Sure beats being taxed to death or dying while waiting for mediocre medical care....But I digress.


Spitting is assault. Ever heard of Hepatitis? I can certainly understand the frustration and anger of almost being run into, but you cannot assault someone.

Next time, throw your bike at her car like critical mass ! LOL

Booger head.

Yeah, that's how I always respond when someone points out a logical fallacy in one of my arguments. Good work.

Now, now children, let's play nice . . .

Yes, not a rational response.

However, an understandable response.

I commend and thank Treespeed for sharing this experience, owning it, and exposing himself to criticism.
I have learned much from this whole discussion.

The typical American automobile and driver, taken together, strike me as "irrational."

1.2 Million people a year die in automobile accidents; mostly because of arrogance, convenience, laziness, ignorance, selfishness, inconsideration, egoism, and compensation for personal insecurity.

I think we perfectly imperfect bicyclists represent the standard of mental health, and not automobile drivers, even if we bicyclists do at times behave "irrationally."

It would surprise me if, given a few minutes and the intent, I couldn't get even someone as rational as BikinginSeattle to behave "irrationally" in the face of my self-important rudeness.

Yes, we all feel very rational and composed when seated at our computers, imagining someone else's situation and how we, with the luxury of hindsight-imagination, would have behaved so much better and more wisely.

Every time I ride my bike I do something "irrational," and from which I learn and grow as a person.

Personally, I find female relational aggressors (also known as bullies), who bank on my good behavior to protect them from the consequences of their own bad behavior, particularly enfuriating.

Many years ago, a friend got off a plane in a West Coast American city, having just returned from Vietnam.
As he left the debarkation area, a young woman spit on him and called him "baby killer."
To which he responded, "I don't know about any babies, Ma'am, but yesterday afternoon I killed a woman about your age."

Yeah, let's threaten people with death for spitting on us.

I guess we think alike then.

oh yeah, he's going to sit there with you and you gun waiting for the cops.

And if he walks away, then you'll shoot him? I thought guns were only for self-defense.... [ I had more to write, but I didn't want to digress this into an anti-gun thread]

If you carry it a step further...he just might pull his gun out at cyclists if they "take the lane".

And if you actually hit them with the spit, its battery.

comedy gold.. You have a subscription to this magazine dont you?

Wanted to say thanks for a very interesting and honest thread. Many of us run into situations like this when cycling. It has helped me to read and respond, and to reflect on how to handle these situations in the future. It is a challenge to find right ways of dealing with these things. I'm working on it myself.

One thing that has come to mind is the way people in the Civil Rights Movement during the '50s and '60s behaved in the face of hatred, abusiveness, violence, etc. Gandhi, Tolstoy, King, Thoreau all addressed this issue, and came up with ways of maintaining decency and dignity. (That seems to be one aspect of it... when I have behaved badly, part of the regret is that -- aside from mistreating another human being -- I lost my own dignity, or allowed myself to follow some line or some behavior pattern that is not one of decency.) I have great respect for the way many of those people in the Civil Rights Movement behaved. (And it isn't always easy.)(Maybe that's part of why it engenders respect....)

***
Next time, reach inside and take her keys!

Or you could climb aboard and make a citizen's arrest.

Here's one approach to it:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7LQ9L5f7iOE

You should have farted in her general direction. You can never go wrong with Monty Python insults.