Greg M

Ride in this morning was great. Warm at 52 degrees, light traffic, and legs felt great. Sprinted for 4 lights and
only hit 3 red out of 20 or so. One of these days I'll count. Ride home was 61 degrees , overcast, with an occasional sprinkle. Now 7 miles of my 12 mile commute is on a road that is 3 lanes either direction with no shoulder and mostly 30 mph speed limit.
At one point I hear repeated honking behind so I wave. Then as the mini-van passes I hear a woman yell
a##hole. So I call out "thankyou , have a nice day". Guess she had to get home for the trick or treaters. About
a 1/2 mile down the road I get buzzed. If I had stuck out my elbow I probably would have made contact with the mirror. Pulled up at the next light and the guy rolls down the window and proceeds to tell me how I should
be on the sidewalk if I don't want to get hurt. Again I said " thanks, I'll remember that".
Got home and my wife asked how my ride was. I said great, a little warm , and I got to converse with 2 beacons of society. Really, thats my story and I sticking to it.

Giant Doofus

Some days I think that being crammed into a little metal box must make people cranky. I know I'm cranky when I have to drive in.

dbikingman

A few weeks ago, I had a pickup acclerate to make a left turn infront of me. I was on the left side of the road because it was a one way with three lanes and I had to make a left. I had to slow and adjust my path slightly, it wasn't a real close call, just unnecessary. Then I heard a horn honking behind me a couple of times. I thought, I didn't cut into traffic, what's the deal. As the car went by me I looked at the driver, he appeared to 20ish. He smiled and waived. Then it occurred to me he was honking at me, he was honking FOR me at the other driver.

That made my day.

Ridefreemc

I too had a lovely ride home - even after 3 similar incidents. First was a truck pulling out from a parking lot, seeing me (looking me right in the eye) and then pulling all the way out while I said "thank you, just take your time" (I was close enough for him to hear me without raising my voice). Second, coming to a stop sign after one car rushed ahead and squeezed in - okay that was debatable, but it was the second car that actually accelerated but could not get in front of me so went into the left turn lane at the stop sign only to pull out ahead of me and go straight. Get this, not 300 feet down the road did she turn into her condo. Lastly, coming to another stop sign and another dude tries to join me in his car at the intersection. I turned around and asked "where the h*** do you think you are going?" He stopped and waited until I cleared the sign.

I'm off work for three days, it was a beautiful day, and I just love riding my bike.

turky lurkey

Awesome! Way to maintain a positive attitude. I have to admit I can get a little bummed when rude drivers are obnoxious. Yesterday a guy in a lifted truck slowed down to yell get the f off the road, for no apparent reason. A couple days ago some fool sped around me in the middle of a four way intersection blasting his horn, funny thing is he was parked behind me at the light for a few minutes before the green and I was accelerating pretty quickly across the intersection (I always do so that I can get across and move over so as not to inconvenience traffic much), so I'm guessing he was getting furious the whole time he was behind me at the red light simply because I was on a bicycle. Of course he was to much of a coward to do or say anything until he could speed away. The other thing that happens all the time that is irritating is when drivers speed around me right before a stop sign (usually its on a side street or in a parking lot where I am actually maintaining the speed limit) and then they slam on their brakes right in front of me. Oh well, I'm going to try and learn from your attitude! Today the only issue was a nasty headwind on the way home, but I'll take inclement weather any day over rude people.

PatrickGSR94

Curious, what position were you taking in the lane when you got buzzed? Were you over towards the right, the middle, or farther left?

I routinely ride a 5-lane 40 MPH road for part of my commute home, riding big in the center of the right lane, and I pretty much never get buzzed.

Axiom

52 is warm?!

daihard 

Honestly, you're an inspiration. I try to do something like that when someone gives me crap, but I still end up getting angry. I have a lot to learn.

You're spoilt...

arex

...compared to zero, yes.

Axiom

yikes!

Artkansas 

57 is just about ideal. 52 isn't that much cooler.

Astrozombie

52 and I need my heavy duty "woolies"....


You are a better person than I........from the drive-by verbage i've gotten just as a pedestrian, when i'm on a bike i have to count to 10 before i explode....."Eat a bag of ****!"
And just today while walking, as i got a green light to cross a COP car made a right turn right as i was stepping off.........yeeesh! But i bet plenty of people have gotten "jaywalking" tickets for taking a green light that didn't have the "walk" sign...

mrodgers

52 is still 2° above the cutoff point for shorts and a t-shirt for me. About 48° is uncomfortable either way, shorts/t-shirt or something long sleeved and long legged.

RaveLeTour

Its called the box theorm. Very simple, the longer you are in a box, the crankier you get. This is why people that drive your stereotypical sedan and work in your sterotypical cubical (CPAs, Paralegals, the lady that can't be bothered at the Flash Mart) are cranky and eventually end up in AA meetings or on the ledge of national monument.

