Cycling & bikes - Got screamed at for the first time today

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Got screamed at for the first time today

I had a really good one this morning. I'm grooving up Hudson St. in
Manhattan on the fix, and some nut buzzes me real close. Whatever.
He's got Jersey plates, which is par for the course. Hudson St. is
where the Holland Tunnel lets out, so that's where all the clueless
masses from New Jersey get dumped on their way into the city.
Naturally, I pass the guy a few blocks later in slow traffic, and I
make sure to fully take the lane in front of him this time, so he
can't pull the buzz maneuver again. This completely enrages the
fellow, and he starts leaning on his horn behind me. Never mind that
I'm four feet from the back bumper of the cab in front of me, going
exactly the speed of traffic. That's irrelevant. HOOOOONNNNNK! When
there's room to do so, I pull into the bike lane on the left, and the
irate driver pulls up beside me and rolls down his window. He's this
musclebound guy with a jarhead haircut and a little thin moustache.
Veins are popping out on the guy's forehead.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIKE LANE IS FOR?" shouts the jarhead.

He rages off before I can give the patently obvious reply, "Why, to
double park delivery trucks in, of course!" I give a beaming grin and
a cheerful wave. And why not? I havcen't had this much fun in a while.
The jarhead is so busy scowling at me in his rearview mirror and
flipping me the bird that he almost doesn't notice that traffic is at
a dead stop a hundred feet in front of him. He slams on the brakes,
and I glide smoothly by his driver-side window and give him a little
fingers-only wave: buh-bye.

He never catches me again.

CC

Got screamed at for the first time today

So, I'm riding my bike home from work on Hwy 100, keeping to the right, but to
the left of the white line on the side of the road, as is my custom [and legal
right]. No bike lanes here, folks.

As cars are buzzing past me at 35 mph on this 4-lane street, some maroon gets
behind me and honks. One short beep.

I hold my line.

One longer beep.

I hold my line

One reeeeealy loooong blast on the old horn-o-rino.

I hold my line.

Finally, asshat decides to pull into the left lane and pass me. Only it's Miss
Asshat, and three of her cute, high school aged girl friends. They yell
something rude. Catching them at the next stop light I ask, "Do I make you
horney?" in my best Austin Powers voice.

They laugh. I laugh. We all get over it.
--
J'm

To Reply Direct, Remove Clothes.
....-.-

Got screamed at for the first time today

"Shaun Rimmer" wrote in message
...

snip
The road I commute on is
a narrow country lane (2 cars wide, no shoulder or pavement). Most of the
road is at the national speed limit of 70 mph. The drivers all think they
have to be travelling at that speed the minute they see the sign, it's
utterly ridiculous that they can't slow down or move out when passing me,
and having a car pass at 70+ mph no more than 1' from your elbow is
_extremely_ unnerving.

snip

Shaun aRe

Shaun,
roads such as you describe don't have a speed limit of 70mph. I think you
must be talking about the black diagonal stripe on white circular background
sign. This indicates the national speed limit for the road type. This varies
depending on the road type, i.e. single carriageway / dual carriageway /
street lighting etc. and can vary from 30- 70 mph.
If they are doing those speeds then they are merely acting in the
traditional selfish manner of most car drivers and it sounds like the one
doing 80+ had probably recently been to see "2 Fast, 2 Furious" and now
believes he's in a movie!!
The only thing you can do to influence matters is either make a note of
random reg nos. (preferably worst offenders) and report them to the police
as having run you off the road into a hedge / ditch / whatever...or (and
this one takes balls of steel ;-), cycle far enough from the edge of the
road to force them to slow down / evaluate the situation / take evasive
action. Of course, the latter may lead to a genuine need to get in touch
with the police / other emergency services.
HTH
Dave.

Got screamed at for the first time today

David Kerber wrote:
In article , says...

I was chilling under a shade tree, cleaning the sweat off my sunglasses
in the middle of my road ride, and I heard two loud honks. This high
school commuter car with three young blondes drives by screaming,
smiling and waving.

Male or female?

The appropriate sex (chicks (I'm a guy named Lynn)).

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall
"I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we could to protect
our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security."
--Microsoft VP in charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

Got screamed at for the first time today

Shaun Rimmer wrote:
Every day I get buzzed, and at stupid silly speeds. The road I commute on is
a narrow country lane (2 cars wide, no shoulder or pavement). Most of the
road is at the national speed limit of 70 mph. The drivers all think they
have to be travelling at that speed the minute they see the sign, it's
utterly ridiculous that they can't slow down or move out when passing me,
and having a car pass at 70+ mph no more than 1' from your elbow is
_extremely_ unnerving

70 does make you wobble doesn't it Wince, Saying that I got blasted
onto the curb the other day when a jam sandwich came blasting past at
some crazy speed. Sad thing was about 5 mins later it came blasting back
the other way. I guess the local cop-shops chips where getting cold..
Chuckle

Just a couple of weeks ago on the way up the hill, I heard a car coming up
fast behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and he's way out on the other
side of the road. Cool, thinks me, I'm safe. Huh, ******* swerved towards me
on purpose, hammering the engine and just missed me. Small rally styled
sports car, must've been doing 80 mph - the air blast as he passed knocked
my front wheel into the ditch. I screamed swear words (pointlessly I know)
at him, stood on the pedals and gave every crude hand gesture I knew, hoping
he'd see and come back to give me ****, but he just kept on motoring up the
road. It took me the rest of the journey to work plus 2 hours to stop
shaking.

