Hocam

My two favorite's are having trash thrown at me from a mustang, then passing him one block down and having a conversation with a guy in an open convertable about how I had the right to take the lane if there was no room, at about 15 mph.

Sakae Custom

I have yet to get yelled at, most people slow down, afraid to pass, or pass with insultingly wide room, have however been honked at several times.

Last night, i approached a red light on a 4 lane two way street, two cars were stopped one in each lane, one with its left turn signal on, the other with its right, i came to a stop in a track stand behind the car waiting to turn right, and the car behind me starts honking. WTF? the light was red, and the the traffic was too heavy for the guy infront of me to turn. Furthermore the guy wasnt even trying to turn right.

A week ago i was riding down MLF blvd, a large thoroughfare which is NEVER congested, moderate traffic at best. I stopped at a red light, in a a track stand, in the right lane. A car pulls up behind me, starts to honk, at first i think he wants to turn right, and im blocking him from making a legal red light right turn, but no, as soon as it turns green, he blasts on, continuing strait down MLK. Even if he did want to turn right, what if i was a car waiting to go strait in the right lane, you cant honk at a car for that. I guess its ok to honk at bikes in the way.

sheesh.

kathrot

i am sitting her dying...that is -fantastic-!!!

zacked

My favorite thing I've ever had yelled at me was "Nice brakes on your track bike!"...from some bro in an SUV.

That and "get on the sidewalk!" in downtown DC, where it's, you guessed it! illegal to ride on the sidewalk.

ryand

The best part of the "Nice brakes on your track bike!" is that Zack has a centurion conversion. Its a road bike.

Plus, the street is not a track. I usually ride a front brake on my bike. People are lame.

edit: zack, remember that 14 year old at union station "OH SWEET TRACK BIKES!"

joshuastar

my favorite so far:

i'm riding down a slow-speed street (35 posted), keeping up with cars from light to light. we've got two lanes on our side. i ride in the left to set myself up in the correct lane later on.

so now, there's no cars in the right lane at all, and this lady is behind me, honking...why isn't she passing me if she's in such a hurry, i think. eventually she passes me and starts yelling at me and i can't understand a word she's saying.

i catch up with her at the next light and i ask her what was up: "scuse me, ma'am, i didn't understand what you were saying..." real polite like, you know?
she rolls her eyes and gets pissed off and starts yelling again, pointing behind us and finally i realize what she's been trying to tell me [edit: read with a heavy suthern ack-cent]:





"THERE'S CARS!!!! THERE'S CARS BACK THERE!!!"


i was dumbfounded.



oh and just call me "sidewalk"...everybody else does...


sidewalk*

Denny Koll

Most of the time I just hear mumbled angry yelling, catch a glimpse of an angry face peering out the car window....and I have no idea what was being yelled at me. I just know that the fact that I would have the audacity to ride a bike when everyone knows you are supposed to drive a car makes people very angry.

andypants

I was riding down a four lane, somewhat busy street and some woman yelled at me to get on the sidewalk because i was going to get killed. When I got to my destination(Big Lots), I finished locking my bike up and saw the woman walking into the store. I look and her and tell her it's the law and it's safer to ride in the street, she says I'm going to get killed. I tell her my girlfriend has been hit twice on the sidewalk and I was almost hit once and never rode the sidewalk again.

She apologized and I told her to drive safe.

I Like Peeing

Phlegm is the last resort, trust me. Not something to get on your record, so be good with it.

localtalent

I gotta keep my tongue in check, it's been gettin out of hand. One of these days I'm gonna piss off the wrong guy, especially in this town.

Maybe I need anger management, I get road rage on a damn bike.

spud

best part of the "nice brakes on your track bike!" is i was riding my track bike next to zach when the SUV-driving hipsters yelled it at us.

stevo

I never understand these threads. ive never had anything said or thrown at me in 35 years of riding SJ and phila roads. And they say we're unfriendly?

sbcdestroy

take the whole lane... its a lot better for them to have to change lanes and go around, rather than mash you against the curb...

drivers here make me sick...we had a fatal hit and run about 2 blocks from my home this week... every time Ive driven and had to pass a cyclist its been no big deal at all... I dont see why some people have such issues with it.

if passing a bike rider is the biggest problem you have in a day, then you're doing pretty good...

kemmer

I forgot my lights yesterday and decided to ride on the sidewalk for about 3 miles. It was so scary. I had to go about 1/2 speed the whole time to keep from getting killed. Every driveway, alley and parking garage was a death zone. I had my hand on my brake the whole time. I nearly got hit by some jackass riding on the sidewalk as he came around the corner at full speed without even slowing/looking. NEVER AGAIN. Maybe in the burbs the sidewalk is ok, but downtown it's a nightmare.

