Powerarranger

What gives? Normally, drivers on my commute route are quite well behaved - even courteous. Today, I got honked at, yelled at, buzzed - WTF? Is it because today is Labor Day? I have no clue. I'm not doing or wearing anything different from the usual - plain ol' T-shirt over black riding shorts & sneakers.

My apologies to those drivers I 'inconvenienced' - yes, I had to work today because I'm on a deadline. I'm sorry I held you up for FIVE SECONDS on your way to your BARBECUE or the MALL or whereverthehell you were in such a hurry to get to. I hope you choke on a chicken bone.

I sure hope that today was the exception and that tomorrow things will be back to normal. Yikes.

Anybody else have similar experiences today?

genec

"Weekend drivers."

Powerarranger

Ya think? I take weekend rides and rarely have a problem...

ilmooz

Yes. I darn near choked on a chicken bone myself.

coldfeet

Maybe they've all been drinking all weekend, and now are suffering from the come-down? And are ticked they have to work tomorrow?

DataJunkie

It's national measure the size of your weenie day. They are all annoyed with the results.

DanBraden

Whose weenie will we be measuring, and is there ANY way I can get in the queue?

sinclac

Out for a 40 mile ride today come up to a stop sign stop then go, some azzhat in a dodge pu comes up and rolls thru then yells at me cuz I'm in the intersection. Go figure.

DataJunkie

fify


There you go. I'm not measuring anyone's weenie but my own. I am strictly on bra inspection duty.

eshvanu

Fooled you! I'm not wearing a diaper

Hope tomorrow's commute goes better for you.

DanBraden

Hmm, well I don't like THAT idea, I was hoping I could be measured by a whole procession of interested parties, starting with Junkie. It's clear this has all been a misunderstanding

DataJunkie

lol

huhenio

"I am in my car!"

"I am invincible"

huhenio

JahJahwarrior

I've ridden 100 miles this week, without issue. The week before, a similar schedule but only about 60 miles, and the only issue was one driver, in an intersection where I had right of way, in the rain. He honked, but didn't come close to me.

Today, within 5 minutes of beginning my commute, a driver tried to pass me in a no passing zone, while I was attempting to turn left. Almost creamed me! Driver had a dog in her lap...what the heck?

Then, 20 minutes later, I'm crossing the opening of a neighborhood going about 20mph, when a car pulls out from there. I watched him pulling up to the stop sign, and he didn't stop at the bar. He slowed down a bit, but only AFTER crossing the line, just as his nose got even with the bike lane. I slammed on my brakes and swerved out just a tad, but he, not looking, continued to pull out, and bumped my leg. Fortunately, he wasn't moving fast enough, and I'd swerved enough, that he didn't hurt me at all. He looked up at that point, and our eyes met, and I pedaled away. Scared me pretty badly, when I got off my bike at my destination a few minutes later, I had to sit down, my legs were shaking too much.

So I agree, something different today about cagers.

On the other hand, this was the first day this week that no pedestrians have been an issue on the stretch I ride on the sidewalk. Earlier this week, all sorts of groups taking up the entire sidewalk, or people walking dogs. Yesterday, two kids on bmx bikes going the opposite way tried to play chicken with me. Today, while the cagers were busy trying to kill me, I only passed a few people on the sidewalk, and those with dogs quickly and politely reined them in. Odd.

ok_commuter

I did a group ride today and we saw a couple of real boneheaded plays by cagers. Not hostile mind you, just stupid and fairly dangerous, for us anyway. I vote drinking.

Mitchxout

I was told we're in the midst of a Mercury Retrograde. This boils down to astrology but I thought it was interesting, nonetheless.

Powerarranger

Yep, I'm thinkin' it's the drinkin'. I went out in my car along part of the same route later - oh, they're out today. In droves. I guess I was out riding amongst angry drunks. At least that might explain the sudden hostility.

DJ, you handle the bra inspection - I'll take care of what's inside.

bsenka

I find the drivers get progressively worse as time goes by. Each week I have more close calls and yelling yahoos than the last. I'm pretty much ready to mount a slingshot on my handlebars.

tatfiend 

Rocket launchers like James Bond had mounted on a motorcycle fairing in one of the early Bon movies would be more effective.

DanBraden

I sort of like this idea. Maybe you could get a couple of you together and have a sort of commuter dog fight. Might be easier/cheaper to mount a slingshot than a paint ball gun, but it would be harder to shoot. Then again, that's where the fun might be. Iiiiiiiiiimaginaaaaaation!

Powerarranger

We all know escalation isn't the answer, and we all know that helpless feeling when they zoom away after various acts of d-baggery. Hey, at least I'm still on the bike and moving. I could just as easily be a grease spot on the pavement.

I've been getting a lot of mileage out of this thread. Some good comebacks! That's about all the ammo I'll ever carry. Anything else is just too heavy - both literally and figuratively.

Today was better, but still not as non-confrontational as I've been used to. It must be a back-to-school thing. Soccer moms rushing to drop the little darlings off at school, late because they stopped at Starbucks to get a decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet; balancing their day planner, texting on their crackPhone, Beyonce blasting away on the stereo, screaming at the kids, piloting an enormous Urban Assault Vehicle that by rights requires CDL- level skills...hell, with all that going on, I'm just a bump in the road.