eofelis 

I just have a little dumbphone flip phone that does have a camera that I never use.

I did read a story someone told on one of the forums that some driver was harassing him and all he had was his Garmin GPS on his bike so he held it up like it had a camera on it and the driver took off right away. haha good story.

thinktubes 

Don't let the terrorists win....

Excelsius

Luckily, I've never had anything like this happen to me. Some drivers have honked and passed me, but that's about it. After reading many stories like the one here, I almost always treat the cars as hostile entities and make sure that I'm very careful to give them enough space to pass. In the event that someone is pissed, it doesn't affect me because I know I did everything right. On the other hand, there are cyclists that don't share the road well and ride in the middle of a single lane road unnecessarily. For example, on mountain rides where there are a lot of blind spots due to bends, I always hug the side of the road just to be safe because some drivers go to the mountains to race. I've seen a lot of cyclists even in some of my group rides take the entire road resulting in road rage a few times. There are also cyclists who run red lights and stop signs unsafely. Some of these people are responsible for giving the rest of us bad rap. If I see a car already stopped at a stop sign, I always stop to let it pass because I never trust the drivers to let me pass, even if that means breaking my downhill speed. Now if a car is just approaching the stop sign, then I won't necessarily stop. Last year something funny happened - one of our group members was lagging behind and apparently got a ticket when he failed to stop at a stop sign. I regret not asking him exactly how the violation was described in the ticket while I had the chance.

jsharr

I yell at myself for going slow and clogging up the streets, why expect any less of others?

Long Tom

Glock, meh, too heavy for cycling... grin...I've thought of figuring a way to zip-tie a nylon holster to my bars for my Kahr P45. Not for people but for dogs in my rural area. Not that I want to shoot a dog mind you.

(Fun fact: in Oregon, an open-carry state, it is perfectly legal to carry as long as it's in plain sight. I could cycle through downtown Eug with a loaded AR15 strapped to my back. )

My story isn't as good as many here because I really try to ride where there's few cars and I have that option out here. I rode 50 miles day before yesterday and only even stopped one time, at a stop sign, because I had to. Anyway, last week I fell over at a stop sign for the first time... The classic noob move; got overwhelmed by my options and waited too long then couldn't unclip. It was a hard fall that caused my chain to jump off the front rings. However I didn't know that, and in my embarrassment I was trying to get my stupid ass out of the intersection, so I hopped back on my bike... and wasn't going anywhere fast (slight downhill so I was at least moving)... a white-trash queen in a gnarly old Suburban came around the corner and did her best well-honed trashy screech at me.... "what are you doing going so slow, get off the road, you bleeping bleepity-bleep!"

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she didn't see me fall over and didn't realize I was a bit dazed and coasting on a non-functional bike. Still, it rattled me, and I was pissed.

My "bike computer" is a GPS app for my iPhone which is in a clear case on the top tube. In other words my camera/ phone is very accessible. I've thought several times that in a confrontation I'd whip that bad boy out and start documenting, as well as (calmly and manfully, this is a fantasy, don't forget) explain to the wigging driver that I'd be happy to dial 911 and get a deputy over to explain the rules of the road.

.... but the Kahr probably helps even more with alla dat. It'd just look so... aggressive.

Hiro11

People driving like impatient jerks are fairly common and I almost always ignore them or give a sarcastic wave. However on occassion, people have genuinely put my life in danger because of their own rage / depersonalization issues. I must admit I have a real problem with this and have been known to act like a fool. In general, this is another good reason to ride in groups: people are generally less willing to **** with eight guys together rather than one alone...

kaisersling

This is my favorite way to handle it. It confuses the fire breathing knuckle draggers and generally forces them to sheepishly drive off as the veins visibly pulsate on their heads. Its especially effective if they have a mouth breather with them. Gives me great joy.

knobd

I always ignore immediately. You have to remember that you simply don't know who you're dealing with and that you are at a significant disadvantage, especially on a remote back road. Without knowing anything else you already know that you're up against someone that is irrational and is operating a 2 ton weapon. That's enough for me to swallow hard and just ignore. Just channel your thoughts to the enjoyment of the ride or think about what you're eating for dinner or anything that is positive thought that will reinforce the irrelevance of the idiot in your life.

RJM

I always try to smile and wave but the smile turns into this ridiculously angry grin so it never really works the way I want it to.

mckeithen

Good advice all around. I just have 2 thoughts to add:
(1) IF you decide to confront someone, do it with a smile on your face with the objective of educating them. Stay calm. Things will go better all around if you do. Pissing them off more just means they take it out on someone else down the road.
(2) I find that my performance always increases dramatically after one of these incidents. I find strength, power and speed I never knew I had.

urshurak776

Lots of great ideas. Thanks everyone

Ridelots24

last year similar happened to me on a long rural ride. the guy sped forward got out and had a club. I stopped and all he did was yell. he threatened to 'run me off the road' so then i called the cops.... which he left a few minutes after that. Cops arrived 10 minutes later and found him later that day and gave him a ticket.
in the last 2 years, I usually carry my S&W 380 w/6+1...just in case they feel frisky....

