It doesn't matter if the lunatic accosting you has a gun, at the end of the argument he's going to get back in his 5,000 pound killing machine and you're still on a 20 # bicycle.

I don't understand why people get so ANGRY about being delayed 5 whole seconds when they have to pause in their mad dash to the next red light so they can pass you. i get buzzed every other month or so and it seems to be split between jackasses just trying to entertain themselves and people who are seriously unhinged.

I'm feeling fortunate to be in California! Here in Oakland, I deal with plenty of traffic and oblivious drivers but not many a-holes. Hell, they practically give you the entire lane then slow down to offer a toke, a cup of water and a pat on the back.

Thats a really neat idea!

Here in the Jersey burbs, I've not had rage directed at me much, other than an occassional pick up (usually, it is) buzzing me. And often I think its more due to inattention/cellphone etc, than a deliberate act. I mostly ignore it.

Couple of yrs back, at the NYC Century ride, I saw this gaggle of bikers in the Bus lane, with a MTA(public) bus barrelling down behind them. Most of the bikers moved over, except for one, who insisted on asserting his rights(incorrectly) to that lane, and getting all agitated and gesticulating, f-bombs and all. It did not end well, as the bus driver got pissed, talied the biker close, the biker takes a too-fast turn at the next light and goes sprawling on the asphalt, with the bus just missing it all. Could have been uglier than just the road rash the guy ended up with. There are battles that you just do not want to pick, however right you may be.

Must be something about the speed limit. You're driving this hunk of metal with a sense of security that you can't be harmed (which is false, but nevertheless), capable of going 100mph+. In most roads though, you're instead going 25, 35, 45mph. The faster you go at one point the slower you feel when at a slower pace, and there's probably a ton of psychological stress building up right there. The bike in front of you, the old lady driving 5mph below speed limit, whatever, they'll only take 10 secs out of you in the big scheme of things, but since you're already being mentally stressed by the limits imposed it serves to amplify that stress.

That's my guess, anyway. With bikes you're usually engine-limited, meaning speed limits are typically not sources of grief. Stopping and restarting IS a stress inducer though, and look at how many people seem to take it as a birthright to blast through stop signs or red lights. And even better luck convincing them to stop doing so...

One of the things I love about riding bicycle is that speed limit is not limiting. I sometimes brake it (rarely) on a bicycle, but I know I won't get stopped and fined. The same goes for stop signs when I can clearly see without stopping it is safe to cross, or red lights on empty streets.

There is a difference between an idiot throwing crap at us and real road rage.

I was in Ridgeland Mississippi.The Mayor is a cyclist and great guy.Some friends of mine were riding in rural Mississippi when a old pick up with two drunken occupants threw a half full bottle of beer at them and yelled unintelligible rantings.The funny part is, a few miles down the road the old truck is on the side of the road engulfed in flames with the drunken occupants outside trying desperately,and to no avail ,to put out the flames.My friends rode by and laughed

Overall drivers here are very nice

says who?

I got reamed on this beautiful forum for making a joke about riding in a "redneck peloton" on a group ride in the south. Little did I know that true rednecks drive black pickups.

I have met more courteous drivers in the rural south than I have in "bike friendly" Oregon. I have not yet had one ugly incident whilst riding in the rural South, including the many, many pickup trucks that have passed me - black ones, too. I grant that I am not on the roads as much here as at home, but in the hundreds of miles I have ridden here the rate of incidents from "rednecks" is waaay lower that I have seen in more refined Oregon and California.

And just what does right to carry have to do with the pickup truck driving idiot.

My apologies for the rant - but my southern blood done got riled by the yankee a-done talkin' bad about my folks....:D

^ THIS!

The five-finger wave is the only way. You.never.know.who.is.really.in.there!

A one-finger wave at best gets no response - you break even there. Any other result is likely worse. And if you respond in a rage situation, you are not party to escalating the conflict, and might get your tail whipped for free.

Swallow hard. Let it go. Go home and have a beer. Or beers.

I've had my share of road ragers, but my favorite incident was the one that wasn't. It was back in the '80s and Greg Lemond had recently had a bullet fired at him while on a training ride with some locals, a few of whom were folks I rode with on occasion. My wife and I were on a shakedown tour on our new tandem forty miles from nowhere when a pickup truck passes us. The driver is a good old boy drinking a beer from a glass bottle. He stopped a little ways up the road. We weren't sure what to do. Do we stop, turn around or keep on going. We were both thinking about the recent shooting and the fact that we were miles from the nearest person, let alone telephone. With no escape possible, we pulled along side and said hello. This guy turned out to be the nicest man on the planet. His name is Burt, his wife is a deputy sheriff and he was concerned about us riding out in a hailstorm (it had passed). He invited us to spend the night at his house and we accepted happily.

Sometimes we see what isn't there.

And they didn't eat you for dinner! How nice of them!

I had some guy in the passenger seat of a car throw a fire cracker at me just after July 4th while passing me. Got a chuckle from me.

