Getting yelled at with whoops and hollars("Hey Lance") happens about twice a month. That doesn't phase me at all, I just smile and wave. But a 16 oz bottle of Orange Crush thrown by a pickup coming up from behind just missing my ear is another thing entirely. The pickup got caught in a little traffic, but I never caught up to it and I've never seen it since (yet, I'm still looking for it). Makes me wish I had a helmet cam with enough resolution to be able to pick out a license plate number to at least file a complaint.

+1

I make an effort to be as polite as possible, especially to those folks who are courteous to me when I am riding.
There are many more friendly people out there than there are arsewipes, a fact that can become distorted when concentrating on only the bad incidents.
Years ago I had a beer bottle flung at me which smashed on a road sign 3 feet from my head, I wasn't riding, I was walking. Cyclists are not the only target of maladjusted people.
You never know whether the stranger on the street is a Ghandi or a Manson but the odds heavily favor the Ghandi end of the spectrum.

Nothing thrown at me, but I was riding on a trail below the level of the corresponding street, when a wheel and tire came buzzing by my ear at about 40 mph, bouncing on the ground to my left and then into the river.

The guy stopped - well he had to, as his wheel had come off. He was pretty worried that he might have hit someone. Stated that he had had the wheel replaced recently, and that apparently they did not tighten the lug nuts!!

I imagine that being hit by a 50 pound wheel going 40 mph is NOT a good thing!!

I got nailed by a packet of McDonalds sweet and sour sauce. I couldn't catch the offender's Grand Cherokee but rode with an interesting mix of smells for the duration of the ride.

Riding my motorcycle on the NJTP a passing trucker threw his coffee cup at me. The cup missed but i got sprayed. I got his number but never did anything about it.

It is beyond me how anyone thinks this is OK.

They are sadistic, cowardly a-holes. They know it's not o.k. but they must get some cheap thrill out of hurting or threatening someone who is helpless to do anything about it.
An idiot was arrested in L.A. some time ago when his friends videotaped him shooting paintballs at pedestrians, cyclists, and people waiting for busses. I think the cops saw him do one and pulled him over and saw the tape.
They showed the tape on the news and a cyclist he shot went down and the fools laughed.

Yikes! :eek:
Riding on bike paths ain't as safe as it's cracked up to be.

Its time for Florida author Tim Dorcey to put Serge A. Storms on a bike!
http://timdorsey.com/home.html

Many years ago, while riding a loaded touring bike, I was hit in the back by an unopened can of beer.

Lots of cigarette butts have been flipped at me over the years.

good old waldorf.

You're familiar?
This actually happened in White Plains though, just south of good old waldorf.

It is hard for me to express the contempt I feel for those who do that kind of thing. Many moons ago I used to run and I had that happen a few times while running... but nothing while cycling yet.

Happened to me a couple times.

I've always wanted to throw something back... but when I got out of the service, they stopped me from carrying grenades....

Me Too !
 

Same as me many years ago (70's) but not on a bike, was riding a 650 Triumph with a long springer on it (think Easy Rider long). I had just left a party at night and in retrospect was probably a little to drunk to be riding anyway (I had a lot less brains back then). I had only gone about a mile or so down the road.

The only thing I remember was a PU truck coming towards me in the other lane, then I woke up in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. A fellow friend and rider who left about 10 minutes after me saw my 650 piled up on the side of the road and stopped to see what happened. He told me I was sitting on my butt almost in the roadway exactly in the position like I was still on the cycle except I was out cold and not responding. Didn't have cell phones back then, so he flagged down a passing car and asked them to go to a pay phone or back to the house where we were partying at and call for the ambulance. Had road rash on my butt and a huge bruise right on my sternum but otherwise OK. Doctor said the fact that I was drunk and relaxed plus riding slower probably kept me from getting seriously hurt. I was treated and released. Next day I was very sore, no longer had the 650 as it got totaled, and the bruise on my chest was in the exact shape of a "tall" can.

My friend went out to the spot to PU what was left of the Triumph and found a tall can of coors beer about 30 feet from where I went down. The "pull" tab was intact but the can was split down the side. He figured that it was an unopened can when it was thrown at me. Posted speed on the road where it happened was 50 mph. No way to know how fast either of us was moving. To this day I feel lucky that it didn't hit my head or else I wouldn't be here telling my story. I HATE coors beer to this day :notamused:

Ouch!.

