Fissile

So, cyclists want to know why so many cagers hate cyclists, especially the neon clown suit wearing variety of cyclist?

I need to preface this story by telling you that I'm an avid cyclist, and have been for many years. I also always cut some slack to cyclist when I'm driving my car. In this particular case, I did NOTHING to provoke the the neon-clad ******-bag. Next time I have a run-in with one of these hyper aggressive morons, he's going to get punched in the face -- fellow cyclist or not.

Last week I was driving my Cadillac in Ridgewood, NJ. I was stopped at the light behind 5 or 6 other cars at the corner of Maple and Glen. Poser-****** dressed in black/neon-yellow clown suit on his unobtainium special was riding down Glen and tried to squeeze between the curb and my car, clipping my side view mirror with his handlebars. The polite thing to do would be stop and see if there were any damage and/or offer an apology. Nope. This ******-bag hammered through the red light and kept going.

I got out to check the mirror -- three inch scratch on the underside where it caught the handlebar.

The light turned green and I caught up to the ******* and slowed down along side. He was a scrawny middle-aged asswipe, who obviously has more money than brains. He refused to look at me and just kept staring straight ahead with an &sshole smirk on his face -- looked like he could have been George Bush's brother, just an overgrown frat-boy.

At this point I could have forced a confrontation, but since I was expected elsewhere, I let it go.

Folks, I've seen the raging &sshole-ism from both sides, as a cager and cyclist. You get NO SYMPATHY from me if you provoke a cager and end up getting your ass handed to you.

dobber

This screed brought to you by someone driving a Cadillac. Was it at least an Escalade?

unterhausen

what part of his handlebar could put a 3 inch scratch on the bottom side of a mirror? How would you do that without crashing? His bike control is so good, I don't think you could use the word "clown" in reference to him.

Oh, and this story is worthless without pics.

apricissimus 

Okay, so the guy hit your car. Shame on him.

The rest of the details you shared are immaterial and actually reflect badly on you and your prejudices.

Middle-aged? So what?

Scrawny? Is that a crime?

Fancy-schmancy bike? What's it to you?

Neon-clad? It's not up to you to decided what someone should be wearing. Mind your own business in that regard and don't worry so much about what other people are wearing. This is another case of the baffling "enraged by lycra" syndrome.

You come off looking worse than the cyclist here.

mandovoodoo

I'll have to agree. Jerk with poor impulse control. Behave rationally.

1. Call 911, report a hit and run. Stay in contact via cell phone. Follow.
2. Once police catch up with you, quickly brief them, exhibit damage, provide detailed description.
3. Continue to cooperate. Generally culprit chooses compensation rather than arrest.

Do not think that this doesn't work.

Threatening another with a deadly weapon is just plain stupid stupid stupid stupid.

If you can't handle a cyclist on the road politely I hate to think what you do to other motorists. Eventually one of them will hand you your ass.

Or come here now and I'll do it, on general principles. I imagine I'd get about 100000 BF regulars to help out.

Moron.

And this isn't that I approve of the idiot hitting your mirror, that's wrong, but you're 10,00000000000000000000000000000 times wronger, with some kind of personality disorder as well, the one that makes you want to confess to being a moron here.

Get a life.

-=(8)=-

Whats baffling about it ?
Arrogant roadies are our worst enemy in trying to get attain some sort of legitimacy
in an environment we share with hostile motorists.
A guy gets his car damaged by a roadie and people immediately rip the car owner...
Speaks volumes about this 'syndrome'.

unterhausen

mando, your post was going good until the line that starts with "or come here now"

Anyway, I hope the OP is out taking pics of his mirror. No pics, didn't happen.

First part of your post is pure nonsense. I've never met an arrogant roadie, and
they generally ride safely in my observation. Second part is probably justified, although
to me his story is only barely credible.

-=(8)=-

When you live in S.Fl and have attended meetings regarding cyclists and seen the
videos Ive seen or have followed a gang of them up A1A and they will not abide
by the law in relation to letting people pass, we can continue this conversation.
I hate cars, Im a flaming kommie liberal, but what I see and bothers me is what
the public sees and uses to judge all cyclists. Not all roadies are arrogant, not
all break laws and piss people off, but the ones that do create lots of negative
press. Read the comments at the end of any cycling/accident related newspaper
post that appears here. People hate us in large part due to their perception of
the roadie culture. Note the word ' perception'. Right or wrong thats the
impression that lingers.

tooljunkie2

+ 1

The OP sounds like a judgmental idiot. You talk about respect and how this guy has none because he didn't stop when he clipped your mirror, then you go and insult people based on their age, bodily stature and clothing. I don't really have much sympathy.

