Originally Posted by
DBrown9383
I guess it's not "cool" to ride a bike in the eyes of some. I need a good come back line for when it happens again. I can handle myself just fine if they stop for a confrontation but if they have guns and/or knives it's just not worth it. I'm going to start shouting at rednecks in pick ups just to balance things out a little.
I take just the opposite approach. While it may make me feel better to flip them off, I try to think of the next rider they encounter. If they don't get a reaction they expect, they might realize it is not worth their energy. Most of the time I can not really tell what was said anyway, and I just give them the benefit of the doubt. However, when it does happen, it is usually a 17-25 year old boy/man in black pickup truck.
I don't know how you define "redneck", but the few encounters I've had were from just plain rude, immature people. I agree with VNA's post:
They are not "RedNecks" they are usually disrespectful intolerant, aggressive, ignorant people/drivers.
Many "RedNecks" are impressed by our sport!
Actually, I find that most drivers, 99.9%, are courteous, give us a lot of space, even stop and ask us if we need assistance when standing on the side of the road looking at a map. The loop through Michigan that I was talking about in an earlier post was 1000 miles long, including riding through Detroit. We did not have one incident similar to what you described.