On another occasion, I was on 99w in Sherwood, OR and some teenage kid (probably showing off for his girlfriend) yelled out his window at me to "Get off the road!" Traffic slowed to a stop at a red light and I knocked on his now rolled up window and said "Hey, I didn't hear you back there, did you have something to say?":notamused:

He glance over at me then stared straight ahead and wouldn't look at me again. The driver was like a deer in headlights...:lol:

Yes, I feel better about myself:p

Sorry, but I won't put up with it. Im not small. I am in better shape than most (not all) around here. When I am confronted by a road rage idiot who wants to engage me, I always ask, "Hey tuff guy, ever have your ass kicked by a dude in spandex?" Stops them in their tracks every time.

I'm a hothead, I haven't had anything happen to me yet but should it happen I'd have no idea what I would do, but it would not be pretty depending on the person involved. It's a fairly rural area out here though and people are generally nice and not in a huge hurry. Similar to how they'd act in Kentucky I'd imagine.

I'm a courteous person to others in kind but cocky people who think they are God's gift tend to bring out my hot headed nature. If it's my time, oh well. I am who I am. :)

I get ... irritated... by people who drive below the speed limit on the road so I can understand their point of view to a degree though. For whatever reason otherwise normal people get stressed on the open road... I try my best to avoid my hotheaded nature but it's there, I'm not proud of it but it seems like change is hard...

Warning: You will occasionally run into someone just like yourself.

One thing that makes it way easier to let it go when people do crap to me is knowing that they'll do something to someone like them and they'll sustain far worse punishment than they even deserve. Karma is real.

One dumb thing I did was get into a shouting match with some kids in a car when they told me I didn’t belong on the road. It was obviously they were just trying to bait me and I fell right into it.
Surprisingly, because I live in FL, I’ve had very few angry encounters with cars. The most problems come from distracted drivers.

I wouldn't call what happened to us recently road rage specific, but karma does have its way. On our typical Sunday ride last month, a motorist in his Audi convertible felt it was necessary to turn on his windshield washer while purposley slowing down to pass us. It was no big deal but just the effort he took to go from the left lane into the middle to get close to us to do what he did and to only go back to the left lane afterwards; all you could do was laugh at the stupidity.

Well, I had to attend an ortho-related medical conference later in the week and on my way to the hospital, I had exited the L.I.E. onto the service road (popular route that many cyclists out in Queens, Long Island uses and the same road we usually do our weekend rides). To my surprise and right behind me is the same white Audi from the weekend before. Not only do I remember his car and Nassau county specific plates , his top is down and we're both turning left onto Community Drive which is a nice long descent towards North Shore Hospital/Manhansset/Great Neck. So, as any law abiding motorist such as myself, I wanted to make sure my windshield was free of debris and obstruction. I kept my washers on for nearly a 1/4 mile while he was behind me; all I kept seeing in my mirror was his hands flaring in the air and horn blasting away. As he sped up to pass on my left, I turned on my rear glass washer just to top it all off. When he finally got next to me, he was cursing like crazy and I just smiled away, occassionally looking down at him.... with my washers still going.

At the end of the day, the conference was short but well presented and I had to run to Autozone for washer fluid because I nearly emptied out the gallon of fluid my suv takes. Lol.

Childish as hell, but I think I would have done the same thing. Would have been better if you would have had the chance to remind him what he had done.

Until they say, "Hey guy in Spandex, ever get shot in the face by a gun ?" I know adrenaline sometimes gets the best of us, but really, take it easy, learn to control yourselves. It isn't worth it.

typically the drivers around here are very cautious and docile which is good for bikers but makes everyday driving slower. I get the occasional mouthy driver but they are always to chicken poop to really try anything more than a drive by shouting.

The funniest was when I was tooling through downtown Hudson going 25 mph. Traffic in the opposing lane was backed up as usual. One of the guys yelled something very nasty at me and that I should be on the sidewalk, clearly he was jealous of my freedom of mobility as he was stuck like glue in bumper to bumper. I really regret not going back and educating him. It was a rare chance in my area.

What I can't understand is why so many people don't move out of the lane when passing on a shoulder less road, makes me wonder if they even see me at all.

Three pages and no one called out Snapperhead on his comments? I hate the hypocrisy I Sometimes read on these threads. had the story said "Hood Rat" like the Salmon post last month or used ANY -and I mean any- term to identify a minoirty the whole thread would have derailed in .0003 seconds.

I'm not advocating we call out Snapperhead, just that those that call out others either need to do it at every instance, or stop doing it all together... Otherwise, it actually is racism.

You did a respectable job there. No hate. And even had an apology at the end to not ruffle feathers.

I love it when I get to spend time in the south :)

On the off chance that I commute in my town I never get anything from drivers which surprises me, but I'm guessing it's because they don't understand what that little moving object is that's near the right side of the road so they treat me like I could easily kill them. Gotta love Rockford Illinois! :D

Okay. I'm a "rails to trails" rider very much interested in getting a road bike and taking to the road for more cycling options but after reading all these horror stories I'm not so sure. This is crazy that people do these things to cyclists.