If I were her, I would have gotten the rude cyclists to help me move the car. If they've already gone out of their way to command her to move it, they can't really refuse to help push.
EDIT: By the way, Dave, if the forum software allows it you might want to clarify your thread title (the "Some cyclists don't know their role" part). After reading your post, I understand that you mean "their role in escalating the situation", but when I first saw the thread title I read it more as "damned uppity cyclists don't know their place" and (wrongly) thought you were going to be an idiot.
