Road Cycling - Almost ran over by a Harley rider today!!

So Im at a busy section of my bike route - and I hear a motorcycle coming up behind me. Well there is a right turn ahead of me and the noise gets real loud, and suddenly as Im crossing past the right turn - this Harley rider turns slowly in front of me, and Im forced to turn right with him or run into him. As I turn to look at him, he flips me off and tells me to get the hell out of the way. It sucked, but it was a good reminder to ride defensively, even with all the brillant people around me!

I wish you could have turned him in to the police!

It's good you had presence of mind to do the "turning with" maneuver. I'm not sure I would have been quick enough.

Originally posted by nikos
As I turn to look at him, he flips me off and tells me to get the hell out of the way.

That sounds like assault and a reason to go straight to the nearest police station and make a report. If EVER a motoring primate lays so much as a finger nail on me, that is exactly what I do.

Chris

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JonR
[B]I wish you could have turned him in to the police!

Good point, I couldnt believe the guy could have been such a jar head. Oh well, Im glad there wasnt a crash. Sitting waiting for the police with this guy would have been the worst situation!

That guy probably has a bumper sticker that says "Share the road with motorcycles".

You should have called the cops, though. They probably would have done something about it.

I used to have a motorcycle (Suzuki Intruder), and every other rider except Harley riders would return a wave. I guess if you aren't riding a Harley, you don't exist in their minds. I've always thought that most Harley riders were a**holes with an attitude problem. It's a darn shame.

You are correct there. Harley riders 'think' they are class act chick magnets. Fact is, they are more like sl*t magnets. If I were in your place, I would have screamed "Putang ina mo" (Our local version of SOB) and given him the bird at the same time. This would probably piss off the chimp on the Harley, but hey, I can always brake and turn around. Let him chase me......if he can.

Stupid motorcycle riders. SC is home to rednecks. I didn't know this before I got here, but NASCAR, Budlight, and Harely's are what a reneck lives for. Pardon me if any of you like NACAR, I find it the most boring thing in the world!! 200+ laps around and around?!?! always making the same left turns? The only excitement is a crash?!?!?! crashes shouldn't be excitement, that is kinda liek the Romans watching a lion rip up people.

At least the Romans had some sort of culture with some sort of class. The word 'class' wouldn't even touch a Harley riding redneck with a 1000 ft. pole.

I wonder why the heck NASCAR is so big over there? All they do is go round-and-round. Have NASCAR fans ever heard of F1 or Rally or even CART?!?!?!?!?!?!?

If Harley riders don't respect us cyclists on the road, then from now on, I will not respect a Harley when I am in my car. Only when they feel how it is to be treated unfairly, might they start to realize that us cyclists have the right to use the road too.

I think NASCAR is dumb because its all about the driver and luck now, its not about who can build the fastest toughest car with the most horse power.Building a reliable car might have a little bit to do with it, but in the end, they are all pretty much the same car.

Originally posted by fubar5
...NASCAR, Budlight, and Harely's are what a reneck lives for. Pardon me if any of you like NACAR, I find it the most boring thing in the world!! 200+ laps around and around?!?! always making the same left turns? The only excitement is a crash?!?!?! crashes shouldn't be excitement, that is kinda liek the Romans watching a lion rip up people.
My sentiments exactly.

They built a gigantic NASCAR track here, on the Kansas side--when you're on the highway and it appears over the hillside, it's like the spaceship appearing in Close Encounters of the Third Kind or when Will Smith looks up from his newspaper and sees the one in Independence Day.

It's truly obscene, and to read the paper and hear people talk you'd think it was the most cultural thing ever to happen to this cowtown.

Heaven help us.

(And what about the fuel waste, and the atmospheric pollution and noise pollution?)

Originally posted by JonR
(And what about the fuel waste, and the atmospheric pollution and noise pollution?)

Its terrible, and they try to say MTBers hurt the environment. Man, The bike club I am in rides the local MTB trail every Wednesday, and we have done so for several years. I have been on the trail myslef about 50 or so times, and not one bit of damage has been done to the trail, we could stop riding, and you would harly be able to tell.All this closing trail really ticks me off, and then we build huge race tracks!!!!

I read somewhere recently that people in cars, on motorcycles, etc. should actually be called "riders" and not "drivers", whereas us roadies and mtb'ers should more appropriately be called "drivers" since we're actually providing the force to move the vehicle. I live in Tennessee and can't, for the life of me, understand the fascination with NASCAR. Most of the people I know who are into NASCAR can't understand how I could watch Tour de France coverage every night. I think it's definitely a cultural thing. I agree that the only thing that would make watching NASCAR even remotely interesting would be the possibility of a great crash. Even that's not much of a thrill any more since they make those cars like tanks now.

I like ocr_3 already... I like the thing about "riders" and "drivers" too.

Here in Australia, people also have a fascination with watching cars going around in circles aimlessly for hours on end. To be honest, I don't understand it either. I'd much rather go out and do something than sit in front of the TV for five hours at a time. There's a whole, big, world out there folks!

chris

Originally posted by Chris L
Here in Australia, people also have a fascination with watching cars going around in circles aimlessly for hours on end. To be honest, I don't understand it either. I'd much rather go out and do something than sit in front of the TV for five hours at a time. There's a whole, big, world out there folks!

chris

I guess we're all in the same boat then.