I think if people realized how crazy the sidewalk is, they'd understand why we'd "risk getting killed" in the street.

Rattlebag

I have no problem with riding in the middle of a lane, slowing down early if I think theres an obstacle ahead, etc. It would probably piss me off if I was driving (which I don't, incidentally), but I'm happy to take abuse with a smile if it means I'm safer on the road.

If, however, I'm being a perfectly courtious road user and someone decides to be a dick I will spit, swear, ride slowly in front of them, tap on their car at the lights, and generally bahave badly.

Moximitre

my best story involves property damage!

I was riding home from a billiards league, and was likely drunk, so... I look back on this proudly and embarrassingly at the same time.

A (i believe it was yellowcard) concert had just let out at the UIC pavilion, which coincidently, I live near. Some high school kids in mommies Volvo SUV (blaring Yellowcard, oddly enough) started yelling at and heckling me, which I shrugged off (as I always do) Then one of them threw a beer bottle at me, and missed by a scant 5 or 6 feet. Ok, now I'm pissed. Next redlight they stop at, I rode up, and broke the side mirror OFF with my lock, and yelled something like, "welcome to chicago B****es!" I then sprinted the wrong way down a one way street. Now they get to go home and explain to mommie why her mirror was broken.

get_nuts

Man, Tuesday, I was riding west on Van Buren. At the intersection with Federal St., the crossing traffic has a stop sign but Van Buren traffic doesn't. A SUV did the pull out halfway into the intersection while looking at traffic thing, right in my way, so I changed to the right lane (van buren is a one-way). Then right as I'm coming into the intersection, they gun it, then slam on the brakes right in the middle of my way. I skid sideways (in the pouring rain) and come to a stop like a foot from the car. I give them a what-the-****? shrug, and since they're stopped, I go in front of them. They used this chance to lay on the horn so I turned around and asked loudly what their ****ing problem was. Their informative response was to give me the finger. I demanded that this ******* get out of their ****ing car, but they must have interpreted this as "floor it and get away". Ironically, they ran right through the stop sign at Jackson street (which is very busy) and almost got into another accident.

It was a Securitas security guard in an SUV. Figures.

Were they trying to start a fight, or what?

humble_biker

carry a gun and put a few rounds in the back glass. They'll stop yellin then.

ryanday

They probably just told her some ******* biker did it, and mentioned nothing about the beer bottle.

And BAM! a worsening image of cyclists appeared.

anarchocyclist

One way or another, I bet their boss would love to have heard about unsafe behavior from one of their guards. Next time call the company and get that dickbag fired and off the street.

get_nuts

It looked like they were driving to work, not patrolling anything. The SUV wasn't marked to indicate anything about Securitas and it was downtown Chicago, not on a campus or anything. I don't think the company would have been able to figure out which guard would have been driving there on their way to work.

Then again, I don't know why they would have been commuting in their uniform and down a small side street.

Aeroplane

Never really had a problem. I just assume all honks are friendly (hello!) and wave back. If anybody yells at me, I just smile big, wave, and say "Hi! How are you?" Visibility is safety.

d_roche

these are all subtle, yet very scary signs of fat aggression being unleashed by the vast majority of the obese population in this wonderful nation.

babychris

so earlier, I was going to wawa for some money blah blah, but I was riding from 2nd and lobard towards broad, and at this light I went between stopped cars as the light was changing and I moved into the right lane, and this cab got pissed because I took his lane, so he pulled up next to me and for 3 blocks he shadows me going "your going die ****ty". so the entire time he was saying that I was laughing at the poor, poor person in his back seat.

Denny Koll

The same exact thing happened to me...I swear.