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Interesting encounter with a driver

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Old 07-20-12 | 11:19 AM
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From: You have really nice furniture
Interesting encounter with a driver

So I was on my way home last yesterday and I was on the only stretch of road that does not have a bike lane. I am riding in the right lane and right tire tracks, or close to them. When I am on that stretch I tend to pay a little more attention to what is coming up behind me. I see in the distance a large white truck that seems to be traveling at a good clip. The truck is in my lane and I just know this is going to be interesting. As the truck passes me the driver moves to the lane on the left just slightly and did not leave me much room, customary around here and I have learned to deal with it. I see that the driver gets caught at the light. I catch up, not intentionally or with the intent of starting drama. I filter through and just take a glance in the truck and give the "c'mon" look as she looks over at me. The light turns green, I proceed to my bike lane on the other side of the intersection and she proceeds in here lane.

Not too interesting yet, huh? Let me continue...

I pull up to my house which is only a few blocks away from where the above "incident" took place and who do I see? Yup, you guessed it. The driver of the truck. Turns out the lady lives across the friggin street from me. She sees me and hustles her kid across the street as I had not yet made it clear that I was actually going home and not there to start some drama. As I enter my gate I look across the street and I am certain she recognizes me now as I give her another sort of dirty look and she promptly looks away and scurries to her house.

I have the video and will post to Youtube later tonight to share.

Just thought that story was funny and wanted to share.

Have a good day!
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Old 07-20-12 | 11:28 AM
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I was riding down the street when a driver darted out of a parking lot coming within a few feet of mowing me down. Luckily he finally saw me and hit the brakes. I gave him a little bit of a stare down as I rode past and he rolled his window down and told me, "Don't look stupid, I didn't see you". Yeah, ok. Let me get in the car, you get on the bike, we'll repeat the event and see how stupid you look.
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Old 07-20-12 | 11:29 AM
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From: You have really nice furniture
Originally Posted by byrd48
I was riding down the street when a driver darted out of a parking lot coming within a few feet of mowing me down. Luckily he finally saw me and hit the brakes. I gave him a little bit of a stare down as I rode past and he rolled his window down and told me, "Don't look stupid, I didn't see you". Yeah, ok. Let me get in the car, you get on the bike, we'll repeat the event and see how stupid you look.
lol. Nice come back.
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Old 07-20-12 | 01:00 PM
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I have had almost the polar opposite experience where I once made a harebrained maneuver in front of what turned out to be a neighbor on a parkway near my house. Everyone has a bad day or whatever, you may want to consider just having a friendly conversation with them sometime instead of trying to embarrass them in a public forum like YouTube.

With a little magnanimity you might actually convince your neighbor that you are a decent guy who is just trying to get back and forth to work, instead of a speed bump with a protruding middle finger.
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Old 07-20-12 | 01:51 PM
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From: You have really nice furniture
Originally Posted by Surrealdeal
I have had almost the polar opposite experience where I once made a harebrained maneuver in front of what turned out to be a neighbor on a parkway near my house. Everyone has a bad day or whatever, you may want to consider just having a friendly conversation with them sometime instead of trying to embarrass them in a public forum like YouTube.

With a little magnanimity you might actually convince your neighbor that you are a decent guy who is just trying to get back and forth to work, instead of a speed bump with a protruding middle finger.
Unlikely..The neighbor and I already have issues. They used to park their big truck in the front of my house, which I was fine with, until they started hitting my trashcan down the street every trash day, I assume they didn't like how close my can was to their enormous truck but the spot in the front of my house is just as long as their truck. That got old and annoying so now I park the car I used to drive in front of my house with the intent of not having to walk half way down the block to get my can anymore. I am sure they don;t like that none too much but oh well.

And just to clarify I never flipped her off. I simply gave the "c'mon" look to her at the light to indicate that, "Look we both got here at the same time yet you had to haul ass passed me and nearly clip me to 'beat' me to the same light."