Nasty... Those boy racers are not cool when it comes to pedestrians and
cyclists.. A couple of times around here I looked behind me (No cars
within sight) and then signaled right.. Only to find that in the mean
time a frightingly fast boy-racer has managed to "Appear" has made me
very jumpy on right turns.

Mind you I've had a couple of woman driver decide to horn me doing right
turns (I assume because I blocking their progress). In the standard
english tradition I normal return the favour by shouting "Learn to
F**King drive" and presenting them with the accident 2 fingered salute
which is perfect for these occasions..

I started shaking again on the way home, and couldn't bring myself to cycle
in to work for a couple of days afterward and had to bum a lift. I'm still
absolutely furious.

Saying that Shaun, I've had similar in the car, after a couple of close
calls and accualy hitting somebody. I am convinced that anyone wanting
to doa right turn ont he road I'm driving on is going to attempt to
drive into me.

The last time it happened I was so CROSS I accualy followed the chap
(who had basicly tried to drive into me) flashing my headlights and
sounding my horn..

Then again the Jeep takes very little damage from impacts, obviously I
don't feel quite so secure when riding the bike..

Basicly I think that UK roads are being driving by more and more
complete buck eejits...than ever before..

Gyp

(I do not drive a small, trvial car, nor am I a small or trvial MTB
rider)...
(http://anoraks.uk.net/gallery/Gyp)

Got screamed at for the first time today

Gyp wrote in message
...
Shaun Rimmer wrote:
Every day I get buzzed, and at stupid silly speeds. The road I commute
on is
a narrow country lane (2 cars wide, no shoulder or pavement). Most of
the
road is at the national speed limit of 70 mph. The drivers all think
they
have to be travelling at that speed the minute they see the sign, it's
utterly ridiculous that they can't slow down or move out when passing
me,
and having a car pass at 70+ mph no more than 1' from your elbow is
_extremely_ unnerving

70 does make you wobble doesn't it Wince, Saying that I got blasted
onto the curb the other day when a jam sandwich came blasting past at
some crazy speed. Sad thing was about 5 mins later it came blasting back
the other way. I guess the local cop-shops chips where getting cold..
Chuckle

Bunch of arse!

Just a couple of weeks ago on the way up the hill, I heard a car coming
up
fast behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and he's way out on the other
side of the road. Cool, thinks me, I'm safe. Huh, ******* swerved
towards me
on purpose, hammering the engine and just missed me. Small rally styled
sports car, must've been doing 80 mph - the air blast as he passed
knocked
my front wheel into the ditch. I screamed swear words (pointlessly I
know)
at him, stood on the pedals and gave every crude hand gesture I knew,
hoping
he'd see and come back to give me ****, but he just kept on motoring up
the
road. It took me the rest of the journey to work plus 2 hours to stop
shaking.

Nasty... Those boy racers are not cool when it comes to pedestrians and
cyclists..

You're not kidding - they don't care if it's all traffic and junctions,
they're all about maximum acceleration and maximum braking. ****ing *******.

A couple of times around here I looked behind me (No cars
within sight) and then signaled right.. Only to find that in the mean
time a frightingly fast boy-racer has managed to "Appear" has made me
very jumpy on right turns.

I know the feling........

Mind you I've had a couple of woman driver decide to horn me doing right
turns (I assume because I blocking their progress). In the standard
english tradition I normal return the favour by shouting "Learn to
F**King drive" and presenting them with the accident 2 fingered salute
which is perfect for these occasions..

BTDT! Heheheheh.......

I started shaking again on the way home, and couldn't bring myself to
cycle
in to work for a couple of days afterward and had to bum a lift. I'm
still
absolutely furious.

Saying that Shaun, I've had similar in the car, after a couple of close
calls and accualy hitting somebody. I am convinced that anyone wanting
to doa right turn ont he road I'm driving on is going to attempt to
drive into me.

The last time it happened I was so CROSS I accualy followed the chap
(who had basicly tried to drive into me) flashing my headlights and
sounding my horn..

You catch him?

Kath has chased a couple of idiots down before now, for cutting her up and
making her figuratively **** herself. One even got out the car when she
caught him, then legged it back into the car when she jumped out herself,
heheheheh - she's a gorgeous sweet woman, but I wouldn't like to be the
idiot that ****ed her off, nosirree - nope, not me! Heheheheh.....

Then again the Jeep takes very little damage from impacts, obviously I
don't feel quite so secure when riding the bike..

Basicly I think that UK roads are being driving by more and more
complete buck eejits...than ever before..

Aye, quite probably. Add to this an increase in overall
traffic..........shud-d-der............

Shaun R