bakerjw

I finally got out on the road again this weekend for 2 rides. The weather has been so wet here in NE Tennessee on almost every weekend. I can stand snowflakes in my eyes, but cold rain just plain sucks.

Anyway on Saturday, my riding buddy "Army Bob" and I are finishing a ride back to TriCities Cyclery here in Johnson City. The last leg of our Saturday route takes us up a fairly steep but short hill. One of those hills that is a challenge but really fun to power up and over. As we get about halfway to the top and are grinding away I look in my helmet mirror and see a diesel pickup with dualies coming up from behind. From the revving of the engine it was quite apparent that we were irritating the driver by making them go slow for the 50 feet or so left in the climb. I know that as soon as we crest the hill to where it drops equally as steep as it climbs, Bob and I will be shifting up and this guy in the truck will not be able to pass us easily before we pull into the parking lot and end the ride. So we crest and Bob takes the lane already po'd that the guy was riding my wheel as closely as he was. I didn't notice as I was more concerned about breathing (I suck on hills btw). So the pickup blows around me blaring his horn and passes real close to Bob who starts reading him the riot act. Normally I'd be po'd at being honked at, but bob took it to a new level. I call him "Army Bob" because after 15 years as an Army Infantryman, he took some shrapnel in Afghanistan, was put on disability, and suffers from a little PTSD. So Bob is shouting at this guy who hits the breaks and thinks better of tangling with an irate cyclist. It was really hilarious.

So on Sunday, I set up an easy to moderate pace 51 mile ride and posted it on some of our local ride boards. The wind was pretty stiff and we had some of the hammer down riders show up, but we still tried to make a go of a no drop group ride. it ended up that the ability levels were skewed enough that some of the slower riders got dropped quickly, got po'd, and went back a different route 10 miles into the ride. Now I am not a fast rider and am usually dropped quickly, but the fast riders weren't pushing all that hard and I was able to keep with the pack and had a very enjoyable ride. About halfway through the ride we were passed by a couple of cars. A couple of the riders in the back who are very fast rider catch up to the front pack and tell us to start looking out for a blue Ford Probe. It seems someone decided to deposit a bottle or cup of Pepsi on one of our riders. The rider was okay but the rest of us were pretty PO'd about it. Lucky for us, the car turned down the route we were going and we came across its owner unloading the trunk in front of his trailer a few minutes later. One would think that 10 cyclists riding past and shouting about throwing items would get some kind of a response but Bubba didn't even turn to acknowledge our presence.

Two incidents, but still great rides even though my legs did die on me late in the Sunday ride.

gabdy

As I said to my brother the other day, it's not the people who hell **** out of their car you have to worry about, but the ones who pull up and get out without a word. It takes some major balls to get out of the car against someone you don't know. As for the clowns who throw **** out the window, they're just lame little cowardly gronks.

Not one of the 10 riders thought it necasary(sp?) to stop and hand this guy his arse for throwing stuff(****) out the window?

Last ride I did, at the 60Km mark we pulled up for coffee. Another group of cyclists showed up, and one of them threw his chair back and missed my shiny new TCR Advanced 1 by millimetres. I said to my brother, he was lucky his chair didn't hit my bike or he would have been eating my carbon shoe for breakfast. Some people have no respect or idea for that matter.

WCroadie

So you are going down a steep hill reading someone the riot act??? Is that safe? I don't like cars passing by real close to me either but yelling and screaming at them won't do any good. I too sometimes get worked up but it's better to just ignore them, they are trying to get a rise out of you. Now if someone does something to put me in real danger and I have the chance at a stop sign or red light to say something, I will calmly explain to them what I feel they did wrong. You never know who you are messing with and who will get out of the car with a weapon, is it really worth it?

Keep riding, accept that there are a ton of a-holes out there and ignore them.

broerie

Sounds familiar...

I live in Belgium, in the Flemish Ardennes. That's where the tour of Flanders is ridden. So this is the heart of cycling country (people usually adore cycling around here) but nearly every week I meet cardrivers who find it necessary to:

- ride past you as close as possible
- yell insults through their window while passing as close as humanly possible
- throw cans and garbage at me
- horn when really close to me
- think that cars always have priority over cyclists

I've pretty much giving up reacting to them. I think an angry reaction only encourages and stimulates them.


