Advocacy & Safety - What's up with my ride through Orange County?

Took a good ride through Santa Ana & Orange today. Temps are in the upper 70s, skies so blue they look unreal.

Going through the barrios of Santa Ana one guy pulls out of a driveway in front of me, but when he sees me coming, he backs up to let me by. A semi driver leans out his window & says loudly and clearly "Thank you!" when I make room for him to make his right turn safely. Nobody cuts me off, nobody is crowding me, not even trying to pull an easy right hook.

I went through the traffic circle in Orange, all the drivers let me merge peacefully. No horn honks or screeching in the left turn lanes. Cruised through a college campus amidst the students- no hassles or weirdness from campus security.

What's going right out there? 40 miles of riding and not one bit of unpleasantness. My righteous indignation is growing stale. This has been happening a lot lately.

And then you woke up and it was time to commute into work.

That's insane. :O One time I stopped my bike and walked out onto the highway to remove a battery that fell out of a truck, and everyone honked and cheered for me because they could move again, except one guy who never saw the battery and thought I was causing the problem. He got out of his car and threw a bottle at me. And I don't even live in a rude area.

Santa Ana has a large sidewalk bicycling population and as such, most drivers there are empathetic because they have either been some kind of utility cyclist at some point, or have friends/neighbors/relatives who are or have been as well.

Video or it didn't happen.

Hep, I keep having the same problem.

Video or it didn't happen.
Isn't there some saying to the effect that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof?

This really doesn't surprise me a bit. I often ride many more miles than 40 between incidents involving a motorist. And it was always thus. However, many of the run-ins I do have with motorists are tantamount to assault on their part, so I do consider those incidents to be somewhat significant.

But I do know how to get harassed by a motorist if I want to. I could go out right now and ride up the main drag to State College which has very little traffic at this time of night. I guarantee you someone will intentionally come too close or honk obnoxiously to punish me for the temerity of riding legally and safely on that road.

Santa Ana has a large sidewalk bicycling population and as such, most drivers there are empathetic because they have either been some kind of utility cyclist at some point, or have friends/neighbors/relatives who are or have been as well.

Spot one. These are the folks who ride because they have too, not because they want to. Enough bike traffic to keep everyone on the alert. And not riding on the sidewalk is close to suicidal behavior on the older narrow street that are carrying far more traffic than they were designed for.

I would guess that I deal with bull**** drivers an average of maybe 3-5 days a month. Some months are worse. Some are better. It varies quite a bit. The large majority of days though, nobody endangers me and nobody harasses me. Most of the time it's no problem. My commute is almost 9 miles each way, I take the lane in a lot of spots each way, every day. Most drivers either get it or they have better things to do than harass a bicyclist. By using safe cycling techniques, I feel very safe in the road, even on Pacific Highway. I live in a place that has awesome weather 95% of the time. Riding a bike does not suck.

Spot one. These are the folks who ride because they have too, not because they want to. Enough bike traffic to keep everyone on the alert. And not riding on the sidewalk is close to suicidal behavior on the older narrow street that are carrying far more traffic than they were designed for.
North/South, I like using Main Street and being assertive about taking the lane in the narrow places. I rarely get anyone harshing on me on Main Street in Santa Ana, except near Vain Place Mall.

California is one of the best places for cyclists and pedestrians I have ever lived in. When I first moved there, I wondered what was going on because every time I even walked close to a pedestrian crosswalk, all traffic came to a stop. Now I live in Miami Florida, road rage capital of the US 2 years in a row. At least once a week I'm cut off, buzzed or screamed at "get the f-uck off the road."

Consider yourself lucky.

At least once a week I'm cut off, buzzed or screamed at "get the f-uck off the road"

You must have been riding in the park at Disneyland here because I get that^ at about the same frequency.

A few years ago we were visiting my MIL in Irvine and I took a nice ride out to the coast along the Back Bay. On the way back, I was stopped at a light on the PCH in Newport Beach (I think) and I asked this older lady in a MB convertible if this was the way back to Irvine.

Her: Irvine?!?! That's like TEN miles from here! You rode your bike from Irvine???
Me: Well, yes.
Her: Oh. My. God. That's so far! Do you want a ride? You could put your bike in the back and I can drive you.
Me: Uh, no thanks, I just wanted to know if this is where I turn.

She was nice, a little clueless and/or (now that I think about it) trying to pick up on me.

Rode up to OC this morning for lunch. The weather was beautiful.