Advocacy & Safety - Nasty Comments by the Obese

I am not trying to sound judgmental, but am I the only one here that has noticed that a good number of the drivers that make nasty comments and obese? The majority of the ones that have smarted off at me were very overweight. Just last week, I was riding into work and a morbidly obese guy was trying to bully me. He started by riding my ass. I was keeping right up with traffic, so I was not impeding him in the least. I was riding in the middle of the lane. He decides to try and make me get off to the side of the lane by getting over into half of the other lane and getting really close to me. I did not budge in the least. Cars approached him in the other lane, so he had to get behind me again because there were a line of vehicles in front of me that he couldn't just get in the other lane, speed up, and get back over. In the end, he told me to get off the f****** street, even though I never slowed him down at all. I came close to replying "You need to get out of that car and get your fat, lazy ass on a bike," but I figured he was not worth my time.

The odds favor your statement considering overweight US population is estimated at 65% and rising.

The odds favor your statement considering overweight US population is estimated at 65% and rising.

Good point!

I really think the people making nasty comments are just having a bad day or are jerks all the time regardless of their weight. It may be you live in an area that has a high proportion of jerks that happen to be obese. Around here it is all kinds. I mostly get things thrown at me by people in pickup trucks but living in texas well lots of people happen to drive pickup trucks.

I promise me and my obese (BMI morbidly obese) self won't yell nasty things when I pass you on my recumbent even if you laugh at my lawn chair on wheels ;)

As i am currently off my bike awaiting replacement. i had a thought if i was in the similar situation.

90% of my bike riding is 6 miles or less each way. and the vast majority of that is around 2 to 3 miles . So i prolly couldnt hang with alot you on the open road but i respect that you do.

BUT those miles are my cummute to the Y 3 times a week for swimming and weights lifting....
and 6 times a week to my dojo where we fight once a week.

"Ummm sir would you like to step out of the car and discuss why i shouldnt be on the road?"

Most likey he would rather hide in his car like a coward. Big yellow belly.

I came close to replying "You need to get out of that car and get your fat, lazy ass on a bike," but I figured he was not worth my time.
Bravo, being as he wouldn't have learned a point, and just get more pissed at you (while funny, makes no real progress), which of course can escalate into something you don't want to deal with. It takes way more effort to not run your mouth off and start some ****. :P

I wave a big, happy wave. It confuses them.

But most people are overwieght, and overweight people (I'd guess) are less likely to be on a bike, and therefore less likely to be bike friendly.

eh not all fat people are jerks. Some of the nicest people I have EVER had to pleasure of being around are overly obese... but they are VERY GOOD people, and their food... omg... definitely 5 star food in my book...

Now me, im not exactly skinny as a rail. I am also a bit chubby.. probably why i can only got about 2 miles MAX at a time before i am completely worn out... But i break it up too... Ill do like, 1-2 miles in the morn, and then some more at night... I have decided for myself that being fat, with no health insurance, is a bad thing, plus, Bike riding, brings back ALOT of good old time memories for me, so its a joy to ride.

Have you stopped to think that if 65% of the American population is "obese," that there is far more probability that you run into that 65% then the other 35% - regardless of the positive or negative aspect of the encounter?

-Kurt

Have you stopped to think that if 65% of the American population is "obese," that there is far more probability that you run into that 65% then the other 35% - regardless of the positive or negative aspect of the encounter?

-Kurt

Just for clarification - 65% of Americans are not "obese".

65% of Americans are "overweight", while 25-30% are "obese".

The accepted definition of "obese" is a Body Mass Index (http://www.google.com/search?q=body+mass+index+definition&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2006-25,GGGL:en) of 30 or greater.

The accepted definition of "overweight" is a Body Mass Index of 25 or greater.

For the past year or so I have been suffering from a strange auditory or mental dysfunction in that I find myself unable to hear nasty comments while riding. Though this problem of mine seems to distress some commenters, I've so far not sought help for it.

I agree with Ducky (cool handle, BTW). My wife is overweight, but I don't care. I love her for who she is and she is very supportive of my quest to start commuting by bike. She wants to get a new bike herself, once I sell my Harley, but she may not commute (at least that's what she says now. Just give me some more time. ;)).

Just for clarification - 65% of Americans are not "obese".

65% of Americans are "overweight", while 25-30% are "obese".

Thank you for the clarification - I (embarrassingly) couldn't recall the correct term.

-Kurt

P.S.: IMHO, the OP's argument has little to say for it other then a source of discrimination against anyone considered medically overweight by Doctor Quackenbush today. Body weight ≠ bad attitude, that is no more or less akin to any statement in the racist category. What does he have to say about our very own Clydesdale's forum? "Overweight" cyclists have bad attitudes? Spare me.

