recursive

Today there was a big truck behind me coming up a really rather steep, albeit short hill. I was going anaerobic, but still only getting 13mph. The lane is narrow, so I was correctly positioned in the center. The truck honked at me, (I assume) although it was a 2-lane one way street. I didn't give any reaction at all. At the end of the block, we both turned on to a flatter road. He got stuck in traffic, and I continued past him in the now wide outer lane.

I love doing that.

anthropete

Awesome ... it sure does feel good to get back at 'em. Just be careful out there because there are a lot of crazies on the road. You never know which one might try and run you over.

Pete
https://www.viovio.com/anthropete

max-a-mill

yeah i have a love/hate relationship with these kinds of passes.

i LOVE leaving an angry motorist behind, but HATE the feeling that now some pissed off a-hole in a 3000 lb. battering ram is behind me.

i'll still pass most people, but lately i have been giving buses the right of way even if it means stopping or slowing down to stay behind them. those f@ckers are scary when they buzz you!!!!

phidauex

I had a couple guys in a van pass me in another lane (we were on a three lane road, near rush hour, super slow traffic), and shout, "You're causing a traffic jam!" when I was doing the 'pedal slowly then trackstand' thing to avoid hitting the car in front of me, and obviously NOT slowing traffic in any way shape or form. Unfortunately, they turned left before I could re-pass them.. Oooo, but I wanted to.

Its sweet stuff when you can get it. I like to wave happily at them when I pass.

peace,
sam

oboeguy

Somtimes, I'll take my time so I don't have to repass, because I'm worried about an additoinal buzzing/honking.

GreenFix

I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago. I was riding along at around 20 mph, on the white line, and I could hear an engine coming up close to me and backing off, coming close and backing off, etc. Finally the guy passes me yelling something I could not hear because his windows were up and his horn was on.

Half a mile later I came up behind the same car. He was stuck behind a backhoe heading to a construction site in town. Oddly enough he was going slower than he was when he was "stuck" behind me, and he was not impatient.

I passed both the car and the backhoe and did not see the guy again the rest of the morning. It may be petty, but I like little victories like that. I like to fool myself into thinking the driver will learn something from the morning and recognize bikes as a part of traffic just like the backhoe, the student driver, the octagenarian driver, and the school kids crossing the street he has to wait for every morning.

Longhorn

The only rude encounter I've had in my two months of commuting is when a huge diesel utility truck rode my wheel going around a curve. Had it been a smaller vehicle, it could have passed but it was too big to accelerate that quickly. I was going as fast as I could but it wasn't fast enough so the driver gives me a blast of it's air horn or whatever those loud, piercing horns are. I just kept pedaling and it finally passed me when the road straightened out. I'll bet he was slowed all of 15 seconds!

As I got a little further up the road, I had to smile because I saw another cyclist ahead of me. I don't know if the truck had to wait to get around him but it made me laugh that he at least had to acknowledge another cyclist on the road. And what really made my day is that a little further, a pickup truck pulled out to go the other way and as he slowly passed me, he tipped his cap at me!

Velo_Seth

I used to commute on a 2 lane highway that went for a long way (15 mi) without a stoplight. There was a good shoulder in most areas so I was rarely slowing any cars down. But every once in a while I would have to move into the lane when there was a guardrail and the shoulder would narrow, and sometimes a car would honk, or yell something out the window.

Well, at the end of this stretch there is a series of two intersections with stoplights that would back the traffic up to a dead crawl for about 1/2 mile to 1 mile every morning. I used to love coming up to the car that honked at me and stopping along side them and crawling along at thier <5mph speed for 30 seconds or so. It used to make them really uncomfortable. I never said anything and I didn't really look at the car, just looked ahead. I rarely got a second honk or yell. Then, when my whim was satisfied, I would take off and blow by the entire line of traffic. Petty, but it did feel good. People can be pretty tough if they think they won't have to see you a second time, but then they're usually chicken when they have to face you again.

-=(8)=-

I rarely get beeped or verbally assaulted because I always stay out of peoples way,
so when I do I always want to see who has a problem with me just out of curiosity.
When I get beside them they pretend like they are playing with the radio or looking
for something on the seat next to them. They will never look at me. Pretty funny...

