How do you handle a Bicycle Vendetta respectably after 60?
 

I was riding hard on the last leg of 25 miles back in July. There's a short 30 degree rocky hill that I have to climb to get home. On a hot day, it's a challenge. After that I must have veered into the left side of the trail and an oncoming bicyclist shouted loudly and cursed at me. (
I've had people veer across my path, and I've never complained. )
I never thought much about it at that time , but the last few weeks I'm starting to see this guy regularly coming my way on rides, riding the same trail as me . He's 60 plus with Grey hair and he's in pretty good shape. Everytime I see him, he shouts loudly at me.
Today I tossed out the famous two word profanity in return to him.
A smarter me would have said nothing and even smiled, but that's easier said than done when you're streaming along briskly and you're using the primal side of your brain.
I regretted it instantly. De- escalation is the best thing to do in conflict. This is really childish. On the other hand a nasty person is a nasty person, and manners don't always work. I have no idea.
Being 60 plus, I do have one mature insight. Everything just rolls along and passes into time and nothing is really significant. This will all pass.

I have to say I have very little tolerance for oncoming traffic veering on the wrong side of the road!

Ask him if he would like to smoke a bowl with you next time.

Next time yell him/tell him you're sorry. He may flip you off and if he does, just smile and wave. Who needs bad vibes at this age.

Rage is a powerful drug. Useful on rare occasions and can feel good, but always toxic to the user.

Poke him in the eyeball.

I hate situations like this. I've never found a satisfying way to handle it. Like you, I take solace in the fact that the memory fades.

Great time to try a new trail for a while.

Hard call on what if anything you can do or say to the person. Might be a good idea to invest in a sport camera to record your rides. A video history of the persons actions toward you might go a long way if you have to get others involved.

Perhaps they just think you ride on the wrong side of the trail when it's actually them. It's taken noob walkers, joggers, runners and even a cyclist a few times to figure it out on the trail here. Some a long time. I did have to say something to one runner once that never seemed to figure it out.

It's never a good conversation. They also think they are correct and you wrong. So at the very start you are just a babbling and crotchety person to them.

Scream out, (Your preferred deity) "Loves you!"

Yep, describes me to a 'T' :50:

Did you ever apologize?

Not much you can do if the other party finds that insufficient but it seems a good place to start.

I get it... Ha... De-escalate if you can for sure... "Nice Day, Init"

But using the primal side of your brain is relative. Just remember at the next passing to have that primal side Locked and Loaded and I am not talking about guns. This guy could decide to escalate all on his own and without warning.

As far as veering to the wrong side of the road, yep, done it. I have to be careful about this. Usually its that last 20 meters at the top of a climb I should not have taken. Lungs in your throat, veins in your forehead ready to pop, pulling on your bars, and who needs a seat. Your entire body is on fire as you squinty eyed mash the pedals to failure...

Then, dam it!

What the hell am I doing on this side of the road?

30 degrees is a 57% slope. Maybe you meant 30%? A 30% slope on a rocky trail would be quite a challenge under the best of conditions. Is this a singletrack trail?

Trail etiquette says the uphill rider has the right of way and the descending rider should yield. If you are climbing a 30% rocky singeltrack and some dufus yells at you it might be time to come up with a snappy retort. If that same dufus yells at you "every time" he sees you then you are dealing with a bully.

Option #1 - apologize profusely
Option #2 - ignore him
Option #3 - kill him. At our age, a life sentence isn't that long :D

I had something like that happen on the local MUP where there's a narrow bridge crossing. Some kids had stopped where you transition on/off the bridge to look down into the small stream below and were un-noticable as you approached. A older guy (relatively speaking as I'm 65!) in front of me stopped suddenly because of the kids, I veered off to the side a little to miss him as I stopped, and I said I was sorry. He proceeded to go into a tirade about how evil and dangerous I was. When we got to the other side of the bridge and back on the trail he kept at it, riding right behind me and letting out a string of verbal epitaphs of how evil I was as other people were riding/walking by. I got off the trail ASAP to see if he would follow; he didn't. I wonder how the two others riding with him put up with that if its his normal mode of behavior on a fairly busy MUP trail. I still ride that MUP regularly and have never seen him again (thankfully).

Smile, wave, and keep going.

I know it’s hard but just ignore him. It’s just goes to show they’re everywhere. That’s one of the reasons I don’t post here anymore.

Remember the scene in Breaking Away with the Italian team?

I have found the biggest asses I meet in my rides are the late 50's to late 60's guys that are all kitted out. they are dressed like they are world class racers yet they are going slow on very fast bikes. I try and talk to them as I pass them on my not so fast looking bike and in my not kitted out clothing. I have yet to have one say hi back. I always announce myself saying coming up on your left and always will say hello. One day i passed a guy who obviously looked fit had a little gray pony tail and I ended up getting caught at a light and before the light changed he pulled up and I said great day for a ride and he would not even look at me and took off like a bolt when the light changed and I passed him again and said F' you. I have passed that same guy several times since that day and now he will at least acknowledge me when I pass him. I think he thought I was on an electric bike or something. I am a fat beer drinking 65 yoa who rides a fat tired slow looking bike but I have pretty good legs still lol.

I take it easy and use caution around blind corners and turns, you just never know what's up ahead.

In achieving one's vengeance on the person who wronged you, I would simply advise against the use of Acme Industries products, as they may be hazardous to you and other path users. That is all.

I was run off a paved trail once by an inattentive cyclist, riding two abreast with his buddy, chatting away. I started being pissed off, but the guy really felt like crap and apologized profusely, and we parted on good terms with no damage done. It can really happen at any time. That's why they're called accidents. And I learned to be more attentive to my own position after that.

Raylan Givens says, "You run into an asshat in the morning, you've run into an asshat. You run into asshats all day, you're the asshat."

So you basically race guys who don’t realise they are in a race with you. Then wonder why they ignore you. Do you compete in actual races?

actually no I am riding at my normal pace ie 18-20mph I am not racing but I am being cordial and say hi when I pass. Am I suppose to ride behind them at their 15-16 mph? I don't race now but I was a cat 3 when I was in my 30's. I have a couple of state time trial medals lost in my stuff some where. my claim to fame kind of i I beat Rishi Greywall (alex grewall's brother who also raced professionally in a hill climb once) and beat Levi Leipheimer in a mtb race, of course he was about 12 or so lol and I was later 20's. but no not racing or even acting like I am racing just riding at my usual pace. not sure how you read that I appeared to be racing into my post. For the record almost all younger males ie 20-50 yoa say hello back and almost all females regardless of age. it is only the males that are closer to my age group for some reason.