Last night, while riding home passing through a major intersection, lots of people standing on the curb waiting to cross the street. It's green for me so I shoot through there. As i'm rolling through, a hoodlum type guy steps off the curb in my general direction.

At this point, I'm thinking "ok.. wtf's this guy up to?" put my hands over my brakes and get ready for anything unexpected. As I get closer, he takes another step and comes within a foot of me (I was probably going about 15-20mph and not slowing or swerving) At the last second he kinda makes a jumping back action while I hit the brakes cuz I have no idea what this joker's got in mind, and goes "Whoaaaa there buddy! Whatchoo tryin' to do!"... Obviously just showin' off for his two fellow hood rats. I just keep going, but it really pissed me off. As if I don't have enough to think about with cars around. I think pedestrians are more of a danger..

so just after all this, I look to my left and there's a police cruiser.. minding his own business..

Peds stepping cluelessly off the curb = take evasive action
Peds intentionally stepping into your path = drop a shoulder and drop the hammer

You didn't ring a bell or communicate to the hoodlum at all as you were approaching?

No, I saw him with his buddies, he had a drink in his hand and I saw him look directly at me before he stepped down so I already had an 'idea' of what he was doing (showing off). I did move to the left a little, while getting my body ready for whatever happened, whether that might be me crashing into him, or swerving... I was nearing the end of my long ride home and was too tired to do more than that. Even if i'd had a bell, I don't think it would've made a difference, he was just being a dick..

Very possible that he didn't even see you. Many peds have a weird selective blindness that allows them to only see cars.

+1 on taking his ass out!

Jerry

This is what a Samurai sword is for. At fifteen miles per hour you should be able to cut somebody right in half.

i've been in a similar position before, and yes it gets very annoying.

The worst thing is when they are in a car, and just trying to drag you, or bump you off the road for fun.

by the time you stop, and call police they are long gone, so i don't even bother anymore.

now i just quickly jump up t the sidewalk / grass area and continue riding my way, and go back to the road, when those punks decides to leave.

Or a Ulock hanging 90 degrees to the side...would hit him in just the right spot

I agree with the OP that he was being a show-off schmuck. Carry a chain whip with an extra long chain ur a heavy U-lock for these eventualities.

bf

+1 It's a game of chicken that I guarantee the cyclist will win every time. You might take some collateral damage if the peds is dumb, but you'll still win.

perfect time to empty out the water bottle as well, not to mention it'll get his friends to laugh at him for being so stupid, or if you use cheap bottles throw it at him, it'll show him what it's like to have a bottle thrown at you, assuming he's done similar to a cyclist.

I would never hit someone intentionally because they appeared to be trying to block my way, too many things could go wrong as a result. Usually I either slow down or speed up, check behind me for traffic, and veer around them. Stealth ghetto sprints are a good form of commuter workout, and should be implemented into your urban training regimen.

Is the shoulder drop really a good idea? Last time I bumped into a ped was on the Brooklyn Bridge. She stepped right into my path, my left shoulder hit her and I went over the bars.

Of course, I was trying to avoid her. But in the future, what should I do to best protect myself? Since I know I'm going down regardless, should I lean in and bump the person?

I was thinking....if I ever have to collide with a pedestrian again, I think the best course of action would be to use both hands and grab them along for the fall. This way, there will be some cushion. Or maybe not.

What do you guys think is the best way to collide with a pedistrian so that you're protected as much as you can?

+1 .. May be slow down a little bit to make the cut more painful

I had a little kid yesterday about 4yrs old shoot a rubberband at me. Not kidding, he really did.

After I got home, I thought it might've been funny to take his cup out of his hand as I passed, marathon style..

coulda been worse

Air Zound. It is so loud it will scare the crap out of any ped and make them jump back. They never expect to hear that much volume from a bike.

I weigh 250 pounds, so I'm pretty well going to freight train anything that gets in my way. I don't go looking to plow through crowds, but here's a situation from a couple years ago:

I was heading in to work along the MUP, lights all blazing, and there was a group of runners coming the opposite direction. Lead runner wearing a hi-viz vest and carrying a glowstick. Two runners behind him with some sort of active light-up armbands. Ninja in last position, and I had no idea he was there until he decides to do a sidestep from the line, right into my path while we're at a narrow section of the path. (under an overpass, so on my right side is a retaining wall and the other side of the trail has a guard rail to keep people from falling into the Sammamish River.) Zero time to react, and I completely trucked this guy at about 15mph. 280 pounds of cyclist/bike at 15mph vs. well under 200 pounds of runner at 6mph. Take a guess who didn't hit the ground?

U-lock to the face! no, not really.

I live in college town where everyone just steps off the curb no matter what kind of traffic is coming, so i'm pretty used to it. In traffic i always cover the rear brake, and i'm on a flat bar so the front one is easy to get to if i need it.

And watch it be white-hot coffee, a la Seinfeld.

Out of all the suggestions here I find the AirZound one most appealing.

The problem with escalating the issue is that you're could be in for unforseen physical consequences.

AirZound will just startle the guy (probably almost to death) without you having to touch him.

At one time I was confronted, or almost confronted, by wannabe thugs. I was stopped at a red light and they began approaching me, and instantly my thoughts turned to fight or flight. I rationalized that by bike I could move a heck of a lot faster than them, and well, with two of them and one of me, it was a no brainer. Apparently it was just a game of chicken, because at a certain point he stopped coming toward me - he was just trying to illicit a response and I do my best not to give into that but also know my limits and I was willing to blow the red to save my skin if necessary.

Long story short - there's no one response to how it can work. I do know that being hit by a bike hurts - danged bikers on campus don't always pay attention. I also know that ramming someone hurts too - and sometimes its you who winds up going over the bars and sliding on your helmet. So its a judgement call - but I definitely think something small and innocuous would be the best compromise. I like the water bottle idea, but well, that could very easily escalate the situation to something much worse.

Heck, even as a cyclist it scared the crap out of me. Just fooling around with one in the store, showing it to a friend. I had no idea it was charged up as a store demo model that they innocently stuffed back into the box on the shelf. Nearly crapped my pants, and had my ears ringing for a few minutes. A bell is useful for the clueless person, the airzound will wake the dead and quite possibly scare the living to death (creating an interesting paradox...).

I run into more times where the light is green and there are cars/bikes waiting with 50 people in the crosswalk. And that's not an exaggeration. On campus, I just assume that everyone is ready to leap off the curb and into my path completely oblivious to what's going on around them because... well... they do! Its conditioned me for the rest of my commute. Cover the brakes, be ready to either crank it or to slam on the brakes.

I could forgive a four-year-old as long as they had a parent nearby that followed up the incident with a very stern lecture and an order to apologize.... but I somehow doubt that happened. With a child that young, I blame the parents, not the kid. Actually, even when they are older, I still blame the parents.