I’m a 31 year old bicycle noob, who just got into the sport at the recommendation of his doctor. I live in the city of San Ramon, CA and we have brand new roads, with wide bikes lanes and sidewalk. It was typical Friday ride towards Mt. Diablo at 4PM in the afternoon, but on the way an event occurred which irked my patience.

As I was pedaling and keeping my attention to the cars coming behind me, couple of juveniles were walking towards me on the sidewalk to my right. As I passed them, one of the boys suddenly screamed at me so that I would get startled, and he partially succeeded. My handlebars twitched a bit, but I was able to hold my bike steady. Just another prank. Boys will be Boys, right? Well, not today. I coasted for a brief moment hesitating, then gripped the brakes and brought the bike to a stop. After dismounting, I dropped the bike on the bush, separating the bike lane and the sidewalk, and started the chase after the two boys. The clipless shoes made me slip, but thanks to the recessed MTB style, I was able chase them down at full speed. The kid who screamed at me was wearing red shirt and a dark hat, and his friend had a long blonde curly hair. Neither noticed that I was running towards them until too late. When I was less than ten feet away, they turned around and shrieked “Oh F**k!” They both started to run and my testosterone shot up through my helmet.

“You F**k heads!” I yelled as I caught up to them. I consider myself a mild manner person but my adrenaline was pumping and revenge was written all over my forehead. Actually, a similar incident occurred during my first month of cycling. The offenders were in a car and it really shook me up when they yelled, because I was just getting used to the bike after 15 years off the saddle. Today, I had a chance to confront the offenders.

The boy with red-shirt was able to climb a hill and avoid capture, but the blonde boy was not so lucky. He stumbled and I was able to grab onto the back of his shirt.

“I didn’t do it, it was him!” blonde boy tried to reason by pointing to his red shirt friend. He was almost pissing in his pants.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” The boy with red shirt exclaimed, standing few feet up the hill.

“You little $hit, get your @ss down here!” I yelled. I’m a father of two, and I was in disbelief that I was doing this with these kids.

“I’m going to call the police.” Red shirt boy cried out. How ridiculous I thought.

“Go ahead, do it! Do it! Call the police now!” I yelled from top of my lungs.

The red shirt boy pulled out his cellphone and had it against his ear. I actually did want the police to come but I knew it was his feeble attempt to shoo me away. I turned around to the blonde hair boy and tried to calm my self down.

“You think that’s funny?” I asked. “What if I lost control and fell? What if I got hit by a car?”

“I’m sorry. It was him, not me. Please let me go.” The blonde hair boy was still trying to sell out his friend.

“Don’t do that again, ok?” My yelling had stopped at this point.

I was tense and upset, but I let the boy go. I turned around and trudged my way back to my bike. I could hear the two giggling and cussing as I made my way back.

This is my first year starting serious road biking and it’s already the second incident. I already have enough things to worry about as a cyclist, passing cars, road kill, loose gravel, storm drains, those recessed PG&E covers, and now this? Was I overreacting? Have you experienced similar incidents? What would you have done/did? Should I not ride unless I’m in a peloton of 5 people or more? Do I need to take up less vulnerable sports which doesn’t require lycra shorts? Tennis anyone?

Please feel free to make any comments. I know such incident will continue to occur in the future.


At least one another individual had a run-in:
bikenoob

Thank you