I don't know how you guys put up with it. Taking abuse from rednecks, for no valid reason at all! Here in the Philippines, I hardly get any abuse like that. If some guy on a motorbike did that to me, he will get a piece of my mind. Getting beercans thrown at you is also unheard of here. The only 'bad' thing for cyclists here is crime. Certain guys know that bikes are quite expensive (this is an impoverihhed country, so even cheap bikes are 'high end') and whack cyclists on the head in order to steal their bikes. Some even patrol known bike routes with a van and M-16s (serious!) and hold you up at gunpoint! The cycling community should get more protection from the government (especially in redneck country) because they have been taking a lot of abuse silently.

Hey, welcome to the forums, good to have someone from that part of the world here. We get some rednecks out here, but eventually you get used to it. I've got a policy that I use:

Verbal abuse - ignore it, the stress levels will kill them eventually anyway.

Physical abuse - report it to the police. Don't bother to retaliate because that is likely to make things worse (I say that as a 61kg "weed").

Chris

I guess you're policies are right on target. What's the use of getting mad at a person who 'just' abuses you verbally? Let the ba$tard bring his blood pressure to unhealthy levels! Haha.

Still, there will be some times when I will be in a bad mood, and a simple curse would send me berserk! Ha, any motorist should watch out for me when that happens. BTW, there are a lot of deranged motorists here who carry guns (licenced or not) and use them to 'express' road rage. A lot of people have died from that. You guys better be careful over there.....if a redneck in a truck has a gun, you'll get more than a beercan from them!

Originally posted by Altwegg
Still, there will be some times when I will be in a bad mood, and a simple curse would send me berserk!


Yeah, I've had days like that. Sometimes I just give them "the finger", but usually I try to ignore it. They seem to get a certain satisfaction out of your response. They obviously crave attention in their inadequate lives, so why give it to them?


Originally posted by Altwegg
You guys better be careful over there.....if a redneck in a truck has a gun, you'll get more than a beercan from them!

They don't need a gun, a truck can do just as much damage. That's why I try not to react to their sh*t. It just isn't worth it, especially when I can hurt them all the more if I live long enough to get to the police station :D .

Chris

I'll keep in mind to stay calm then =)

What happened to nikos sucks,however I don't think all Harley riders are turds. Several times I have been passed by a Harley and when they get 10 feet in front of me they will beep their horn "beep,beep".I take this to mean "great day ain't it? Enjoy!"Then again I may be naive.....

Sorry fellow posters but I'm a Harley rider too. But the interesting thing is that since I started riding my Trek and commuting to work I put about 5 times as many miles on my Trek. It's a lot more fun and rewarding. I'm keeping the Harley until the 100th anniversary in Milwaukee in 2003. It should be quite a party. After that I'll get rid of it probably.

I did learn how loud Harley pipes can be when your riding your bike however so I make sure whenever I'm passing a bicyclist I ease off on the throttle. I try not to be obnoxious.

And we thank you for that! :)

Originally posted by bjlaw
Sorry fellow posters but I'm a Harley rider too.

We can probably forgive you for that. To be honest, I don't generally find Harley riders to be among my biggest problems on the road, but apparently my experience is different in other parts of the world.

Chris

Problems with drivers only seem to be in less educated areas where people like "hicks" come from. When I ride around on streets in more affluent neighborhoods (more crowded by the way), I notice more people doing the same as me and most cars give me plenty of room. However if I'm in a rural area on a HUGE shoulder I'll have dumb jerks in pick-ups yelling insults. Problem is ignorant people breed more than intelligent people. It's an actual fact. Some motorcycle riders are cool. But, the ones with the "hick" or "squid" mentality are every bit as bad as those guys in the pick-ups. Just my observations.

Hi, Pelanth. Always glad to meet somebody who's not hostage to Political Correctness. There don't seem to be too many of us.

Originally posted by Pelanth
Problems with drivers only seem to be in less educated areas where people like "hicks" come from. When I ride around on streets in more affluent neighborhoods (more crowded by the way), I notice more people doing the same as me and most cars give me plenty of room.

I disagree. Where I live is a relatively affluent part of the world, but I still get all the usual "get off the ******** road" all the time (incidentally, if these people are supposed to be educated, you would think they are smart enough to think of something else). However, verbal abuse is the least of my concerns. I think the basically incompetent drivers are more dangerous than the abusive ones. At least the abusive ones are predictable.

Chris

I watch NASCAR and the TdF with equal enthusiasm. When I was a kid NASCAR inspired me to race bikes. You couldn't find bike racing on TV back then, so you got your racing fix anyway you could. If you ever watch NASCAR for more than a few minutes, you'll see it is a very calculating sport, as is bike racing. We stereotype them as rednecks and they stereotype us as a bunch of ***** in spandex! So, I just choose not to stereotype!

Cat

I have to say that there are a lot of similarities between bike racing and Nascar. Drafting and attacking work the same way and this is how they plan their strategies. And don't forget track racing on a bike has about the same amount of scenery. I must say that if most people were open minded about things in general, the world would be a better place. People drive badly on the road and don't give respect to bikers because they are closed-minded and don't see them. I think we all should not be so closed-minded and who knows, maybe Nascar will turn fun.