Senior Member
... are hell bent cyclist hating idiots. Perhaps.
I had a previous experience a while back, well over a year ago, where I almost got hit by a car at night. The car was taking a left turn at an intersection while traveling at a high velocity (did not slow down to take the turn), while I was proceeding straight ahead in the opposing lane of traffic. The driver apparently did not see me although I had a front light. After the driver noticed me at the last second and successfully avoided hitting me, the young, drunk-punk passengers instantly burst out into loud laughter as though it would have been funny had they hit me. This experience became engrained in my mind. Fast forward to today, I am barreling up a hill on the way home from work, and apparently a few cars collected behind me since they couldn't pass me because I was taking up the road for a part of the way. I must have had a tailwind or something, because that was the fastest I've ever seen myself go up that hill. Finally, I reach a part where there are no parked cars to the side of the road, so I move to the far right and the first car behind me passes me. As the car passes me I notice a bunch of young college students and the one sitting in the front passenger seat sticks his arm out the window with a clenched fist, and after a second or so, I see a finger protrude from the fist. Well what else could that have been but the bird? My instincts tell me instantly these are some young punks who must have been pissed off that they were stuck behind me for a short distance. The rage I felt from the prior experience carried over to this instance, and fueled by adrenaline from the hill, I barrel over to the car as it is stopped at the stop sign and scream into the passenger window "What was that mother*******?" The dude was awestruck and confused and with his tail between his legs said, "I was just saying what's-up." After the reply, especially in the manner in which he said it, I instantly got the impression that I must have been completely mistaken. I took a right at that intersection and that car continued straight, so nothing resulted from that. All the passengers in the vehicle must have been looking around with strange expressions wondering what the hell that was all about. Although the passenger could have very well have been attempting to cover his tracks and avoid a confrontation by denying the derogatory innuendo, I still feel like the idiot for using inappropriate language, and wonder whether that indeed was the bird or not. I suppose I should have just have let it go.
I had a previous experience a while back, well over a year ago, where I almost got hit by a car at night. The car was taking a left turn at an intersection while traveling at a high velocity (did not slow down to take the turn), while I was proceeding straight ahead in the opposing lane of traffic. The driver apparently did not see me although I had a front light. After the driver noticed me at the last second and successfully avoided hitting me, the young, drunk-punk passengers instantly burst out into loud laughter as though it would have been funny had they hit me. This experience became engrained in my mind. Fast forward to today, I am barreling up a hill on the way home from work, and apparently a few cars collected behind me since they couldn't pass me because I was taking up the road for a part of the way. I must have had a tailwind or something, because that was the fastest I've ever seen myself go up that hill. Finally, I reach a part where there are no parked cars to the side of the road, so I move to the far right and the first car behind me passes me. As the car passes me I notice a bunch of young college students and the one sitting in the front passenger seat sticks his arm out the window with a clenched fist, and after a second or so, I see a finger protrude from the fist. Well what else could that have been but the bird? My instincts tell me instantly these are some young punks who must have been pissed off that they were stuck behind me for a short distance. The rage I felt from the prior experience carried over to this instance, and fueled by adrenaline from the hill, I barrel over to the car as it is stopped at the stop sign and scream into the passenger window "What was that mother*******?" The dude was awestruck and confused and with his tail between his legs said, "I was just saying what's-up." After the reply, especially in the manner in which he said it, I instantly got the impression that I must have been completely mistaken. I took a right at that intersection and that car continued straight, so nothing resulted from that. All the passengers in the vehicle must have been looking around with strange expressions wondering what the hell that was all about. Although the passenger could have very well have been attempting to cover his tracks and avoid a confrontation by denying the derogatory innuendo, I still feel like the idiot for using inappropriate language, and wonder whether that indeed was the bird or not. I suppose I should have just have let it go.