I am not trying to sound judgmental, but am I the only one here that has noticed that a good number of the drivers that make nasty comments and obese? The majority of the ones that have smarted off at me were very overweight. Just last week, I was riding into work and a morbidly obese guy was trying to bully me. He started by riding my ass. I was keeping right up with traffic, so I was not impeding him in the least. I was riding in the middle of the lane. He decides to try and make me get off to the side of the lane by getting over into half of the other lane and getting really close to me. I did not budge in the least. Cars approached him in the other lane, so he had to get behind me again because there were a line of vehicles in front of me that he couldn't just get in the other lane, speed up, and get back over. In the end, he told me to get off the f****** street, even though I never slowed him down at all. I came close to replying "You need to get out of that car and get your fat, lazy ass on a bike," but I figured he was not worth my time.
regardless of that fact, you're succeeding.

regardless of that fact, you're succeeding.
i cqnt falut him for that espically just after that person used there cage as a weapon.

i cqnt falut him for that espically just after that person used there cage as a weapon.

We've got a whole community full of athletic soccer mom's and petite office women that will just as gladly run the OP down here in Miami as Big Bertha will do to him in Nashville. Don't tell me you and the OP are not at fault for generalizing under the most ridiculous of pretenses.

-Kurt

U-locks can double as horseshoes... 100 points if you get two windows in one!

I thought fat people were supposed to be jolly?

Meanies come in all sizes. While walking through a local park, I saw a young attractive woman descending from a steep, rocking hillside to the main trail on a mountain bike. There where a few folks walking along, including someone who most might agree was overwieght. Well this "babe" let out a litiney of fat-insults to get the woman to clear out of her way. Man that was a shocker. Reminded me that beauty, is after all only skin deep.

We've got a whole community full of athletic soccer mom's and petite office women that will just as gladly run the OP down here in Miami as Big Bertha will do to him in Nashville. Don't tell me you and the OP are not at fault for generalizing under the most ridiculous of pretenses.

-Kurt

I'm not going to use professional terminology or cite studies. But overweight people are envious of slender people (in general). Add to that many auto drivers get annoyed when they have to share the road. So when you add the two together, it's not generalizing.

I'm not going to use professional terminology or cite studies. But overweight people are envious of slender people (in general). Add to that many auto drivers get annoyed when they have to share the road. So when you add the two together, it's not generalizing.

You might be right, but that doesn’t mean that people will like you for your correctness. Do you think the fat "cager" would go easier on a pokey fat biker? I think that it would be more likely that he would still be irritated that someone impeded his speed.

Even though I don’t like the implications of your assertion, there might be something to it. Could it be simply that motorists are jealous of cyclists? Since they can’t handle the basic fact that we are fit, healthier, non-polluting, leisure-minded and get far more dates—they just think, "damn that idiot is in my way", then blow thier horn, hocker and swear.

<---is also a clyde

I know a lot of fat cyclists, and have seen just as many skinny "cagers" act like imbeciles. A more convincing case could be made for the type of vehicle being driven than for the BMI of the driver, but even then that's just spouting off anecdotally, otherwise known as having a "BS" in Psychology. Enjoy your ride, stop focusing on and whining about cagers so much, we will always have to share the road with them.

I know a lot of fat cyclists, and have seen just as many skinny "cagers" act like imbeciles. A more convincing case could be made for the type of vehicle being driven than for the BMI of the driver, but even then that's just spouting off anecdotally, otherwise known as having a "BS" in Psychology. Enjoy your ride, stop focusing on and whining about cagers so much, we will always have to share the road with them. Good post.

But overweight people are envious of slender people (in general).

:rolleyes:

Without any sort of proper statistic to back this up, this claim is even more ridiculous - not to mention further insulting. The Clyde forum would rightfully give you an earful.

Just curiously, which category are you from? I dare say that you are not of the former - considering what you have said so far. Provided this is the case, you are serving only to exhibit your own insecurity as a member of the latter category.

Incidentally, in general, slender people are most envious of weighty people. :lol:

...and I dare say that isn't far from the truth.

-Kurt

P.S.: And in the spirit of KP's post above, enjoy your life, stop focusing on and whining about 'overweight people,' and come to terms with the fact that you will always have to share the world with them.

As a thin person who could always eat as much as he wanted, I have overweight people tell me they are envious quite often. I have not noticed a correlation between a persons weight, and their comments to me while I cycle though.

As a thin person who could always eat as much as he wanted, I have overweight people tell me they are envious quite often.

Envious of the general physical results considering your eating habits, not just your physical state itself. Mind you too, most people will be complementary towards others in a civil conversation.

-Kurt