Funny story, thank goodness he wasn’t behind the wheel

[pfunkallstar]

Ramming Speed! One bad lawyer spoils the bunch. Seriously though, sometimes it isn’t worth the effort. Give em a double gun next time and send him on his angry way.

[GuyContinental]

I may have encountered this guy (or more likely his brother given the distance) yesterday as well- EB WO&D right after Maple, I passed a ped gaggle that was owning the right side of the trail. Runner hugging the middle of the WB side (earbuds in of course) not only doesn’t yield but scrunches up his face, mouths f*you, gives me a double finger and actually makes himself wider by throwing out his arms while stepping more into the center of the trail. Trail was otherwise clear (and as wide as the WO&D gets) and I wasn’t riding at all aggressively.

I thought about turning around and eating one of his earbuds… That might make an impression.

[rcannon100]

Get a bike vid camera on you handle bar. Film it. Post it YouTube as official dork of the day.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

This sort of engagement happens to me maybe 5 times a year. Words are exchanged–usually quickly and full of adrenaline–then we catch up with each other. It’s either the next light, or I’ve turned around to catch up with someone. Most times, heat ramps down to an actual conversation: why’d you say that, why’d you do that, well because I was trying to do this, I didn’t know, now I understand. Most times it’s positive. Lots of times there are apologies and courtesies at the end. Once I even got a pledge from a driver to do better next time.

This one yesterday though went straight to Crazy Town.

[jrenaut]

@rcannon100 19812 wrote:

Get a bike vid camera on you handle bar. Film it. Post it YouTube as official dork of the day.

Not if he’s a lawyer. He’ll have the FBI after you for wiretapping when you “make an unauthorized recording”.

[baiskeli]

@jrenaut 19816 wrote:

Not if he’s a lawyer. He’ll have the FBI after you for wiretapping when you “make an unauthorized recording”.

Would be funny to see a lawyer saying “F*** the regulations!” though.

[vvill]

W-o-w, nice story.

I usually don’t bother engaging anyone anymore.

[creadinger]

@GuyContinental 19811 wrote:

I may have encountered this guy (or more likely his brother given the distance) yesterday as well- EB WO&D right after Maple, I passed a ped gaggle that was owning the right side of the trail. Runner hugging the middle of the WB side (earbuds in of course) not only doesn’t yield but scrunches up his face, mouths f*you, gives me a double finger and actually makes himself wider by throwing out his arms while stepping more into the center of the trail. Trail was otherwise clear (and as wide as the WO&D gets) and I wasn’t riding at all aggressively.

I wonder if I’m WAY oblivious, or I have an extremely short memory related to cycling and hostile peds because I just do not notice these types of things when I’m on the trails. Sheesh. It’s really depressing seeing all the hate and people consciously choosing to be dicks to other people. I try not to ride the trails on weekends anymore which limits where I can go unfortunately. Do people get a sense that the general hostility is boiling up more than usual because of increaseing crowds or that it’s always there at a constant level? With more and more and more people using the trails it would make sense that it’s increasing. It’s kinda sad how crowded trails should be considered a good thing, but I really don’t see it that way. Not with the way people are (and I mean all users).

[paulg]

@GuyContinental 19811 wrote:

I may have encountered this guy (or more likely his brother given the distance) yesterday as well- EB WO&D right after Maple, I passed a ped gaggle that was owning the right side of the trail. Runner hugging the middle of the WB side (earbuds in of course) not only doesn’t yield but scrunches up his face, mouths f*you, gives me a double finger and actually makes himself wider by throwing out his arms while stepping more into the center of the trail. Trail was otherwise clear (and as wide as the WO&D gets) and I wasn’t riding at all aggressively.

I thought about turning around and eating one of his earbuds… That might make an impression.

I may be reading this wrong and please forgive me if I am but it appears that to pass the pedestrians you moved to the left side of the trail which was being occupied by the runner coming toward you. It also seems that you expected him to yield to you even though you were on his side of the trail. I’m sorry to have to say this, but in that situation (again if I’m reading it correctly) I wait for the trail to be completely clear on the left side before I make the pass. Why should someone yield (biker or runner or whatever) when someone coming at them has decided to make a pass and is now on their side of the trail. They shouldn’t have to in my opinion. I don’t condone the finger gestures etc. but I can see the runners point.

[GuyContinental]

@paulg 19858 wrote:

I may be reading this wrong and please forgive me if I am but it appears that to pass the pedestrians you moved to the left side of the trail which was being occupied by the runner coming toward you. It also seems that you expected him to yield to you even though you were on his side of the trail. I’m sorry to have to say this, but in that situation (again if I’m reading it correctly) I wait for the trail to be completely clear on the left side before I make the pass. Why should someone yield (biker or runner or whatever) when someone coming at them has decided to make a pass and is now on their side of the trail. They shouldn’t have to in my opinion. I don’t condone the finger gestures etc. but I can see the runners point.

On the center (no line there) with a clear trail and originally a clean passing space- he deliberately stepped/puffed up into me, closing the distance to the center of the trail CREATING the hazardous situation.

[KLizotte]

Brendan’s encounter was obviously with someone more than a little mentally unstable. Be thankful it didn’t turn out worse.

Fortunately my encounters with rude/hostile people are far and few between. When they do occur, I calm down by reminding myself of all the times drivers, peds, cyclists have gone out of their way to accomodate me on the road, trail, sidewalk, etc. The rude folks are the 1%.

[MCL1981]

I love watching mentally unstable lunatics have whack attacks like that. I would have absolutely pulled out my phone and video taped this encounter for YouTube.

[vvill]

Had a slight incident on my home up Westmoreland today. There was a runner on the street salmoning (even though I’m pretty sure there is a sidewalk?). My somewhat urban-cycling commuter brain saw her, noted her presence, and continued cycling towards her and taking into other sensory input that is important to me, whilst planning to move out of her way more into the road (and into traffic – this is a one lane road each way) when the time was necessary. At this point she moved further into the middle of the road too, I guess assuming I was just going to plough into her. It’s not much different to when you are walking towards someone in the opposite direction and you both move to avoid the other. Instead she gets indignant and shouts something about “watching where you’re going”. Maybe if you want to run with headphones in you could run on the sidewalk.

Still, it was nothing compared to von Buckingham’s story. Nor my morning incidents. Really not a great commuting day. Pretty sure most drivers don’t give a hell about Bike to Work Day/Week/Bike Month.

[brendan]

There are runners in the bike lane in front of my apartment most evenings, running both ways (correct direction and salmoning). This is on Wilson Blvd, across the street from Whole Foods. I can’t blame them too much, though, as the crowd in front of Boccato Gelato is thick with kids and dogs for hours, esp. in good weather and virtually impassible at a standard walking pace.

Though, they may want to consider rerouting around the block since it’s a known hazardous area…I’ve been known to sneak out the back of the building through the bar’s basement door to the parking lot if I’m carrying something heavy or bulky to my car in the evening.

Brendan

[txgoonie]

@vvill 19924 wrote:

There was a runner on the street salmoning (even though I’m pretty sure there is a sidewalk?).

Isn’t the runner actually in the correct spot, i.e. running against traffic? Salmoning is really a term reserved for bikes going the wrong direction, no? I’m not saying that moving into the road was the correct thing for her to do, but at least she put herself in the right position to be able to see what was going on.

[Author]

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