Following on from DG's dumbest question thread- What is the dumbest remark made to you when cycling?

"You Ought to get a bell" as one rambler blocked the path in front of me and would not get out of the way. My reply was not very polite as I had been bibbing the Horn for the last 200 yards to give her and about 100 other ramblers warning of my aproach.

As the walkers hollered "get off the bike path".........Not my story, but it was told to me by someone!!

"Can you tell me where the library is?"

This from the septegenarian female Okie-plated mini-van driver who I chased down after she completely blew through a four-way stop sign right in front of an elementary school.

The dumbest things:

"Get Off The Road!!"
"Get on the Sidewalk!!"

Riding on the sidewalk is illegal above the age of, like, Six or something here - which illustrates just how ignorant of the law many drivers are.

Disconcerting as that can be, the ones that scare the wee out of me are usually using their cars to express their displeasure by crowding bikers off the road or buzzing by within inches, if that. There is contact sometimes.

It's the anger and self righteousness implicit in this sort of behavior that is truly dumb.

They actually think they are entitled to do stuff with their car to bicyclists.

The ones that yell inanities just get the smile and wave treatment.

It's kinda like dogs: Watch out for the ones that *don't* bark.

Hey, #@#@#@,
You've got to give me more room . . . or get the f#@# off the road!

Comment made by a teen driver who had to wait for oncoming traffic before blasting past me. My tire was about 6" from the edge of the pavement and other cars had passed without any problem. Turns out the kid lives in my neighborhood, and I later tried to explain that I was as far over as I could safely go, and that I had every right to be on the same road as he. Unfortunately, the lesson went in one ear and out the other, and the "conversation" ended with more expletives and a wave goodbye . . . his hand must have been hurt because he could only raise one finger!

Teen drivers will not listen to you anyway. They are too low on the Darwinian curve (hope I spelled that right) for you to be anything other than a mild irritant.

On a long 9 degree climb one guy roll down his car window to ask me for directions!!!

Not true. Here in Tejas where I live, you MAY ride on the sidewalk UNLESS there is a sign prohibiting it.

I had the same thing, except I was headed downhill, very unsure of myself, freaking out that I was going too fast, and this guy in a p/u truck came up aside me, rolled down the passenger window, and began asking directions. I kinda yelled "I can't help you right now!"

Perhaps the look on my face helped underscore my comment.

LOLOLOL.......I sat back in the computer chair and laughed on this one. From the look on my face on a "long 9 degree" climb I doubt anyone would ask me for any help...offer some perhaps.

Drivers only listen to one thing... POTENTIAL DAMAGE TO THEIR VEHICLE.

Aw, c'mon... you're on a bicycle... you MUST live in the neighborhood, because bikes are toys and aren't suitable for riding more than a mile from home.

"Get back in the city...where you belong, this is the country."

From a engine pulling front yard mechanic after hearing me tell him to keep his dog off the road.

I get this one all the time. I live on a steep hill so I ride it everyday. Invariably, someone will pull up and ask directions (usually a house hunter looking for an open house).
A growl and wheeze usually dispatches them.

Just to prove civility lives from car drivers.

I did a ride in France a few years ago and there were about 400 riders- all grades on all types of bikes. There was a long drag through a wooded area and I saw a car waiting at the top. It was waiting for all the riders to get up the narrow windy hill. I put a spurt on and reminded all the riders to keep to the right as a car was coming down. Reached the car and told the driver that it was safe to go down the hill and the driver passed the comment that he was not going to ruin the ride of the cyclist's coming up the hill. Then he got out of the car-Got his family out of wife and 3 kids and stood at the side of the road and clapped every one that came up the hill.

I said "here'.

"Here" is New York City.

It is illegal to ride on the sidewalk unless you are under a certain age.

I had dinged the bell at the walker and his wife several times, finally getting a physical response. As I passed by, the husband said angrily, "Well, that is the first time I have been belled on the trail." The wife, bless her, explained to him how great it was that someone belled as they passed, as most people passed without any notice.

And the teenager, who told me after I belled, "Couldn't you have just told us you were passing."

The best reposnse I ever got was from a little girl who was walking on a bike path with her parents. As I passed I said, "Hi Sweetie!" I rode past, and she asked her parents, "How did that man know my name?"

I had a carload of female teenager's pass me on a one lane road. I noticed couple cars up the road stopped (to look at deer on horse farms). The one in the back hollered "Nice A**"
I sped up , caught them, pulled off my glasses and helmet (gray hair) and said 'Thank you young lady. Thats sure nice of you to notice'
The 2 in front really put in on the one in back. She was red as a beet.