My offer to share was an intent to show the randomness of the situation and not an attempt to embarrass anyone. Not all videos posted are intended to embarrass someone. If it would make you feel better I'll blur the faces of all involved to protect their anonymity or you can choose to not watch the video too.
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Old 07-20-12 | 02:49 PM
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Originally Posted by ckaspar
Unlikely..The neighbor and I already have issues. They used to park their big truck in the front of my house, which I was fine with, until they started hitting my trashcan down the street every trash day, I assume they didn't like how close my can was to their enormous truck but the spot in the front of my house is just as long as their truck. That got old and annoying so now I park the car I used to drive in front of my house with the intent of not having to walk half way down the block to get my can anymore. I am sure they don;t like that none too much but oh well.
Sorry, I didn't realize that you already had issues with this person.

Originally Posted by ckaspar
And just to clarify I never flipped her off. I simply gave the "c'mon" look to her at the light to indicate that, "Look we both got here at the same time yet you had to haul ass passed me and nearly clip me to 'beat' me to the same light."
I didn't mean to say that you had done something that you hadn't. I was trying (perhaps not very well) to illustrate that it could have been an opportunity to change how a non-cyclist driver looks at cyclists in general. It worked out great in my case, but per your clarification above, never mind.

Originally Posted by ckaspar
My offer to share was an intent to show the randomness of the situation and not an attempt to embarrass anyone. Not all videos posted are intended to embarrass someone. If it would make you feel better I'll blur the faces of all involved to protect their anonymity or you can choose to not watch the video too.
Now that you've clarified that it is not a relationship that you care about, I wouldn't worry about it. Since I am a complete stranger (not even your neighbor), don't worry about making me 'feel better' (Unless you're worried that I'll come over and move your garbage can).


No offense intended, ckaspar, carry on.
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Old 07-20-12 | 02:59 PM
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ckaspar - I just realized that you're the guy that got hit a couple weeks ago. Sorry man, you're entitled to glare at people for a while.
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Old 07-20-12 | 04:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Surrealdeal
ckaspar - I just realized that you're the guy that got hit a couple weeks ago. Sorry man, you're entitled to glare at people for a while.
LOL. No worries. I should have put the relationship in context. I forget not everyone has crappy neighbors like me. To be fair I glared before I got hit too but I suppose it has more meaning now. lol

And you best not move my trashcan. Thems fightin' actions!
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Old 07-20-12 | 05:33 PM
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Just for that, I'M gonna move it...one inch.
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Old 07-20-12 | 05:38 PM
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Beating the odds... I was riding out to a friend's house one day, southeast of Denver. The paved roads had shoulders so they were no problems. The dirt roads had no traffic... until I came over a low hill and could see a mile or so ahead. A car was coming toward me. No problem. I kept riding along (they'd told me it was 45 miles, but I was well into the 50s by this point). Then I heard a car in the distance behind me. Took a quick look back, a look forward... did the mental integration. Stopped the bike, walked into the ditch beyond the very soft shoulder, and the cars passed each other as they passed me.
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Old 07-21-12 | 10:14 AM
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Old 07-21-12 | 03:53 PM
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I'm new to this forum and am mostly a lurker. this doesn't really have much to do with the story; except that it has to do with a humorous interaction with a motorist. So I'm gonna go ahead and tell you about it.

My friend and I were finishing up a really fun ride to the Duck Rabbit brewery when this ford explorer full of idiots rides by us. One of the guys in the car sticks his stupid head out of the back window and yells "WOOOOOo!!!!!!! BIKES!!!!!" at us. as they ride away, my friend notices the light ahead has just turned red and they are going to be first in line. We speed up to make it to the light with them and pull up right along side. They see us and have these really embarrassed looks on their faces. I ding my bell at them as we pull up. then when the light turns green, I look right at the guy and yell "WOOOOoOO!!!!!" as we pedal off.

they just drove away laughing. but that sort of thing happens to me all the time when I'm riding my bike, and I'm really glad I was able to make someone feel stupid for it.
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