. That was no good either, as they didn't know the area as well as I did and I soon caught them up.

Once I had them face to face… nothing. While they were in the car, I could have shot them without a qualm. Once they were two whimpering pedestrians (screaming in the case of the female) I wanted to give them a hug and say sorry for over reacting. But that would have been lame. so I just snarled, and eased away.

The insulating effect of the hunk of metal works both ways. Car-Drivers feel invincible, but at the same time it makes them seem less like human beings to us cyclists as well.

I had used about 3 days energy doing it – I had to leave for work about twenty minutes early next day, as I could barely move my legs.

(But the way their windows starred and shattered each time I caught up still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside, 10 years on)

Pat

Good thing there weren't any patrolmen around.

You be careful – most drivers are careful about bikers and pedestrians, but enough aren't that you have to be ever vigilant.

I ride my bike like I (used to) drive my car, with the assumption that all of the people in all of the other cars aren't looking for me, don't see me, and don't care about me…

Yikes!
Why do they call you "Sane" max again?

Interesting anecdotes.

Almost as interesting as mine. I drive back roads,
generally, since the frantic traffic I formerly
encountered when driving to/from work really irritated
me.

The back roads in our area are frequently, on week-ends,
used by cyclists, in groups. From the attire, some of
them seem to be teams in training, but I don't know for
sure.

In any event, generally I pull into the left-hand lane
(two-lane roads), slow down, and ease past them.
Typically, the cyclists will ease right and wave as
I go past.

A couple week-ends ago, I was traveling along and
encountered quite a large group, 20 to 25. Almost
all of them moved to the right, but 4 spread out
across the lane and continued their pedaling.

I couldn't move left because of the terrain (curves and
hills). We continued in this way for about a mile,
when the deputy sheriff who'd come up behind us flipped
on his lights and siren and pulled over the entire group,
me included.

He cited the 4 cyclists for 'failure to yield' and was
about to ticket me for 'following too closely' when
some of the other cyclists intervened on my behalf,
explaining that the group of 4 had slowed down.

The roads belong to all of us, and courtesy makes the
roads more easily traveled by all.

"Cyclist Rage!"

I do get this sometimes, but I don't like it, it isn't healthy. You just have to cycle assuming every car is out to kill you and not be too surprised when they do get you sometimes, however defensively you cycle. Best to stay calm if you can.

Most recent encounter was last year: a large pickup turned right, right in front of me, banging my left knee and elbow and just kept going. I would have been flattened if I hadn't torqued my bike into a tight righthand turn at the instant the truck turned across my path. Rage? You can imagine: I was so angry I was rendered utterly speechless and immobile, watching the idiot go over the hill. I even forgot that I carry a gun (had I recalled in that instant, I might have given chase under different conditions: but the next traffic light was half a mile away, so no chance at all).

Speaking of which, I have never forgotten the annecdote out of San Francisco years ago: where the lady driver knocked a cyclist down at an intersection, got out to see if he was okay, and he drew a handgun and shot her then got on his bike and sped away. Now, THAT's cyclist rage.

"Speaking of which, I have never forgotten the annecdote out of San Francisco years ago: where the lady driver knocked a cyclist down at an intersection, got out to see if he was okay, and he drew a handgun and shot her then got on his bike and sped away. Now, THAT's cyclist rage."

Cyclist rage ? Not assault with a deadly weapon ?
Well, San Francisco, so perhaps a different definition
there, eh ?

Jeez, this kind of behaviour is indefensible, regardless of whether you are a motorist or a cyclist.

I once saw a cyclist get knocked of his bike he got up and threw the bike at the car.

The last couple of times I was knocked off I was too shaken up to do much of anything for a while, let alone throw bikes at people or shoot them.