Some people just love playing chicken. Perhaps an entitled assertive showing of their dominate ego. In cars. On bike. On foot. I get drivers doing it in cars all the time in my neighborhood. To the point I have to pull over almost completely into the shoulder/ravine/gutter and stop my car to avoid them heading on into me.

On my hybrid bicycle (giant escape) some years ago I Had a great encounter with a jogger on a dirt fire road . I'm cruising along on right hand side at 3 or 4 Mph in the Sandy rocky gravel path of about 16 feet wide. He's trotting along at 2 or 3 Mph. We see each other about 20 seconds before meeting. At this point the trail turn to heavier Sandy and craggy gravel with a small 1 foot shoulder that remains firm packed. I move over to my right and slow to 2mph. Inching along on what I judged to be the safest place for positioning myself for us to pass each other. He has 12feet wide of good pedestrian jogging road but as we get closer he also chooses this small shoulder (he's salmoning hard) aligning himself for a slow motion head on collision at 0.5mph. At this point we're making strong eye contact. I'm idling down my speed to an almost stand still. I think to myself surely with how slow I am going and far far over to the right I am surely he will side step around me being on foot - he has better traction and maneuverability than I do on a bike. He's super shredded wearing split shorts no shirt ..im thinking to myself he looks like he could handle a few steps on uneven road to keep us both cruising along on our merry ways. . But this did not happen and we collided into one another. He grabbed my handlebars and I put my feet down as we met. He's says whoa are you having a bad day? I keep my mouth shut and hop back on my bike and continue in my direction. . A learning lesson for me. Pedestrian privilege is rampant in some places. Probably some ego on my part but I reasoned in my head I was doing a safe and logical thing.. I quickly let it go and try to be more humble and accommodating in the future. My life may depend on it.

Don't ask me about the beach cruiser salmon ninjas. These people play chicken every day so they've become quite good at it. I could write a book on the so many encounters I've had with the oh so common fully-blacked-out-head-to- toe ninja black clothing and black bicycle commuters. In dark in daylight they're always there and you never know when they're going to strike. Stay aware. Your life may depend on it.