Cyclist hater living on Old La Honda (SF CA)
 

I was struggling up Old La Honda...the Bay area hill that everyone knows their time up (27 min). As I was riding, a young woman pulled up to me in a red truck with oversized wheels. She pulled within 1 foot of me and squeezed me by the road. At first she politely told me that Old La Honda was a road for residents only and that I was breaking the law by riding it. That's absurd, so I asked her if it was a state road, which she agreed it was but still claimed that I shouldn't ride on it and if I did again she'd call the cops. I encoraged her to call the cops now and to please leave me alone. She sped up and turned into (I assume) her driveway about 30 yards in front of me.

About 15 minutes later, I'm almost at the top when I hear a truck screaming up the road. I know it's her. She drives up to me, runs off the road just in front of me, running me off the road and nicking my arm with the mirror on her truck. This time she's got her boyfriend and they both yell at me for 5 minutes. I was pretty freaked out, and got my phone out and called 911. I tried to get the license plate number, but I was beside the truck and couldn't see it. After harrassing me for a few minutes, they sped off.

I did call the cops, waited an hour for them to show and showed them where she had pulled off the road the first time (where I presume she lives). I haven't heard back from him, but I have low expectations.

In any event I figured I'd warn anyone that rides in that area, and ask them to report any incident they have with this woman. She's young (18-25? I'm bad with ages), white, blonde hair and has a tongue ring. The truck is a bright red truck with oversized wheels. The license plate starts 6Z (didn't get much). She turned off about 1.3 miles from the base of OLH on the left side of the road, where I presume she lives.

Since so many cyclists ride that road, I'm sure someone else either has or will have an experience with her. Lets be sure to get the cops involved before she kills someone.

www.penbiped.org get with them and their associated lawyers RIGHT AWAY. Get the newspapers, TV, etc in on it too, since the Tour de France is running right now it should be a good public interest story. Get the ACLU in there too if you can (maybe she thinks the road isn't for black people or gays too etc.) and did you get the license number of the truck? Let's hope those folks have a really nice house up there, because they're going to lose it hopefully. The police can get something out of a truck description and even a partial plate.

Definately raise a giant stink, also if the Police haven't contacted you about pressing charges withing a few days, then raise a stink on them as well for derelection of duty, as they should be enforcing the law without bias.

This is nothing short of vehicular assault, followed with harassment. These two don't deserve a car, nor a clean record.

No one, after deliberately hitting me and then pulling over, would have the chance to yell at me for 5 minutes. Or 15 seconds. The only words out of my mouth would be "you ****ed up" as I unleashed a frenzy of animalistic thrashings.

Boydster, I hope you can get the cops to do something about this person, both for your sake and for other cyclists.

Anyone who intentionally threatens and then actually *hits* a cyclist is quite a menace. Since you know where she lives, what she looks like, and what her truck looks like, the cops have no excuse not to go have a little chat. If you can't get them to do it alone, hopefully some other bay area cyclists on BF can chime in to help you out.

Good luck, and I'm sorry about your experience.

psuedobrit - escalating a fight with someone who has a car and has demonstrated that they will use it as a weapon just me did not seem wise at the time. While this woman is clearly a nut and shouldn't be on the road, I think there is a lesson to never try to piss off someone in a car as it can only turn out badly for the cyclist.

lilHinault - thanks for the link, I'd never heard of the organization. I posted my incident. I wonder if they have a track record of being able to achieve any action against menace drivers or if they just make people feel like they're "doing" something.

I didn't hear back from the cop last night. I'll be following up with him today.

A very good point. Confrontation is unlikely to produce the desired result: it's you and your 20 lb vehicle vs. them and their multi-ton vehicle.

That's why I think it's so important that cops take these cases seriously. It's impossible to reason with nuts like the one you met in such unequal situations, but it's important that they are brought to justice. So you gotta get the police involved.

get a lawyer. if they actually contacted your body as you say, you may very well have a civil case against both of them. Even if they didn't it could be assault. Cops don't have to be involved to get justice.

27 min., not bad. If she's out for bike's, she's on the right road. Her trying to get bikes off "her" road is ludicrous. Notice she took you on when you were alone, not in a group. I'd like to see her try that on a the group of 20 that's usually resting at the top of the climb.

What's the address? We could mark the house with a big pile of garbage.

Not to change the subject, but what's the appeal of this hill? How come everybody wants to climb it? (I know--because it's there.) Is 27 minutes a good time for climbing it?

Wow! I thought redneck yahoos who harass cyclists all live down here in the South (North Carolina). You learn something new every day!

It is a damn fine challenge, and 27 minutes is a good time. The road provides access to other roads in the hills of that area, and is a leg of many training and touring loops in the area.

I'm sure there are some who would recommend finding another route, but if we keep abandoning streets because of motorists, eventually we will have none. Forcing local law enforcement and the DA to prosecute this is the best step toward stopping this kind of thing.

She is probably jealous of you. The red truck probably belongs to her boy friend, and my mother always said if you see a big red truck, you are probably looking at a guy with a pretty small, if it even exist, male organ. And seeing you ride up that hill, make her wish her boy friend was as well endowed as you are.

It's just the safest, most pleasant, low traffic way to ascend to Skyline Blvd. From there you can go out to the Pacific Coast, up or down the Penninsula on Skyline, etc. There are bigger climbs in the area, Page Mill, Kings Mtn. but Old LaHonda is better for non-hammerheads.

http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com/tunitasloop.htm

Dang, that is pretty lame of her. I will definitely keep an eye out next time I'm heading up OLH and pass on the license plate if I see it. I've had a couple of close calls on there, people squeezing by pretty closely, but never anything like you describe. That's outrageous.

I have been curious about that sign at the bottom "Local Traffic Only" or whatever it says: has anyone ever been hassled by actual law enforcement (not redneck residents!) about it, or know what the deal is there?

www.penbiped.org is a real ass-kickin' name takin' organization, I just read their latest newsletter "The Spinning Crank" and I'm going to join, have my app all filled out.

they're the people out there campaigning for bike paths, keeping bike access on roads, (turns out anything termed an Expressway can exclude bikes, the law allowing that was passed in the dead of night in the usual gov't skullduggery, read the latest Spinning Crank on this) and just seem to be some real can-do people. Heck yeah they deserve my $35 a year, the amount of knowledge in just one of the newsletters is amazing, and they have maps and suggested routes all over the place here, just what a commuting type rider needs.

'Local Traffic' simply means no cut-through traffic, either autos or commercial vehicles. If it was erected by the community, it is legally meaningless unless a DOT sticker appears on the reverse of the sign. It absolutely has no relevance to pedestrians or cyclists.

Kind of hard to say anything when the road you're on is actually Ca Hwy 84. It's a state highway. There's a lot of people in that area that think they own the place, and want to keep others out. Lots of animosity towards cyclists for riding on "their" roads.

Old La Honda is NOT Hwy 84. Hwy 84 is a couple of miles north. A few idiot drivers won't keep people from cycling Old La Honda.

I've heard that San Mateo county has a program to protect cyclists. Basically, if an incident like the one described above occurs and if you "properly" report it (I've no idea what "properly" means) a guy from Sheriff's office will pay a visit to the person who made an assault. If I'm not mistaken, second report may result in a big fine.

There was a guy on Purisima Creek Rd. who assualted cyclists on a regular basis (by riding on his truck in couple of inches). He was reported and now he is more than quite.