M_S

Someone hit our car while it was parked the other day and drove off. It's arrogant self-righteous fatso drivers chomping away on Big Macs that are the real problem these days. Next one I see I'm going to kick in the groin, that'll show 'em!

-=(8)=-

^^^^^^ This is the problem. In HUGE numbers, People just dont give 2 feces
about other people anymore. Its not a car vs. bike thing. Its humanity vs. people.
Humanity is losing.

TandemGeek

If you remove all of the emotion there's only bad actor in this story... and he was riding a bike.

Nothing else in the OPs post really matters or changes the facts:

1. The guy on the bike passed on the right to by-pass stopped cars which, in and of itself pisses off most motorists who'll just have to pass the cyclist. In some states, perhaps New Jersey, passing on the right is probably illegal unless there's a bike lane or some other provision for bikes in the Vehicle Codes.

2. He hit another vehicle which, however minor, is a collision particularly since it causes property damage and I suspect replacing or repainting a power mirror on any GM car is going to be more than $250 which means he probably is guilty of ht and run.

3. He went through a red light, which pisses off motorists and is illegal.

Y'all need to stop getting excited about the crap that doesn't matter and stick to the facts. That the OP drives a Caddy, lives in NJ, may be a type A personality, etc... is not relevant. Yeah, he could have called the police and probably should have. It doesn't change the point: Cyclists often times are their own worst enemies when it comes to cycling advocacy and sharing the road.

apricissimus 

Arrogance is bad. Fine... But my point was that so many people have this hair-trigger temper against people wearing lycra, never mind the fact that people wear it because they find it more comfortable than other clothes when cycling. They don't wear it as some kind of arrogant-roadie badge. And it's precisely when people generalize from the few arrogant roadies they've met to all people wearing lycra that they're being grossly unfair and prejudicial.

It's common among cyclists and non-cyclists alike to ridicule people for simply wearing lycra (dressing like a neon clown, as the OP says). And when they see people in lycra they often make unwarranted assumptions. It doesn't make any sense.

Fissile

10 year old STS, black, 4 corpse trunk capacity.

monk

You're a really angry person aren't you? You know what I think - - I don't think you're really a cyclist. I wonder if you're just using this forum to vent.

apricissimus 

You can always search for his posts on BF to find out.

Fissile

Not really a cyclist? I currently own 3 bicycles.

Have a look at my posts about hammock camping.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...452&highlight=

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...454&highlight=

Maybe you don't consider people who bike tour to be "real cyclists" because we're not dressing in a screaming neon clown suit.

Next twerp in a screaming neon clown suit that causes me trouble is going to end up in the trunk of that Caddy.

Cyclist0383

There certianly are some angry gems........

fordfasterr

Bad driver, don't hug the curb so much...

monk

Okay, NOW I get it. You're into touring and resent those that seem to be into cycling more for racing or fast weekend rides. I guess I'm closer to being one of the low-life, disgusting, middle-aged rich jerks in clown-like Lycra that you'd like to run over with your Cadillac. But, I can assure you that if I passed you on your loaded-down touring bike I wouldn't even THINK of running you down. I'd give you plenty of room, wave as I went by and probably wish I was riding with you.

I'm a cyclist. You're a cyclist. I'm done now.

EvilPhish

Even if it were so, he would still have a valid reason to be angry.

Fissile

I own:

A) Touring Bike

B) Beater Bike

c) ROAD BIKE

The road bike is used for FAST WEEKEND RIDES.

I also own, and use, TIGHTS. However, I don't have any neon colored tights festooned with sponser logos because NO ONE IS SPONSORING ME. No one is sponsering the neon-clad clowns I see every time I go for a ride either. Neon clowns who think they have a god given right to ride six abreast, blow through traffic lights and piss off cagers for no good reason.

trekker pete

Fissile,

Remember where you are. This is A&S land where all cars are evil. Why, how dare you be concerned that someone may have damaged your personal property, you capitalist pig, you.

You should have apologized to that poor cyclist who may need to retape his bars because you let your mirror get in his way. Should have been driving a much narrower prius.

One other thing. I like lycra. I won't ride a bike more than a few feet wearing anything other than cycling shorts. However, I too think that technicolor fake team cycling shirts tend to be filled by aholes. If you wanna be visible, get a reflective safety vest from harbor freight.

Yes, that is blatant stereotyping and I am sure there are plenty decent folks out there that wear the stuff.

monk

Calm down, Fissile. If it will make you feel better, go out and run down a neon-clad clown.

Fissile

The last time I did that, it took all afternoon to pick the bloody neon lycra out of the grill.