DreamRider85

I was on Home Mountain Road in Woodside. This white truck honked at me. So I started to speed up a little and it kept honking. I moved as far to the right as possible. There were no other cars and plenty of room for the truck to pass me and it just kept on honking.

I got off my bike and yelled at the top of my lungs, ''What the F****!!!!'' And they just drove off. Looked like a couple of older caucasian men in masks. But the point is why wouldn't they just pass me? They had plenty of room and time, no cars around. Has this every happened to you? I don't know what else they wanted me to do. I was all the way to the right and there was plenty of room, but they wouldn't pass me and just kept on honking. It really made me wanna do something and so that's why I snapped at them.

Just imagine if this was Kings Mountain Road and you couldn't go any faster up the hill. I still am confused as to what they were doing. Have they never seen a cyclist before? Do they think I'm not supposed to be on the road? I was so furious. Maybe that's why they didn't react to me and just drove off. Luckily they weren't 2 tough guys. But I wasn't having it. I screamed viciously.

canklecat

Ear plugs or ear buds with loud music or meditation and relaxing programs.

veganbikes

Ignore it unless they are trying to get you attention for something important like you dropped something or your light went out or something like that. Sometimes you just have to put on those adult pants and just let it go. Cars can suck a lot of the time but honks don't really tell you much so it might behoove you sometimes to just not react. I sometimes now just smile and wave or yell back "love you too" and that makes them madder but keeps you positive.

Don't let jerks ruin the ride. The only things that should ruin a ride are mechanical failures that are unfixable trailside (or road or whatever terrain), bonking or someone (human and non) or something actually causing you harm. Beyond that you are on a freakin' bike that is awesome.

rsbob 

They were messing with you to get your goat and they were successful. Lots of @holes out there so don’t take it personally.

I have been riding for 40 years doing tons of miles and have had just about everything happen to me including being shot at and hit and knocked into a ditch by a boat (on a trailer). Spit on, yelled at more times than I can count, cherry bombs, boat air horns in my ear, milkshakes in the face, bottles, you name it. I don’t take it personally. They are just jerks wanting to upset you.

in my 30s I did standup as a hobby. There was usually a heckler or two and they were usually drunk off their butts. I would give it right back to them and the crowd would laugh at them. Bumped into one of them in the restroom after my set and the guy apologized up one side and down the other and that he was just having fun. I told him, no problem and now you know why some mothers eat their young. We both laughed and left pals. The harassers are just morons having fun and will forget about you as soon as you are out of sight, Fuming about it just gives them power as your frustration consumes you. Just let it go and be happy they didn’t run you down or stop the truck and beat the 💩 out of you.

MarcusT

I just wave, like they're old friends.

aRoudy1

That's what I do also--using ALL fingers.

DreamRider85

Thanks. Couldn't really ignore it cuz it didn't seem like they would ever stop. Come to think about it, maybe they just don't want me on the road. I've never had this happen before. There was one time a car gave one honk and passed me, but these guys were too much.

SurferRosa

Hasn't happened in ages. But twice, in traffic, I was honked at from behind and simply slowed way down in the road. It's a real crowd pleaser!

gios

The plan is not to react in any way. No flipping the bird. No dirty looks. No yelling. Nothing to stoke the flames of hate so that they come looking for you at the same time of day.

indyfabz

There’s an A&S Forum, and you know it.

Hartmmike

When it comes to car/bike interactions I always think of the opening scene in A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Arthur Dent is lying in front of a bulldozer and the job foreman asks him if he knows how much damage the bulldozer ran over him. Arthur replies "No, I don't". The foreman replies "None at all"

AlmostTrick

Like your incident, my experience is honkers almost never endanger me. So it's best to just ignore and let it go.

One of my favorite honking incidents. Enjoy!

The Surly, Long Honk Trucker

Phil_gretz

#DreamRider85!!!

Milton Keynes

Don't you know you're supposed to get off the road and onto the sidewalk?

BobbyG

DreamRider85 The elevated adrenaline levels we experience while riding can raise emotions and cloud our judgment. Potential threats to personal safety seem smaller on video review; and what seemed like harassment at the time may look more like a minor misunderstanding, or something else completely.

If you were going uphill, as I think you said you were, is it possible they thought they were cheering you on by honking? You know, like the cowbells on hill sections of bicycle tours.

But the odds are they were probably just jerks. Even so, based on your past posts, you seem like a kind and thoughtful guy despite some very difficult life challenges. So please don't let some yahoos steal your bliss.

Lemond1985

It's best not give people an excuse to.

I have not had much honking, but what I get lately are people who follow behind me at the speed I'm going, but refuse to pass. I have no idea what's up with that, but as a FRAP rider, I don't appreciate it because it makes me stay to the right waiting for these idiots to pass.

BFisher 

Sometimes I blow them kisses.

aclinjury

it's bike vs car, bike will lose 101% of the time.
So just relax and give them a friendly wave. There is no point trying to make a situation worse and make your day badder than it already is. Deep breath and a wave. You'll ride home a lot happier. I'm pretty sure cycling long-timers will agree with me on this.

Notso_fastLane

If you can access it, point your phone at them. If you can actually get it recording, do so, and try to get the license plate in the video.

In this case, video is better so you can submit it to the authorities and report the harrassment.

Don't expect immediate relief, if any, although some precincts will actually send a letter/warning. However, if anything ever happens in the future, to you, or another cyclist, this will be another piece of evidence against them. The video is what got that driver in TX convicted.

SpeedRanger

I dislike this as well. I think these drivers are reluctant to pass because they lack confidence and skill to move over into the next lane.....they rather follow until you turn off.

Lemond1985

The laws in my state don't help much. Putting myself in a driver's position wanting to pass a cyclist on a relatively narrow section of roadway that has a double yellow line (95% of the roads i ride) that driver has 2 options. 1.) Cross the double yellow line to pass the cyclist, and risk a a $250 fine. Or 2.) Don't cross the double yellow when passing, and risk a $30 fine for violating our "3 foot law".

I'm not aware of any exception for passing a cyclist over a double yellow line, but cops do it all the time when they pass me, so I "assume" that law enforcement make an exception for this, but the truth is I really don't know. We need clearer laws on this subject, IMO.

Cyclist0108

I live on a very windy road, where I would have to do a blind-pass, so I hang back until I can see that I won't be putting myself, the rider, or an oncoming vehicle in danger. I try to hang back far enough so it isnt' annoying, but it clearly is to some bicyclists, who will happily waive me into a blind head-on.

SpeedRanger

In this situation I would simply pull off to the side of the road and let you pass. No point in me holding up vehicle traffic and annoying drivers. Courtesy only takes a few seconds.

Branko D

Typically I wave them off, sometimes yell what exactly they can do with their mother for good measure if they're being deliberately obnoxious.

I ride mostly near the edge as is the law around here and good sense and you can typically pass without even going in the opposite lane much, but once in a while you get an asshat who will drive behind you despite nobody on the road and with enough visibility to overtake a lorry, then honk when they finally decide to overtake a minute later. 🤦‍♂️

Daniel4

How many hundreds of motor vehicles were able to pass you safely without incidence for every one jerk who honks at you? You're not the problem.

In these times of Covid, the popularity of cycling as jumped so either the guy has been hiding in his bunker the last eight months or he's just a common road rager yelling and honking at everybody in front of him.

Get a rear-facing action camera.