In my case, I was just approaching the state park where I was planning to camp for the night. As I was registering I ask the ranger to look at my back. Lifting my tee shirt, she said there was some blood and she could smell beer. After setting up camp I returned to the spot where the assault took place and found the unopened can still foaming from it's split side. No serious injury, luckily, but a nice bruise developed.

Even if the scumbag wanted to kill me; I can't see wasting a full can of beer.:twitchy:

I hate Coors beer for lots of reasons but I won't get into that here.:innocent:

That happen to my wife, quite a few years ago, she caught up to the car at a stop sign and "MACED" the passenger, took off thru several alleyway's thru downtown and she lost them! :)

I had a guy hit me with some pecans while riding. I fell off the bike and broke two toes real badly. I was riding barefoot. I was 10 years old.

Since I got my first road bike, as best I can recall, no one has thrown anything at me in the last 39 years...in Texas.

Couple women here in Tucson riding a tandem got a bit tired of cars sort of a few cars slowing down and patting the rear rider on her rear.
Great solution: she started wearing a holdstered pistol on her left hip (legal in AZ).
On our tandem been hit by several small objects.
On my single, been punched out by a motorcyclist.
Had stuff thrown at me from passenger in a passing truck. Caught up with him at traffic light, took a big swallow of water and spit it thru the open window in his face. They tried running me down and chasing me in their truck; made several quick turns and a couple U-turn to get 'em off my tail.
Several other incidents, but too many to list.

Never hit by anything, but had a "helluva coincidence" story:
I ride with a helmet mirror, so I always know when someone is coming from behind, and usually watch for aberrant behaviour as vehicles approach. Was on a rural backroad route I frequent, and saw a restored pickup, pretty pale green paint job, approaching from behind with passenger door open in the "door 'em" position. Closed well before they got to me, with three kids in the truck laughing as they went by. Not a big deal. 10 miles later in the route, I decided to take a side road I had never been down before. I knew it ran parallel to my route a mile or so, then joined up again. In one of the driveways on this side road, was the green truck. All three boys were shootin hoops in the drive. Got REAL quiet as I approached, and the game stopped. I slowed, smiled, and held the look as I rode past. They all went inside. Pure coincidence, but I'm sure they didn't think it was.

About once a year something comes whizzing by.

The one thing that made a direct contact and hurt the worst was a coin-probably a nickel or quarter thrown from a vehicle doing 55 mph. It hit my butt and stung like the dickens.

Very... live there myself.

Couple of years ago I had a bad day at work. Went for a ride that night on a dark road that went out of town through some swamps. A car went by and a styrofoam cup came out but missed me. I didn't think much of it.
Not long after a car came by and another cup came out. I watched as the car went about a mile up the road then did a u-turn.
After a bad day at work, then some dumbasses messing with me I was not in a good mood. I parked my bike sideways - blocking their lane. Then I stood and blocked the other lane. I had my blade in one hand where they couldn't see it. This was in a very rural area, There were no houses or anything nearby, and I wasn't about to run off into some swamps in the dark.
The car came speeding up and they saw that I had the road blocked. At the last minute the car veered off onto the shoulder and went around my "roadblock." One of them yelled at me "f*** y** n*gg*r.
I figure it was some local kids, and they knew who I was, but no one locally has messed with me since. Everyone knows everyone around here.

Okay here it is..."Small world"

If you ever see a blue cannondale riding around it could be me. I usually ride south toward LaPlata and around that way before heading back home.

When I was in my early 20's a van load of migrant workers passed me and one of them threw an empty budweiser bottle at me as I was jogging on a rural road. It went over my right shoulder and I could feel the wind on my ear it was so close.
For the next month I jogged on the same road everyday with a pistol in my pocket hoping to see that same old white Ford van. Looking back it is probably good that they never passed me again.

The fact that most of us have experienced at least one incident is not good, not good at all.:twitchy:

I've had the Cup a coke a few times. The gross one was a creme filled donut on the back. Chocolate frosting and some fruit filling.