Today, while on the way home from a pleasant afternoon ride on Branciforte Ave. in Santa Cruz, I had a frightening encounter with a car. I was being tailgated on a stretch of narrow, shoulderless road by a white pickup truck. Once there was a shoulder to pull into to let him pass, he pulled up alongside me and his girlfriend, sitting in the passenger seat gave me the finger. Naturally I yelled some obscenities back and flipped the bird in return. This guy pulled right ahead of me and just STOPPED in the middle of the road. I swerved to pass on the left, as my friend was riding to my right, and the driver threw open his door in an attempt to door me deliberately. I managed to get around the door and sprinted ahead on the wrong side of the road, looking for an opportunity to get back to the correct place. The driver shut the door and began to chase me, so I took the first right turn I could find and pulled into a parking lot before he could see where I went. Of course, pulling into a parking lot at 30mph is not the wisest of ideas, and, while swerving to avoid one car backing out who didn't see me (definitely my fault, not his), the bottom of my drop struck the bumper of an SUV and sent me to the ground.

Even though tailgating a cyclist, flipping him the bird, trying to door him and then chasing him is wrong, the important lesson to be learned here is that I brought this upon myself by provoking the attack, no matter how much he may have overreacted. Thanks to my own stupid pride, I have some nice new scratches on my new bike and my body. Keep a cool head, folks. You'll know you were right, and they'll never learn.

ur life > gettin insulted

co-signed. at least you're alive and able to post this.

moral of the story: people in pickup trucks are always *******s.

Yeah, Ive had an incident where a driver did something they shouldnt have and was rude about it. I came back just as rude and then realized they could potentially run me over and ive just made the situation worse.

I know its hard, but sometimes the best action is to blow it off and be the bigger man (or woman) so to speak.

insert pictures of gun.

Next time, get a plate number. No matter what you did to provoke, he escalated it to road rage. The police and courts are taking a dim view of that these days. Practise glancing at plates quickly to improve your ability to remember one quickly.

This story doesn't have the same level of satisfaction as the "U-Lock Justice" ones.

But anyways, I never get into these situations for one very good reason: I'm a coward.

haha you idiot, because some kid and his girlfriend accosted you with their middle fingers this is all your fault and we should never retaliate.

how about we learn from your mistake and tell them to **** themselves and keep going instead of sprinting into parking lots

i usually just let small things fly, but if i'm being crowded or i get swerved at, i'll let them know i'm not happy and they can take it from there. most of the time though, it's just not worth getting bothered about it, or letting it ruin your ride.

good for you for getting away, and being able to ride again tmrw!

There's something to be said for cowardice. Also known as a self-preservation instinct.

Another important lesson I learned today: Stretch and eat a solid meal before going on rides. My calves cramped up while I was running from this driver.

timing never fails. ha

Yeah. Because telling a driver to go **** himself really worked out well for me.

Oh, right! It didn't! I almost got killed for it!

You can do what you want, I guess, but I would recommend you don't start **** you can't finish. And lord knows any **** I start with a pickup truck can't end well for me.

A real coward (me) carries pepper spray. When they act all tough all you do is pretend to be apologetic...then mace the face! Then proceed to beat the **** outta him while he can't see. At least that's the plan. I've never actually done it.

you almost got killed because you ran into a car in a parking lot.

something similar happened to me the other day. long story short basically a bunch of frat boy *******s yelled at me and gave me the finger for riding in the road, but luckily i stayed calm and didnt lower myself to their level.

No. I got scraped up because I ran into a car in a parking lot. I've gone down before. That didn't scare me. My biggest worry was putting scratches in my new bike. An angry driver trying to door me? That scared me ****less.

By the time I crashed in the parking lot, I knew I was safe.

Also: stop being an ignorant jackass.

learn to control yourself and your bike and then come back to me with that nonsense

Zelah, you're lucky I learned to keep a cool head today, or else I'd have to insult you anonymously on the internet or something.

When a driver flips me off I usually smile and give them the thumbs up. At least that way they don't get the satisfaction of knowing they pissed me off.

haha, this is the best response ive heard of. i will employ this method next time i am accosted by drivers

That's excellent!

When someone starts in on me when I'm in my car, I pull a small camera out of the glove box and smile at them while snapping a couple of pics. Never fails to get rid of them - fast.

i dun geddit. are they on bikes or in a car? do you take pictures of them or yourself? also, why does this work?

hey up you A******* I used to drive a truck. It was a the best way to carry surf boards and kayaks, and dont forget dogs love truck....... but OK maybe I am a A******* Dic****D