CrimsonKarter21

I had a kind of funny incident yesterday. For the record I was riding around yesterday in the Rocky River Metroparks on the cusp of Celveland (which I should add that there are "Share the Road" signs all over, and there's an MUP, so it's pretty bike friendly and not highly-trafficked, and the overwhelming majority are nice enough and probably share the same interests as you.)
So, as I'm riding all the way to the right, someone behind me honks. It wasn't a really "nice" honk, like a toot would be, but it also wasn't an awfully "mean" honk. Just a single blast.
Since I'm used to asses honking at me all of the time, I looked back, saw that he wasn't going to give me any room when passing and threw him a finger-full of my mind.
So he passes me, and he hits the brakes and comes to a complete stop.
I thought this whole ordeal would be pretty funny since whoever this person was was driving a beige Chrysler Town & Country, an automobile made famous for being driven by limp-wristed suburban girly-men.

That was, until I saw the dude that came out of this thing in anger. He had to be at least 6'3" and 250lbs of muscle with one of those roided-up jawlines. Well, that was a surprise. As soon as he opened up the door he started yelling "Who the f*** are you flippin' off mutherf***er!?" He got right in my face, close enough for me to almost make a kissing joke. Then he kept on yelling in his scary weightlifter voice at me, and pointing in my face, eventually saying that he was giving my a "courtesy honk". I sat there and stared him right in the eyes until he told me that I should be on the bike path. After he said that I got pissed and I told him that there are things called laws that say that I'm allowed to be on the road, and that if he opened his fat eyes (they weren't really fat, I was just pissed) he'd see a bunch of inconspicous neon yellow signs that said in bold black letters "SHARE THE ROAD". I even got a little bit more brave when he didn't say anything and told him to drive off and kill a squirrel or burn an ant hill to cool himself down. Then he started calling me an ass***, I agreed that I was, indeed, an ass****, and he ran out of things to say, so he called me a mutherf***er a few more times as he went back to his minivan.
I started riding again, and in the next parking area, I saw him parked and his fat little son yelled something at me, but I didn't wait around to hear the rest.

After the situation, I thought of some things I probably should've said, like "If I pissed you off enough, would you hit me? Because I really need a new bike, and you'd definetely be willing to buy me a few more"

So, who's the ******bag in this situation?

::EDIT:: Oh, today, a minivan honked the same way at me, so I flipped them off too. I don't think I've learned my "lesson".

mihlbach

A couple of ******bags have an immature dispute...yawn.

CrimsonKarter21

I'm not a ******bag! You're a ******bag!

Sprocket Man

He was the ******bag. You were the idiot. I hope this lesson sticks before someone kills you. Happy Thanksgiving.

terry b

Best possible way to find yourself dead and thus upset your parents and entire high school.

Someday, you'll understand - confronting morons with moronic behavior is for, well, morons.

CastIron

While I patently refuse to be intimidated, I also refuse to engage in this sort of non-sense. You failed on both accounts.

You want to start fights, be prepared to finish them.

zonatandem

Apparently you've never been hit by a motor vehicle . . . they're bigger than us bikies and man, it hurts.
Next time use all five fingers when youy wave!
Grow up, both of you . . .

CrimsonKarter21

Hey,. I'm not exactly happy with what happened, but I got pissed. And what was he going to do? Kill me with his family in the car? Go ahead.

Zonatandem: I have been hit by a car. It was a'ight.

CastIron

You ceded self control to a random imbecile. Thats the anger part.

You aren't happy. That's the rational result.

Sprocket Man

He was angry enough to stop his car, get in your face and threaten you in front of his family. Wouldn't take much more of an escalation to get him to hit you.

But whatever - go ahead and continue to flip people off. Sure, someone may injure or kill you, but at least you won't be a wimp. After all, that's the most important thing, isn't it?

patentcad

'Flip the bird.'

Never

'Throw the bird'.

'nother

No-brainer: you are.


No, but I wish you would learn, soon. Every time you do that it makes it worse for everyone else who rides a bike in or around traffic.

Spartan112

Do you bite your thumb at me sir?

scotch

not much good ever comes from starting **** with people, and it's also a good way to get your ass kicked. bottom line here: there's one more guy (and his kid) who really hates cyclists. just what we need.

Walter

Jeez Crimson you sound like you need some encouragement. He's the ******bag, w/o doubt.

I gather you're high school age. When I was your age and, to be honest, for quite awhile after I'd let my temper go freely and have said some things I'm not terribly proud of.

One difference was that when I was in high school I was getting ready to play college football and could rage with the best of them so the intimidation matches usually went my way. Of course I'm lucky I didn't run across an armed nutbag.

So flipping the bird ain't the best idea but the ******bag that comes unglued in front of his kid is w/o doubt the ******bag in this example.

Also, pay no attention to the professional hand-wringers who want to blame your finger for someone else getting run over some other time. If the driver is that unbalanced the position of yor middle finger is irrelevant.

fordfasterr

kill kill kill !!!


When you noticed his car parked, you should have waited until they were out of sight and then did a number on all 4 tires !!!!!!!!

toshi

Yeah, there's never really a positive outcome when you engage a motorist on the road in the moment. And it can be very very negative for a host of other people if you are wearing team kit. Just ride on, even though sometimes it can be damn hard to do so.

waterrockets 

I used to flip people off for such things, and get the roadside stare-downs. A couple fights. I outgrew it, and you will too. These days, if someone honks at me, and I'm pissed about it, I'll smile and wave like it's an old friend I haven't seen in a long time.

Sirrobinofcoxly

From riding in the city I grew to be pretty generous with the bird when it came to bad/unconscientious drivers. I started to get pretty agitated when riding in the city, flipping off everyone and even punched the side of a car that cut me off. At that point I realized that I had to take it easy, and chill out. Now when people honk, I just wave. I'm way less stressed when I get home.

As for your question, he is a total ******bag, and so are millions of other people out there. We can't fight them all. I gave up on trying to teach them a lesson. True ******bags can't be taught.

Pharmr

listen...I don't think the guy should have shown such rage...but, if I was driving and honked at some high school aged punk and he flipped me off , I'd get pretty pissed as well....maybe it was a "courtesy" honk, I don't know...but Crimson doesn't seem to have the "best" judgement afterall....randomly flipping off people can lead to an ass kicking in heartbeat.

Sirrobinofcoxly

Courtesy honks are such bull****. They just startle the rider. I don't think drivers understand a cyclist, especially on a city road, can hear a car coming. We're not locked inside an airtight box, with the stereo going like they are. If it's a quiet road, you can hear them coming too.

kudude

these are the stories you should keep to yourself. you're going to get yourself killed.

spry

Dont pi$$ off the natives down there too much,I share that park road with you Lance.
If you have good lighting,try the trail at night,no one is there.

*good hs hockey tournament at S-ville this weekend

CharlieWoo

Don't let a finger write checks your fists can't cash.

Homebrew01

Thanks for helping to ruin the car-bike relationship a bit more ...... Stop being an *****hole, at least for our sake