Notgrownup

Funny when you see these A$$wipes in a store or somewhere and you ask them about this behaviour they shrivel up and look like they can cry...I did it one time to a kid...I am 6'1" 275lbs at the time... They cut me off on my Harley and gave me the finger...Next day we were at the Gas station together and asked him why he did it...Funny...I told him i should call his Mama and get her to take the truck away...

ItsJustMe

This time of year, yes. I MIGHT have some thin tights on, but probably not if it's sunny, just shorts.

jrickards

These days, I'm liking sub-freezing temps to keep me cool (of course I'm dressed in tights, decent gloves, booties, skull cap and a windproof jacket). Feeling warm inside with cool air on my face is really nice.

jrickards

You are much better at reacting than I am, I barely can think about yelling, "Hey", let alone stringing a few words together.

I've been getting honks from an oncoming driver over the past 3-4 weeks but they are quick, short, light honks as in a greeting (or perhaps a "I wish I could ride my bike as well as you can"). That's nice to hear.

BobbyG

This summer, I was riding home a little later than usual, going down a longish residential street and an old Corolla with two young men and two young women rolled up next to me. "Hey, I like your bike!" one of them shouted. Well, I usually have a non-engagement policy, because people can be crazy and looking for an excuse. Just then another car flew through a stop sign and came shooting out of a side-street right towards us. I honked my Air-Zound horn and the car from the side slammed on its brakes. The teenage car erupted in cheers and thumbs up. Then the driver honked "shave and a haircut" and I honked the "2-bits" part. They did it again and so did I. The third time, I rang my bell. They thought that was the bomb! Then they did the head-nod, and I did the arm flow thing like the Ham-Stars in the Kia commercial. They wished me a good ride and took off. That made up for scores of rude comments and behavior.

I guess I'm getting older, but I engage less. So when some yahoo exhibits anger towards me or threatens me, if it seems like a real threat I grab my phone from its holster, and hold it up. Otherwise I just imagine what kind of hell this hot-head's life must be descending into because of their anger, and then I go on.

Greg M

Yeah 50 is the cut off for shorts for me also. I'm liking the 40's lately cause I don't have a shower at work and I don't get too sweaty. I should have mentioned my route has a lot of traffic and these occurrences are quite frequent. Only yesterday for some reason I decided that someone else's bad mood or ignorance was not going to ruin the 2 best times of my work day. There have been times I've let loose a few expletives. As for the whole cubicle, metal box idea, I guess I'm lucky being a welder and working outside 90 percent of the time year round. Oh and working around moving trains, so cars really don't scare me, too much.

mstraus

Great attitude and way to throw back a polite answer at them. Its amazing how that kind of response can hit some folks who expect you to be a jerk back. I wish I could remember to do that - I usually get to angry when someone is a jerk...need to keep calm.

I consider myself lucky that my commute is in an area that is very used to bikes on the road, so people tend to be more aware and more curious. You still get some clueless people not paying attention and the occasional jerk yelling at you unfortunately.

Last time I got yelled at it was for "not peddling" fast enough by a car that wanted to go faster and couldn't easily pass me. I was costing along for a bit with the speed from my decent, going about 20mph in a 25, in towards the middle of the narrow lane (there is a middle "lane" that cars often use to pass), and going about the same speed as the car that was about 200 feet in front of me. He yelled at my while passing me. Less then quarter mile later I passed him back when the bike lane started and he was stuck behind cars at a light that were slow to move when it changed. I wanted to yell at him, but didn't. Never saw him again as he was behind me for a bit and then turned off.

RubeRad

I must be lucky, or suburban SoCal is just a better environment for bike commuting than the NE, Midwest, and South. I've been commuting full-time all year, and only had two encounters where drivers spoke to me (one screamed, one sternly warned), and in both cases, I had done something stupid that I regretted, and wish I had the presence of mind to apologize for before they drove off.

PatrickGSR94

I want an Airzound so I can just blast it instead of blasting my voice or shaking my fist or whatever.

turky lurkey

The thing is, those very drivers who screamed at you, or warned you, also occasionally(or often) do stupid things on the road themselves, intentionally and/or accidentally. We all make mistakes. The difference is that they probably wont be screamed at or threatened (maybe honked at), because they are inside the safety of their car. Its not an even playing field. I'd be willing to bet most of the drivers who have unrealistic expectations regarding cyclist behavior and are verbal bullies are overly aggressive, selfish and all around poor drivers themselves; and they would never consider apologizing for any of it.

I agree though in that we need to be super careful and learn from mistakes, and yes maybe even apologize if necessary (not because we are bullied into it of course). A little bit of a guilty feeling after making a dumb move is probably good, one mistake could have terrible consequences.

spivonious

Wow, I would have had a serious conversation with them. I find that most people become very apologetic when they realize that you're a person and not just a faceless cyclist. Definitely don't yell though; just regular speaking level.