Well i'm a ******.
 

First I want to say, I'm not proud of what happened last night. It was stupid of me to respond and that stupidity just kept flowing for me.

I was out on my normal thursday night ride and it was around 2:30 in the morning. We lost most of the group by now and we were making our way back to LA from Venice, as we road down Venice some what separated by the pace we were keeping some drunk in a car started at the back of the line. He was harassing another girl before he got to me and my friend who were at the front of the line.

He pulled up next to us and started saying "pedal faster or you wont be hipsters! your almost hipsters just gotta pedal a little faster!" and this isn't even insulting. I just happened to be in a bad mood because my Ex was on the ride and there is beef between us. After about 30 seconds of this I tell him to drive on, and he keeps talking so I start sprinting up next to him and tell him to drive on. He speeds up and swerves in front of me. I don't get hit hard but he made it impossible for me to avoid contact with the car. I lose it as soon as this happens, grab onto the passenger side window where his girlfriend is sitting and start cussing and telling him what exactly will go down if he is man enough to stop the car. I lose my grip on the car pretty fast because my balance is shot from him tapping my handle bars. I chase him down the rest of the street and he turns and speeds off as I talk about his man hood. My friends ask me if I'm cool, I lose it at the stop light.

I was sober, it was a small group that i've been riding with for awhile. I raged hard, acted a fool. I didn't respond correctly in this situation, and I will be riding with my U-lock in easy access. This is a situation in which a driver responded in a way that could have cost me much more then my sense of security and I did not say anything prior to being hit that should have lead to aggression, the only words that were coming out of my mouth were "drive on."

This is an isolated incident in my mind. I've got a few numbers this week of people saying "I want to ride." What it comes down to is I was unlucky, I found the ******bag that thought he could be cool in his car and I'm sure the three other passengers with him will not be driving with him again because he's clearly a ****ing ******. Unlike the thread on raging that I've read before I was not threatened in anyway, just had a chip on my shoulder. I should have kept my mouth shut until this drunk moved on but now I know a bit more.

Los Angeles in my experience has been a very bike friendly place. I haven't had many incidents, I pulled my u-lock on a bad drive a few weeks ago but that was just a reaction from nearly being hit. Generally people are more interested in Bike culture then they are in keeping bikers down, they're even more interested once 5 people of a 20 person group walks up and just talks to them.

Also Hairnet - I was in your hood last night. I rode Sunset from Echo Park all the way west. As we hit UCLA there was a group of 20 and the onramp to the freeway had traffic backed up for 2-3 miles. There were some absolutely gorgeous moments as a trail of 7 riders ahead of me kept a perfect line as we split the traffic. A girl rolled down her window as I struggled up a really steep part of the climb and asked "are you guys part of a marathon or something?" "Nope, just doing this for fun!"

the TL;DR
I had an incident with a Dbag, rather then believe the world is full of them I'm choosing to believe it was a series of bad choices that lead to this place. People are naturally good.

Good on you.

People are their own worst enemy. Don't let rage take over when you're out riding, it makes it not fun.

+1

Dude, some people won't learn unless they lose a few teeth. Its just darwin. But you were smart to not engage him. Might have been different had he stopped.

This is true.

This is also true.

hey bro, that was me.

sorry, I was just driving and recognized your bike from the pictures here and felt like teasing a little / saying "sup!"... all in good nature. No hard feelings!

^^ lol

i have a short fuse on the road, and its worse when i drive a car, so i dont do that anymore.

You saw riders going onto the freeway? Were they on the 10?

CRIMANIMALZ!!!

So you were riding a bike, and she asked you if you were running a marathon?



I hope she was cute. For her sake.

hahaha

It definitely brought me down. I'm very embarrassed by this whole thing. My core group of riders saw me just flip out. But like I said, ex girlfriend was there and I had a chip on my shoulder all night.

I'm glad someone else caught this. It was one of the more amusing parts of the night.

I wish I was smart enough not to engage him. They were some bro looking white guys and I would have gone up against both in a heart beat. Threatening my life is the ultimate violation. I don't get violent over much but endangering my well being results a violent response. Again I'm not proud, I completely embarrassed myself. I'm trying to figure out how to let go of this so I don't dwell on it.


http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...hands/fuuu.png

Guilt will stick to you for the next little while...especially when you're on your bike. Drown yourself in books or movies or some other form of escapism other than your bike.

You'll be alright.

Or find the guy and light him on fire.

Vix,
I could, or I could just get back on my bike and head out to this: http://www.ustream.tv./channel/bike-...th-coolassmike Keep an eye out on that. I may end up on the show today.

I feel guilty for poor behavior. Not for flipping out. If I had just lost it on him. When he was gone chilled I would have been cool. Its the tantrum/throwing of bike afterwards that i'm ashamed of.

Scrodster,

If someone had got his plates I'd have been on it, or at least been in a police station catching the line up like "Yeah, thats the one right there." Someone suggested carrying pepper spray. I'm laughing at the mental image of the 4 people in the car choking on pepper spray, then pulling the guy out of the car and u-locking him a little bit.

web shows running rigt now.

tldr is tldr.

why are you apologizing on the internet for tripping out?

dude, everyone bugs out once in a while - and words are one thing but when someone endangers your life with a motor vehicle i think you are more than justified[to freak out AND smash teeth].
also, im pretty sure its healthy to just go mental once in a while. im a grown ass man taking care of a wife two kids and a mortgage and some mornings on my commute if i get cut off badly on purpose styles i'll go off route, chasing the car for a few blocks. if i catch them i'll yell a lot and maybe punch a side mirror. spitting has happened before too. or i'll just give up and keep on to work. meh.

dont worry about it. if anyone who was there has an issue with it they probably dont need to know you anyway.

Glad to hear he didn't attack you.

Avner, don't sweat it, be glad that you are alive. All of us lose our tempers once in awhile. What happened happened and it sounds like you have learned from the excursion. If it happens again and the guy is drunk, keep up long enough to get description of vehicle and license plate then call the police in the next 3 jurisdictions, karma will catch up with the drunkard.

I have to say you have a better outlook on people than I do. ;)

Say a couple "Hail Mary"s and move on.

+1 It really isn't the end of the world.

change my user name to TL;DR please, thanks scrod.

I think Avner just was venting and he said he was embarassed, so maybe just wanting to air it out.

Personally, I don't think you did much wrong. I have been fortunate in that I've only had one guy yell at me. Funny thing was that we were at a 4-way stop and I did a stop and go, sort of a rolling stop, expecting him to come to a full and complete stop. Well, he didn't. He didn't stop at all, just slowed down. He yelled out his window and I yelled back. Stupid on my part, as we were both technically in the wrong.

The thing to keep in mind is that you don't know when you are going to run into a real fruitcake, possibly packing a weapon, etc. You can't be too careful.

I think you handled it perfectly by telling him to drive on. You have to stand up for yourself. Nobody respects a wimp. You weren't confrontational or profane, you didn't give a rude gesture or anything. The dude was obviously just wanting to push your buttons.

Where it really turned bad was the swerve. Personally, I think if a driver swerves to attempt to contact a bicyclist it should be attempted manslaughter. What else would it be? I'd be inclined to get his tag number and call the police and you had witnesses to back you up also.

Bottom line, you're o.k. You could have gotten hurt, we're all thankful that you did not!