I’m a 31 year old bicycle noob, who just got into the sport at the recommendation of his doctor. I live in the city of San Ramon, CA and we have brand new roads, with wide bikes lanes and sidewalk. It was typical Friday ride towards Mt. Diablo at 4PM in the afternoon, but on the way an event occurred which irked my patience.

As I was pedaling and keeping my attention to the cars coming behind me, couple of juveniles were walking towards me on the sidewalk to my right. As I passed them, one of the boys suddenly screamed at me so that I would get startled, and he partially succeeded. My handlebars twitched a bit, but I was able to hold my bike steady. Just another prank. Boys will be Boys, right? Well, not today. I coasted for a brief moment hesitating, then gripped the brakes and brought the bike to a stop. After dismounting, I dropped the bike on the bush, separating the bike lane and the sidewalk, and started the chase after the two boys. The clipless shoes made me slip, but thanks to the recessed MTB style, I was able chase them down at full speed. The kid who screamed at me was wearing red shirt and a dark hat, and his friend had a long blonde curly hair. Neither noticed that I was running towards them until too late. When I was less than ten feet away, they turned around and shrieked “Oh F**k!” They both started to run and my testosterone shot up through my helmet.

“You F**k heads!” I yelled as I caught up to them. I consider myself a mild manner person but my adrenaline was pumping and revenge was written all over my forehead. Actually, a similar incident occurred during my first month of cycling. The offenders were in a car and it really shook me up when they yelled, because I was just getting used to the bike after 15 years off the saddle. Today, I had a chance to confront the offenders.

The boy with red-shirt was able to climb a hill and avoid capture, but the blonde boy was not so lucky. He stumbled and I was able to grab onto the back of his shirt.

“I didn’t do it, it was him!” blonde boy tried to reason by pointing to his red shirt friend. He was almost pissing in his pants.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” The boy with red shirt exclaimed, standing few feet up the hill.

“You little $hit, get your @ss down here!” I yelled. I’m a father of two, and I was in disbelief that I was doing this with these kids.

“I’m going to call the police.” Red shirt boy cried out. How ridiculous I thought.

“Go ahead, do it! Do it! Call the police now!” I yelled from top of my lungs.

The red shirt boy pulled out his cellphone and had it against his ear. I actually did want the police to come but I knew it was his feeble attempt to shoo me away. I turned around to the blonde hair boy and tried to calm my self down.

“You think that’s funny?” I asked. “What if I lost control and fell? What if I got hit by a car?”

“I’m sorry. It was him, not me. Please let me go.” The blonde hair boy was still trying to sell out his friend.

“Don’t do that again, ok?” My yelling had stopped at this point.

I was tense and upset, but I let the boy go. I turned around and trudged my way back to my bike. I could hear the two giggling and cussing as I made my way back.

This is my first year starting serious road biking and it’s already the second incident. I already have enough things to worry about as a cyclist, passing cars, road kill, loose gravel, storm drains, those recessed PG&E covers, and now this? Was I overreacting? Have you experienced similar incidents? What would you have done/did? Should I not ride unless I’m in a peloton of 5 people or more? Do I need to take up less vulnerable sports which doesn’t require lycra shorts? Tennis anyone?

Please feel free to make any comments. I know such incident will continue to occur in the future.


At least one another individual had a run-in:
bikenoob

Thank you

.tldr..................

This stuff just happens. You got to be able to let roll off of you, like water off of a duck's back.

I live in the same area and have experienced that type of thing too. I try to ignore it, but on occasion do yell back. Sometimes it's just funny though, for example riding on San Ramon Valley Blvd, as you know a wide 2 lane road with a bike lane... I get cars that will honk at me from their lane when I'm in the bike lane. I just ignore or smile at them.

Geez dude - you need to settle the *&^# down.

I hope that the doctor did not tell you to get back on the bike because of a heart condition! If it was, cycling may not be for you.

Poor form on the kids part, and I doubt he'll be doing it again any time soon, but kids yelling are not the worst of what happens on the road - they were just the most accessible.

Sucks when that crap happens, but you will find I think that you will come out of it better if you learn to control yourself and calm down rather than giving into rage impulses (LOL - I'm sounding like Yoda).

As a side point, if you can find group rides in your area, you will be hassled directly less (although you will still get rednecks yelling abuse from a safe distance in my experience).

Cheers

Take a lie down and relax?

- Yes
- Many times
- Keep on riding, usually. Occasionally I yell, but I never feel good about having yelled afterwards.
- No
- No
- Never

I would never, ever touch a kid who did nothing more than yell at me. I'd say that as an adult male you're running serious legal risk physically touching a minor who did nothing more than verbally accost you. Don't do it.

