Originally Posted by
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.
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.