Road Cycling - Traffic Confrontations

does anyone have any good traffic confrontation stories? i always obey the rules of the road, mind my own business, never f with anyone, but it seems inbreeding runs rampant nowadays. maybe people are jealous of our fitness levels, but it amazes me how many a'holes there are out on the road.
just this past sunday i was riding, and there was even a shoulder and i was in no way impeding a car's path, but some idiot starting blaring his horn at me, and as the car rode by me the passenger called me an a'hole for no reason whatsoever. i'm not big - i'm average about 5'9' 165 and hear crap a lot since i run and bike. since i read the papers a lot i don't want to go mental every time someone calls me a name and wind up on the front page , but this past sunday for some reason these little pricks infuriated me. there were 2 of them, and i'm no brawler by any means but if i am agitated enough i took a couple boxing lessons and i know i could defend myself. i caught up to them at a light, and i decided to ignore them. of course as they drove by me again the passenger started mouthing off again, and as they drove off i lost it, screaming and cursing and giving them the finger etc. they turned off after that, but i really thought there was going to be a fight and i was steaming mad. my whole life i simply have taken it, and this time i was hoping they would stop. i am by no means a troublemaker or brawler, but enough is enough. if a confrontation had occurred i would have gone ape**** for sure and might have gone to jail for a couple of lowlifes. why are people such idiots? anyone else have any similar stories?

It was a Sunday afternoon. The overcast sky and chill in the air accounted for the absence of the usual beach traffic. This was supposed to be a casual ride. A recovery after a week of riding the sandy trails of the pine barrens. I was turning an easy gear and had drifted into a hypnotic state.

Then. Something, a peice of pretzel I do believe, flies past me. The car; grey Honda Prelude, late 80's, didn't get the plate number. The occupants; three young men, the one in the back seat is overweight and wearing a white t-shirt. The strange thing is I'm not upset. No anger rises in me but unconsciously my legs start to spin and soon I'm cruising.

My mind is clear and calculating. This road goes out to the traffic circle. Only one paved road that they can turn off onto lies before the circle. There's a good chance they'll be turning off on that road. Plenty of people use it. There's no way I could catch up before the turn. They could even go down one of the sand roads and I'd never know. But If they go out to the circle, well then they might stop at the convenience store and then. Then they'd be mine.

There's a sight grade and I'm muscling that big ol' Biopace ring with vigor. I never realized this stretch of road was so long. The circle comes into view and I take a detour past the municipal yard, pause at Rt. 70 for traffic and then cut through the tip of the state forrest. I emerge at the edge of Rt. 72 and there sitting at the package goods store just two lanes away is the Honda. Of course, I'm thinking soda and they're thinking beer! Big boy is fumbling a case of domestic into the trunk and standing beside the open passenger door is the guy I want, the front seat passenger.

He's looking right at me. He just stares through the traffic, baffled by my presence and then I go. Skidding to a stop a foot in front of the guy, I shout "WAS IT YOU?" "THROWING **** AT ME?" I blurt out in response to his "What're you talking about?" Still calculating, my mind tells me to make this short. I ride around the front of the car and announce that I'm just gonna get the plate number in case I run into them again. I scan the interior of the car as I make my way past the driver's side. There's a fishing pole protruding from the window and a young boy, unseen until now,in the back seat. The driver, previously silent, informs me in a mellow tone that I've got the wrong car. Yeah, I'm that dumb.

And then I'm gone. Across two highways and heading home with loose sand under my tires and the scent of pines in my head.

anyone else have any similar stories?

This is one of my posts from a few weeks ago.

The most dangerous thing for me while riding is people turning in front of me across traffic, either they refuse to give way or are just plain stupid and underestimate my speed. The other problem is drivers doing a U bolt in front of me and then proceeding to enter the lane without giving way. On numerous occasion's I have passed cars re-entering the lane because they haven't given way. I always give these idiots a good stare into their drivers window.

On Monday (my first ride in the city for two months) a lady driving toward me was waiting to do a U bolt, she saw me and stopped, then proceeded to go, then stopped again when she realised I was doing ~50kph. I was already covering the brakes, but I still would have gone in hard if she hadn't stopped. I went past her and yelled "use your eyes", she then passed me and started abusing me like I had done something wrong?

I swear one day I am going to loose total control, if I ever get hit by another car. Just get up off the ground, dust myself off and throw my MTB straight down the side of their car. Am I the only one who feels this way.

Recently in a similar situation the female driver was waving to me to come and punch her one, like in the movie The Matrix where Keanu waves to the bad guy to start a fight. I just pointed to her numberplate and mouthed the letters so she thought I was memorising the number, she backed off.

SERENITY NOW!
SERENITY NOW!

CHEERS.

Mark

Originally posted by Dutchy
I swear one day I am going to loose total control, if I ever get hit by another car. Just get up off the ground, dust myself off and throw my MTB straight down the side of their car.

You see...if I get my litespeed next year...I'd be very heisitant to throw it at anyone's car :D

Maybe I'd throw myself into the window and break it...that would be good enough...or maybe detach a wheel and throw it :) But not the frame hehe :beer:

Almost everyday, some idiot gives me some idiotic gesture- indicating that person does not know the California driving regulations in regard to cyclists..
Instead of argueing with these idiots, I think in case of confrontrations, maybe one idea would be to have zerox copies of regulations to throw in their faces, should a confrontation insue. Today some construction idiot, indicated I had no right to the road- He gestured in a way to make me believe I should ride in the dirt.. The road was very wide at that spot, but he gestured for me to get to the right. Even if it is narrow- the law I read says we can use whatever road 'that we need."
I always feel perplexed. I feel a need to stick up for our right to use whatever amount of road we need, because some will deny us that right; yet, I know so many motorists are nuts- you could put yourself into jeopardy.

Originally posted by hurricanesfan0
anyone else have any similar stories?

I can't type that much in one sitting!

Seriously, if you ride the road, you are going to have confrontations with stupid "drivers". My experience has shown that it's simply unavoidable. Try to keep a level head, and of course, always carry pepper spray. :D

I remember Greg Lemond saying his personality changed when he got on the bike, generally he found he was more agressive. I guess I'm the same way (except I only won the Tour twice :D), anyhow.... It's funny, but I seem to forget I'm only about 160 lbs when someone cuts me off or yells at me to get off the road, or gives me the finger. Experience has taught me that the old "discretion is the better part of valor" adage doesn't alleviate the rage you feel later when you realize you just took the abuse. I've become a big believer in getting it off my chest - at least I won't have to spend the next few days/weeks with the "I wish I'd said this/done that" thoughts.

I try to avoid confrontations with rednecks. After all, they've got a particularly dangerous weapon at their disposal. It's very easy to kill someone with a car. Last year some knob-headed dole-bludging surfie threw an egg at me. I didn't say a word to him. I just calmly pulled off the side of the road, letting him think, for the moment, he had won.

I wrote down his #, then went to the nearest police station and ever so calmly told my story to the cops. The guy wasn't too impressed with the 10pm phone call from the cops, nor the fine that he received soon after.