Tired from working for the past 8 hours, I begin my ride home on a beater that I threw together while my new paint job is curing. The beater has pink wrap so I expect a few yells from the drunk college students that roam from one depressingly crowded bar to the next-- nothing new, right?

As I get to the first intersection I realize that I'm going to have to trackstand while an entire crowd of drunk fraternity types pass by (the light was still red). One of the ****ers stops and stares for just a second before waddling up to my face; getting as close as he can. I can smell the cheap vodka and bad cologne as he claps his hands an inch from my nose in an attempt to simultaneously make me lose balance, my tempter, and prove the massive size of his cock.

I sat there so dumb struck, staring him down from where I still held my balance, tempted more than ever to just spit right into that **** eating grin-- the crowd moved on and his attention quickly wandered to some barely clothed woman shivering from the cold. I've never been so enraged that I just froze-- his action defied any normal confrontation I have ever experienced.

Downtown Blacksburg can be a real **** show some weekends.

congrats on keeping your cool...not even sure what i would've done in the situation.

.. you should have just fell right onto him! Then spit a loogie.

Why are you so angry?

"its not pink its light red"
You should have spit in his ****ing face.

good job at keeping your cool last month I ran three jay walking drunks over and busted myself up pretty bad

also two weks ago I had the same kind of thing hppen and I lost my temper and hit the guy with my lock I feel bad now for bashing a drunk

Be pissed four years from now when when that ******bag is signing your paycheck. In the meantime, enjoy your freedom.

you shouldve bent him over and used his ass crack as a bike rack......for his friends ammusement

Oh lord, it hurts so much cos it's true.

Tell me about it, I've been dealing with the Saturday VT college age crowd since 6am at one job and until last call at my second job. Today was bizarre for some reason and its only February. I hope it clears out during break, at least this time of year the trails have low traffic. An SS in the woods is good for clearing the head.

There were people on foot all over the place when I left the bar after my shift. Drunk peds are bad enough, but nothing beats a jeep with its top down full of drunks swerving and yelling as they drive by, another Blacksburg trend.

Keep your cool. Ignore them, don't give what they want-a rise out of you. It is a cycle that gets repetative year after year, whatever.

Craig

I dont like that about America. Never ever had anything like that happen here. I dont look forward to that. ****.

Not all places are like that in the US. It is a big country. It is by far the most aggressive country I have been in however. Just look at what comes out of Hollywood and that says a lot. Read the magazines when you are at a checkout line in a grocery store and that also say quite a bit about the culture here. Pick up trucks, drunk college students, women on cell phones driving Excursions (huge SUVs) and the list goes on. I would love to ride around Europe on a bike and blend in better.

I will say, I do not take any crap from people. I ride by a very urban high school close by quite often and have had some students want to try and scare me while riding. They soon back down as I pick up speed and look them in the eye and ride towards them with meaning. I will indeed hit them if they don't move, because I really don't give a **** what happens. Maybe they know it when I look at them?

Better to keep your cool though. I wish I could, but I don't. Only back down once when a guy told me he was going to run me over with his car. I was run up on by some guy once at a stop sign. He hit my rear tire while I was waiting to cross the street at a stop sign. This was in a black neighborhood and all the people on the side of the street told the driver not to do that. I just calmly turned around and looked at him in the eye and then turned back around. Once again, I was in no mood and really didn't care what happened. Probably not a good idea. Some days if you are in a bad enough mood, it is hard to just back down, but it would be the smart thing to do.

Craig, what bar do you work at? I work down at Bollo's.

How come?

He's angry because some dude invaded his personal space. If I got up into your face for no reason you'd be pissed too.

i thought this thread was going to be about riding drunk and hitting a "stupid ped" that "jumped into my path".

Wave your trusty U Lock at them next time.

The trackstand is the fixed gear rider's Achilles' heel. So vulnerable, like a whale surfacing to catch some air.

Yeah, I caught that, but I don't get the "I had to trackstand".

Did some fratboy have a gun to his mom's head and pull some kind of "you put a foot down and we kill her!" ****?

That one made me LOL!.....very carfully however, as I am nursing broken ribs at this time...ouch...ouch...ouch.

Erik, I don't even try to ride downtown on the weekend unless I can help it. Except from my house to Cellar for hammer time, and occasionally a couple sprint runs down Main and Draper if it's cool outside.

is there a city ordinance that says you have to trackstand at a light? Because you gotta admit...as soon as you saw that group of guys and realized that you were balancing at a light you knew you were gonna get ****. What's wrong with just taking the foot out of the pedal and standing like a normal person if you knew you were gonna cop **** for trackstanding? I guess I just don't understand.

Trackstanding is showy and will attract attention, there's no getting around it. In sketchy areas I have learned to unclip and put my damn feet on the ground.

I deal with d-bags here in Gainesville fairly often. They call me ***, sissy, all that crap. I always take it though because I consider myself an ambassador to the non-cycling world. If I piss someone off with a smart remark, they might take their frustration out on the next rider they see.

I was hit with a beer can a few weeks ago that cut my cheek. I simply got a good look at his tag and reported him to the police. We'll see if anything materializes, but if he gets caught, he will be charged with a "throwing a deadly missile" felony.