Mr. Miskatonic

My favorite variation on this theme was on a two lane, one-way street. An SUV comes up behind me in the right lane and blasts the horn. Since there are two lanes, I ignore it. Finally the SUV driver guns it into the left lane, roars the engine while passing me, and dives back into the right lane.

Up ahead, the street crosses a street that is under construction. It is open, but the pavement has been scraped, and there are raised manholes and such.

SUV reaches this and slams to a near complete halt. Here's a vehicle sold for its ruggedness and ability to ride off road with 3.4 cowboys in the passenger seats, and this driver just came to a near complete halt because of a 1" drop and some grooves.

Meanwhile I see this coming up. I slip into the left lane, raise my butt up a bit, and drive right through the scraped pavement. No worries. I would have smiled at the SUV driver now tentatively driving through the construction as if it were a minefield, but it was tough enough to ride through the stuff that it would not have been safe. I stettled for wiggling my butt at him/her as I hopped the end of the construction lip, moved into the right lane, and continued on my merry way. I think the SUV was still picking its way through the construction by the time I reached the next light and made my turn.

recursive

You stay out of peoples' way? How do you do that? There seems to be an implication here that bikes should not use the road or something. It's not really possible for anyone to use the road and not be "in the way". The road is "the way" actually. Cars are in the way. Bikes are in the way. We're all in the way.

But I agree. Motorists act like they are anonymous because they are in a metal box. They don't expect you to be able to keep up. Just like they were on an internet forum, they act tough until they realize you're still there.

oboeguy

:sniff: It's just so beautiful... :sniff:




Oh I forgot to mention earlier that this morning I was buzzed... by a roadie! I don't want an accident so I'm pretty cautious at hot spots on the Hudson Greenway (MUP) where trucks, taxis, peds etc can cross, or I know there's some trickey terrain ahead (e.g. temp. barriers). Some other Greenway users don't seem to care. I was starting to get back up to speed after a cautious slowdown when wordlessly a roadie buzzes me on the left. What if I were to situp to stretch or heck, swerve a little like a no0b? Chump (note: I am a roadie on weekends so it's not like I'm simply dissing them).

genec

My favorite thing to do is to just keep coming up behind them at stoplights and stretch and make lots of movement behind them... they know I am still there... Their whole effort of passing in a huff has bought them nothing.

-=(8)=-

I dont have it in me, or want to get into the obligatory unpleasantness
that eventually these threads digress into. But here in Pa, where I ride it is
a somewhat hostile atmosphere toward anything that holds a car up.
Despite what laws are, or share the road, or what we feel we are entitled to
if you take advantage of these philosophies or vehicular cycling
your ride is going to be made unpleasant by a car at some point. I am a non-
antogonistical person who goes out of my way to not be in a cars way and I have no
problem with that because I quite enjoy my rides. I have come to a technique that makes
my riding pleasant and cars most often are not held up by me. Often that 'technique'
has me stopping or moving over when someone else wouldnt. Im OK with this.
The person who might assault me otherwise is OK with this. So all is good.
I have to wonder if these threads turn ugly due to the difference in attitide geographicaly.
Ive never been to Oregon but one of my best friends says Eugene is a very bike friendly
city. Can someone from a 'bike friendly' region comprehend the out-and-out
hostility shown to cyclists in Philly or some of the more angry redneck areas of SE-Pa ?
Maybe, maybe not. But I am still going to stay out of peoples way for my own safety
and riding happiness.

Paul L.

[QUOTE=oboeguy] was starting to get back up to speed after a cautious slowdown when wordlessly a roadie buzzes me on the left. What if I were to situp to stretch or heck, swerve a little like a no0b? Chump (note: I am a roadie on weekends so it's not like I'm simply dissing them).[/QUOTE

I find more people swerve left in front of me when I say something than people who stretch all of a sudden. Perhaps he didn't want to startle you before he passed. That being said I did say good morning to the person I passed this morning on my way into work but I had plenty of room for him to swerve as we were riding on the road and I was in the passing in the normal lane and he was in the bike lane.