BoSoxYacht

In AZ, I can carry openly(or conceal it), without any special permit.

mr645

Here in Florida we just shoot them and tell the cop we felt threatened.

Kai Winters

You have to be prepared for anything if you are going to take a picture of the person and/or license plate. What if this person decided to stop you and beat the crap out of you...some people don't care...they take your cell phone and drive away or you're now involved in a fight...can you?
I'm a pretty confrontational person but smart enough to know that sometimes the smart thing to do is shut up, ignore and leave the scene...hard to do but sometimes the smart thing to do. I would get the plate number and call the police as soon as I could and report the incident requesting assistance.

Peiper1

Couldn't agree more. Guys like that usually end up hurting someone (or worse) ....

Peiper1

Haha .... good one !!

Samfujiabq

I try to ignore but TODAY I was on a wide shoulder in the center about three feet inside the white Line,a guy in a pickup(typical here) swerved onto the shoulder barely missing me by 2 or 3 feet,he then started pointing to the right along with the middle finger apparently telling me to move further right.I responded with many finger replies.Im a retired cop so I do carry an ultra light Ruger 38.no license necessary for carrying as a retired officer.A necessity here unfortunately.

Machka 

Just ... smile and wave.

Long Tom

I do find that situational awareness on my end helps immensely. Hey, I'm just a dude, playing a dude, on a bike... grin... I try to do my part to help out the poor bastids in their cars, too. They've got a tough row to hoe, what with a big gas engine, a brake pedal and all. It's a lot to ask of someone to move their toe over 3 inches and press a pedal. God forbid.

Anyway...... in practice that means trying to see chokepoints coming and try to avoid them-- even if it means me slowing down. I rode 42 miles this evening and did it twice. Once on a blind corner for the car coming up behind me; rather than let HIM decide whether or not to risk both our lives, I just pulled onto a driveway apron halfway through the corner and let the situation resolve. Second time was at dusk; car coming from behind at ~45 mph; two women walking dogs on the shoulder on my side of the road, IE walking against traffic, and all of us more or less scheduled to meet up if I maintained my speed. So, fuggit, slowed down, let the car pass, got to say hi to the old bitty's and one had the.... chutzpah.... to check if I had a back red light (I do).

But all that said, I'm routinely stunned at what idiots "we" are as a society of drivers. People are just stupid in their cars.

AdelaaR

I've never experienced anything even remotely resembling what you describe.
Most of my riding is in De Vlaamse Ardennen and Pays de Collines, though, where everyone is very used to seeing cyclists all the time.

contango 

Yep, in a busy urban setting if someone gives me grief I slow down and let them get a bit more agitated. I figure nobody is going to deliberately run over a cyclist in front of dozens of witnesses and who knows how many CCTV cameras. Personally I find out of town it's much rarer to encounter the people whose time is so precious they just have to gain those few seconds so it's less of an issue.

I remember one guy in town who cut me up and gave me a mouthful of abuse when I told him to watch where he was going changed his tone when I chased him. There was me on my bike, chasing him in his car, and the best thing he could think of to do was flee. That was really rather comical. I was significantly bigger than him so I don't suppose for a minute he'd have had the balls to get out of his car...

Notgrownup

Hell you're in Charlotte, i have had that done to me riding the speed limit in my freaking car...I hate the traffic there...

Cookiemonsta

I almost never had anything like this happen to me. That is probably because here in the Netherlands people are used to cyclists, clear traffic rules exist for cyclist that everyone knows about, and people are mostly on separate bike paths.

I did have to deal with a lady that was mad at me. She pulled out of a side-road, but then got startled by me and had to hit the brakes hard. She followed me with her car (with her daughter in it as well) and told me how I ruined her Chinese take-out . I told her there were "shark's teeth" (white triangles) painted on the road indicating that she should let me go first. If she would have checked before pulling out of the side-road she would not have had to brake so hard. I also told her I should be mad at her for almost hitting me with her car. When she replied that it was my fault because of the speed I was going at, I replied that there are much faster things on these roads than cyclists and if she can not deal with something approaching at 30 km/h, she should hand in her driver's llicense.

Even though she was wrong, I still felt bad afterwards. Mostly because my response, in both volume and body language must have been pretty aggressive, and it is only when I saw her daughter was getting scared that I calmed down and felt horrible about it. Lesson learned. I decided that if I ever get in such a situation again, I will just tell them calmly they are wrong (or apologize, I am not perfect either and it could be my fault) and just keep riding.

Andy Somnifac 

In the last week, I've had:

1. A redneck in a lifted truck throw a full PowerAde bottle out the window at another cyclist. He missed, luckily.
2. A redneck in a lifted truck stop in the middle of the road, blocking traffic, and want to fight me when I gave him the finger after he blasted his horn coming up behind me and then slowing down and dumping a gigantic cloud of the blackest diesel smoke you can imagine straight into my face.

'roid/road rage, bro. They have it.

Get used to it. Cyclists are fancy dressed pansies to the bros of the world.

I'm just waiting for one of them to kill someone around here... I hope it doesn't happen, but the way their behavior has escalated in recent months....