-

foamy

Going through the Appalachians, I found out the rednecks have a new sport called "gassing the cyclist." It works with gas powered pick-ups, but they really like diesels for this one. Scenario: You're grinding up a double-digit grade at about 5 mph. They pull up along side of you and gas it, leaving you in a cloud of exhaust. Wanna see a redneck get happy really fast? Have one pull that stunt on ya. Happened several times. Joy.

CastIron

Ain't America great? Land of the free, home of the brave.

furiousferret

I'm surprised they even let you own a road bike in Tennessee.

monporn

a few weeks ago i was taking a turn on a slight down-hill that is nice and fast (40 mph or so) and because it is my right i usually go full pelt. this time, however, a van driver thought it nice to turn onto my lane (he was going up the hill) and made me bail at that speed. it was just not pleasant. i have only just shaved my beard and i have splotched of pink where i was cut up everywhere. that said..that said (i had to say it twice!!!) i broke a spoke on this ****ty shimano 105 front wheel i use sometimes and the wheel decided it did not want to be a wheel any more, and i could not ride it..damn 16 spoke wonders. so i hung my cleats off the back of my daypak and started walking bare foot, and this nice bloke in a car offered to drop me the 20 or so miles to my house! what a charming chap. sometimes cycling is worth the scars that silly drivers cause.

judkins1970

HEY...watch that. Tennessee is not all red necks and beer drinkers.

Sommy

Just the majority. I lived there almost 20 years and would say it's more common there than other places I lived. It's not exactly an open minded state.

Actually I think East Tennessee is way different than West Tennessee. East TN is closer to the stereotype.

chunt

12-16-08 09:09 AM
furiousferret 'they' is your operative word...you left coast liberals assume 'they' can/should control ownership of something as simple as a road bike...furiousferret is good description for you - angry little rat.

furiousferret

Hey! ferrets are mammals! Just like Otters, Badgers, and Wolverines. Excuse me while I go attend my liberal gun control protest and eat some trail mix.

JoeyBike

Figures. No dig against nice folks in trailers!

I have a short story. Riding with a bud in the boonies an SUV (back in the days when they were not common in the city) gives us some grief with the horn and the close pass etc. Four teenage kids yell at us etc. Five minutes later we catch up to them at a small store just outside of the next town (all except the driver was still in the SUV). All three of them saw us coming and hid on the floorboards.

We just went on our way saying to each other "That figures." My riding partner is a bit of an action freak, so I am glad he just kept riding.

botto 

nope, in cities like memphis you also have minorities, who tend to be a hell of a lot friendlier to cyclists than the rednecks to the north, or the soccer moms to the east.

botto 

take your bull**** to P&R.

judkins1970

you tell them botto!

seb1041

Never been yelled at here in Ottawa but had a few close calls with cars passing inches from me.

Indication on how nice canadians are?

Personnaly I think it's just pure luck.

Drivers that scream at you at least KNOW you're there! I'm more scared of old ladies that just plain don't see you.

Nate552

I had this happen to me this past Saturday. Sucks to try to hold your breath while climbing.

Force 

Wow. Seriously?

SushiJoe

I get called "gay" and other unmentionables at LEAST weekly by rednecks on the outskirts of Omaha. It's the best when they have their small children in the car because I know there is no end in sight to rednecks reproducing and raising up little rednecks in their mold.

An Aside: I think it's funny that people think it hurts other people's feelings to call them a "liberal." It's not a 4 letter word. Moreover, chunt, no one cares what you think. Indeed, take it to P&R.

botto 

seriously what?

i never had a can of 7up thrown at me in south memphis, but i did in bartlett.

i never had a pick up truck almost graze me, as he drove by hold down his fog horn, in Binghampton, but I did in Benjestown.

bbattle

Tennessee is a beautiful place to ride. Fayetteville's "Leaves of Lincoln" century ride is awesome.



Sounds to me like Tennessee is doing as well as Belgium.


How about we post every time we did not get some attention from an ignorant driver? Just to put the number of incidents in perspective.


Nearly all of my rides are without incidents; probably better than what happens when I'm driving, actually.

botto 

or not.

bbattle

Or maybe so.

botto 

i read it.

i've also ridden in belgium (flanders and wallonia) on more occasions than i care to remember, and have never had anything like that persons experience.