Being a cyclist is starting to make me hate people and become a “bitter biker” since almost every ride I go on somebody does something crazy and dangerous on the road that puts me and or their life in danger. 90% of drivers either speed up or maintain their high rate of speed when they pass, and every single ride there’s always a couple drivers that either pull out in front of me, or pass very close, or pass me when there clearly is no room etc.

Drivers treat you like you’re an obstacle in their path, some garbage that blew onto the road, that they need to navigate around by either straddling with their tires or maybe even running over for fun to see what happens, a suicidal rabbit or something, not a human being, a person that would like to go home in one piece to their family, and certainly not a motor vehicle with the same rights and considerations as a car, including 3 foot minimum passing distance.

And some of the worst offenders, are commercial drivers, guys that should know better, ambulances, tractor trailers, box trucks, dump trucks, oil/gas trucks, school buses, people who make a living out of driving.

It will be interesting when gas is $10/gallon in the next few years and all these inconsiderate uneducated hillbilly assholes up here have to ride a bike to get to the their temp jobs and to the bar, karma is a bitch.

It never fails to amaze me when someone does something nuts, here’s a short list of of the last two season’s near misses

1. a block from home after a long ride, I’m coming up my street in the middle of the block not even an intersection, and a car darts crosses over the opposite lane to park on the sidewalk on the other side of the road, facing the wrong direction. I had to lock my breaks up and skid sides and came inches of getting run over. If I wouldn’t have reacted faster I would have surely been hit.

2. In the middle of raining thunderstorm I got caught in, I’m racing towards home, I’m coming down 8th street, for you locals that know the road I’m talking about. I’m hauling ass because I’m freezing and I have to stay warm, so I’m actually doing 5+mph over the posted speed limit. I’m taking over the whole lane, which I’m legally allowed to do, esp. if I’m at or over the speed limit. An old fuck passes me around the worst possible blind corner when we’re both going over the speed limit, he swings out in the opposite lane to pass me. Now this is a very busy road, and there’s always people coming up and down, luckily nobody was coming up the hill around that corner at that exact moment, or it would have been a real mess. I was infuriated, and road super hard and caught the guy a minute later at the next stop light at the bottom of the hill, I rolled by and yelled a couple warm greetings at him, i was just glad to be alive and shocked at what just happened. When the light turn green I went straight through the intersection, and he passed me again 30 seconds later, I was mad and riding really hard now, the next light was about 2 miles a way, I did +400watts all the way to the next light and caught up with the guy right away again, this time when I coasted by him, he rolled down the window and an astonished driver proclaimed,”you’re faster then me on that bike” with a mouth missing half his teeth and a sheepish half drunken grin, I said, “you’re dumber then any driver I’ve ever seen in that car” and rode up to the line and rode away when it turned green.

3. Last March, I’m riding and I’m even in the shoulder which here is the “glass, gravel, etc bike lane”, and an elderly driver swerved and into the shoulder and clipped me on the side and almost sent me off the bike, I was at least a foot into the shoulder, I would have probably been run over had I been in the lane slightly as I usually am to avoid the glass and gravel and potholes and garbage on the shoulders up here in “low maintainceville”.

4. This summer, climbing up a hill which has two lanes i.e a passing lane, on route92, a minivan stayed in the right lane and passed me at a high rate of speed and came within inches of hitting me, there was plenty of room to seem me from at least a hundred yards away, I think there was another car in the passing lane, but they could have slowed down or even sped up and moved over. I wish I had a helmet came and could have gotten their plate number.

5. My Friend Sean almost got killed last summer while out leading a group ride, some idiot cut him right off on the intersection, guy had no license and tried to switch positions with the passenger after the accident I heard, needless to say I think this guy is behind bars right now.

Anyway thanks for reading, I feel better now getting that off my chest.

Found a link to this news site http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9496562 at this post where there was another bike/cyclist conflict. I think I’ve seen examples of both cases of where the driver was at fault and the cyclists was at fault and also where both where at fault in an accident.

I would say that we should defend ourselves, and not instigating fights, if someone just about ran you over, then call the police, get their license plate report them, DO NOT try to act as judge jury and executioner out there on the road, no matter how mad or right you are, or you could find yourself dead or in jail. But  if a crazy driver jumps out of his car and tries to take you out with a tire iron, then by all means take him out first to defend yourself.

There’s a very fine line between defending yourself and starting a fighting and calming a situation down.

Good post about post accident review of a cyclist’s accident and a link to 10 road cycling safety tips.

I agree that wearing a helmet is important, but that statistically speaking when someone gets killed by a car they’re usually crushed to death and smashed in ways that not even a motorcycle helmet would have saved them. But in more common typical spills, hitting gravel, another riders tire etc. and just flying into the road, I think a properly worn helmet can help.  So please wear a helmet as head injuries suck, I have a friend with one and it’s very sad thing to have to see happen to a person!

Can’t believe how backwards the road cycling laws can be. I think the main problem is that non-cyclists don’t take bikes on the road seriously, they don’t understand it’s more then just a child’s toy, it’s a vehicle that’s legally allowed to be on the road just like cars. You have to share the road legally. Probably because they feel like I’m so much bigger then a cyclists, and faster too, they just need to watch out and get out of my way, they don’t believe that they have to stop or move over. On this single lane bridge by my house cars cross the double solid yellow line to pass me dangerously on this narrow bridge. I ride in the exact middle of my lane because if I don’t everyone tries passing me, the really sick part is that I usually sprint across the bridge at nearly 30MPH the bridge it’s that long, but yet drivers think it’s ok to swerve into the opposite lane and pass me anyway.  I”m actually going as fast or faster then the posted speed limit on that bridge when cars pass me. Why can’t they just wait like 5 seconds and pass me after the bridge where there’s actually a safe shoulder for me to ride so they can pass safely.

The one day I got really mad as I was sprinting very fast 30+MPH across the bridge so I wouldnt’ get passed and of course somebody did. I thought to myself this guy thinks he’s fast but he doesn’t know that a well trained road cyclists can ride fast enough to catch up with you at the next stop light or follow you home to your drive way as I did in this case. The driver passed and I followed him for a few blocks all the way to his house, I was only a half block behind him. I let him have a piece of mind when I rode by him as he walked into his house. I told him that I’ll be back to get his licence plate number so I can file a complaint for him passing me dangerously and illegally on the bridge. He just looked at me a bit shocked and surprised as he snuck into his house.

Man all I want to do is go for a ride and get a workout lol