Next time, just wave, and keep riding.

****...


anyways... wow... that's nuts... they should've called the cops man... if those were my kids, i probably would've beat you down with a fluid trainer... after that i would've thrown my kids in boot camp or something... but wow... to chase after two kids..? i hope your doctor isn't an anger management therapist... he's not fixing you fast enough...

okay... i understand that you could've fallen, or hit by a car... but if that would've happened, you could've easily called the police and they would've gotten in some sort of trouble... but to chase them down..? lol... maybe i have a ton of patience with idiots, or something... but i would've never given them the satisfaction of knowing they bothered me in any way...

Too Long, Didn't Read

I've been yelled at and honked at and never let it get to me. Getting angry back and losing your temper accomplishes absolutely nothing and your just dropping to there level of immaturity by yelling obscenities back. And the fact you almost physically harmed a minor wouldn't be a good idea, both legally and morally.

that's a disturbing thought.

Thanks for all your comments.
To summarize it looks like I could've took a more nonchalant approach.
I'm still learning about cycling and still not sure about lot of things.

Until I read the comments I didn't realize I was at fault here.
gumbii's comment is right that if I didn't get hurt no harm done, but touching the minor is.

As I've mentioned, I'm very mild mannered, do not swear so even I was shocked by my reaction.
To tell you the truth, I'm now quite embarrased of my actions.

I do not have anger issues, and love my kids to death.
My second one was born four days ago actually and today was supposed to be my first ride since.

Hopfully my future rides are not as eventful, and when they are I should be able to think more logically.

Cycling is supposed to be fun. Don't let the buttheads get to you. Go out and enjoy yourself.

Botto, shut up


Basically, these things happen to me at least once a week. Mostly during my late shifts when I ride back home between 10 and 11 PM. It sucks, but you have to be able to take a mental punch. It's just kids (or young adults in my case pretty often) that like to make fun of whatever doesn't fit into their pattern of thinking and what's normal to them. We're riding on fast bikes in tight clothes, instead of sneakers, baggy pants and fast cars. If you look at us from their point of view, we are bringing this onto ourselves...
Seriously, don't let stuff like that happen too often. Sometime, somebody will call the cops and you will be the one prosecuted for harrasment.

Will do!

C u on the road!

let me know when the spark notes get published for this post

I dont like the sound of what you did, and i dont like the style you used to write about it. They yelled at you, but hang on, they are kids! You are an adult and decided to teach them a lesson, which you did. The lesson you taught is that when they are the adult and someone annoys them they should chase them down and go looking for a fight. And because they were laughing at you when you left they will know when they are the adult that they need to actually inflict harm to get the message across.

What you did is far worse than what they did

nah, you would have scared them an i doubt they will do it again. some guy drove past me on a narrow country lane in a ferrari yesterday and revved his engine REALLY loud just as he passed. it gave me a little shock but then i just thought that he's probably compensating for something with a jackass car/attitude like that. kids wont read into it that much, if that was me when i was 15 and most of the lads i hung around with we would have been scared despite the laughing afterwards (thats just what kids do) and would not do it again. you didnt hurt them you just scared them, its cool imho

would you want someone chasing down your kids and scaring them like that...?


what if the kid would've fallen and cracked his head open on a rock...? then who would be at fault here...

before any type of action is taken, consequences should be unfolding and playing out in your head...

If you can't handle the hecklers then you shouldn't be out in spandex.

Or at least don't go out riding looking like this guy..

if my kids were being absolute idiots like that, going around and maliciously screaming at a cyclist as they ride past to scare them (which could quite possible lead to them falling off) then yeah, they deserve it, and need to learn that in this world you cant go around doing things like that with no comeuppance. 15 year olds are old enough to fully understand their actions and its a good age for them to learn that people aren't just gonna lie down and take their sh*t. then again, i hope that i'll be able to bring up kids not to do things like that in the first place. hitting the kids or anything is obviously wrong, but there's nothing wrong with teaching them a lesson.

one time, on a ride, some kids threw rocks at us from the other side of the street as we rode by. a few of us went after them. i didn't know what had happened, just saw that a few of the riders turned back in the other direction. short moment later, maybe quarter-half mile down from the incident, the riders came back and threw two skateboards onto the sidewalk. i thought it was funny.

A lil' bit, yeah.
Reminds me of that dood, Officer Rivieri...

LOL... no officer... you aren't gonna see yourself on youtube...

"you talk like this to your father?"
"i don't have a father"