BengeBoy 

Taking a pleasant ride on a calm street that hugs the shores of Lake Washington, edge of Seattle.

I come through an intersection, and a driver in a pickup truck shouts at me, "F***ing bicycles, get off the X*&^%$ road."

Since there is no other car traffic, I pull a U-turn on my bike and start to pursue him. I get close enough to him that I hope I can get good pictures of his truck. I pull over to the side, and hold my cell phone up high -- high enough that I hope he can see me -- while I take pictures of his truck.

Apparently the driver notices what I am doing, pulls to over to the side, and starts shouting and swearing at me: "What the **** are you doing you little ****. I'm going to come over and kick your f***** butt. Get over here so I can kick your ass."

I continue standing on the shoulder while I take a number of photos. I then slowly turn back around and continue on my way. Some pedestrians who saw the whole thing happen shout over to me and tell me that the guy had nearly brushed a girl on a bike who had pulled out of her driveway a few yards away. Then he started shouting at the girl, and, a few moments when I came along, he started shouting at me.

Unfortunately, can't read the license plate on the photos. Next time I'll get closer. My new "friend" was driving the white truck.

billydonn

I would report it to police even without the plate number. The guy may be known to them.... or soon will be. (A good reason to carry a camera with zoom lens, eh?)

CB HI

Too bad you did not get the plate. You, peds and the girl all making a police report might just be enough for the police to actually give the guy a warning. Maybe during the stop, they could find the meth he is on.

t4mv

Must be something about white pickup trucks; a few months back there was a white PU truck hassling riders on a very popular route in the hills. Hey, maybe he moved up to the PNW. 'Glad you're OK, though.

doctor j

There was a fellow in northwest Arkansas who was known to be harassing cyclists on the road. The county sheriff got several reports over a period of time, found his domicile, and hauled him off to jail.

teachme

Dang!!!

PrairieDog

How odd. This happened to me yesterday, too, only the truck was red and the driver said "Get off the road, you (insert feminine hygiene product here)! I decided to have a chat with him about whether his mother would approve of calling middle-aged women on bicycles (insert feminine hygiene product here), but by the time I got turned around, he'd disappeared into a dorm parking lot.

It upset me for a bit, especially since I was, until then, having a banner day on the bike. But then I figured that probably less than 10% of the world is comprised of true jerks, and that I should focus on the other 90%.

If I ever run across him again, however (and it's possible, since this was on the campus where I both ride and work), we'll have a little talk about his mother.

Sorry to read about your encounter, though, BengeBoy. Please stay safe.

VNA

I suspect he was high on something--I always worry about these ignorant idiots--they can unfortunately do a lot of damage!
Wishing I was more efficient at staying away from them but somehow they seem to find me!
Can't be that many?

Robert Foster

Is that the origional size of the picture, 640x480? If you have the origional and it is bigger you can edit it with several Photo programs free for down load. With the edit function cut to the bumper and zoon in to see if it gets any clearer.

1slowride

Was on a group ride this labor day along the same Lake Washington. We stoped at a three way took our turn then what looks like the same pickup truck started flipping us s***. I was at the end of group and got the full force. My first thought was to get off and have a little heart to heart but with age come wisdom. Cant help but wonder if it was the same guy???

GFish

Wow, what a jerk.

Have to wonder if these same people ever rode a bike even as a kid.

I'm a fairly new rider (3 months) and had a few encounters with impolite drivers; honking horns, yelling "get off the rode" and one driver even ran me into the curb then flipped me off. I didn't know some drivers really hate cyclist until I started riding. Maybe it's the spandex....

BengeBoy 

I have a higher-res version of the photo that I ran through a couple of pretty good photo editing packages -- when I zoomed in on the license it was too pixelated to read.

ftwelder

As the political rhetoric escalates with the coming election, I think you will also notice an increase in hostility toward anyone using less gas, plastic or hairspray. I have also noticed a big increase in budweiser cans and mc donalds trash on the side of the road in support of the movement.

NOS88

+1 They may even recognize the truck.

jebbesen

F him, I would have done over to his truck and ask him to repeat himself. Of course I bigger than your average bear and a bit crazy.

I guess riding on trails I miss all this excitement.

Neil_B

Evidence to support your claim?

Barrettscv 

lol

big john

You never know which of these morons is carrying a weapon, so be careful when opening up a can of whoop-ass.
A psycho got out of his car here and hit a member of my club with a cane as he rode by. Unfortunately for the psycho the guy he whacked is a martial artist who, shall we say, "detained" the idiot until police arrived.

Nightshade

By all means report this butt wipe to the local police and file a complaint for assault. (cursing you out in public is verbal assault)

How would you feel if this butt wipe killed or injured a cyclist and you could have helped get him off the street before he did??

gcottay

Alternative Ending:

I just rode on with exactly zero fuss.

gbiker

Wow, I've heard about people in the PNW being passive aggressive, not active aggressive!

bigbadwullf

Or ecoterrorists bombing places that aren't "green" and the media ignoring it. Or "scientists" planting evidence of animals on the "endangered species list" on scratch posts, so they can close riding areas to mountain bikers. Or the "granola" that gave me the finger as she walked in front of me at a stopight because my mode of transportation that day was a street-legal dirt bike. Or the equestrian that brandished a pistol as I rode another street-legal dirt bike in a parking lot where equestrians park(that had Harleys in it already). There are nut cases everywhere and they come in all political persuasions.
Get a camera with higher megapixels and you can zoom in and read the license number. My cell phone will do that (8 megapixel).

I'm guessing dude doesn't know many bicyclists carry pepper spray, mace, and some of us carry pistols.

BengeBoy 

Actually, in my book, I don't count being shouted at on a Sunday afternoon as "zero fuss."

Thanks for the suggestions above - I'm emailing the photos to the police tonight.

gear

I get a kick out of people who are surrounded by two tons of steel and thinking they are the baddest thing on the road while also thinking someone who is only protected by a thin layer of Lycra (and mixing it up with cars) is the timid one in the equation. Who are they kidding.

LAriverRat

Paranoid?