Smile and wave back. I suspect we underestimate how often motorists see us repeatedly out on the street. They'll probably see you out riding more than once, maybe many times. They'll quickly lose interest in their game.

I'm a big guy, too. I only got any taunting like that years ago, the first few weeks I was out. I was walking at that time instead of cycling. Two teenage hoodlums in a car even tried to startle me by brandishing a toy gun at me. Another guy pulled his car right in front of me and started witnessing his religion. But it all stopped. I don't know why it stopped. I can think of only two things. First, the effect of becoming a familiar sight in my part of town. Or second, maybe somehow in my first excursions a certain lack of confidence in being out there was showing through.

A few months ago I was cycling in a residential neighborhood. A guy in a battered old pickup started honking at me and he was hollering and gesturing wildly. As he passed me I could see & hear that he was cheering me up a little hill.