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A run-in with a cyclist

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Smallpotatoes, Sep 7, 2014.

  1. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    This morning, when I was driving home after covering a 5k, I was at a stop sign and after a group of four or five cyclists drove through the intersection, I pulled out and turned left into it. I approached them and they were riding two or three abreast, in the middle of the road. With nobody approaching me the other way, I passed them, not going all the way into the other side of the road, but enough to get around them...or so I thought.
    I arrived at a red light and one of the cyclists knocked on my window. I rolled down my window and the guy said "Was there enough road for you? Why didn't you go around me?"
    I was kind of confused because I thought I did go around him. I mumbled something about how maybe I didn't see him. He said something about being in the middle of the road to avoid a rock.
    I asked if I hit him and he said I didn't. He said "Just be more careful."
    Then the light changed and I drove away.
    I'm still a little confused about what exactly I did wrong. I didn't hit him. He had no business riding in the middle of the road two or three abreast and I thought I did enough to avoid him.
    No harm, no foul, right?
    What business did he have confronting me?
    Before you say "He probably thought you were going to hit him" remember one thing:
    I didn't hit him.
    He also had no business being in the middle of the road.
     
  2. ChrisLong

    ChrisLong Well-Known Member

    Bicyclists are becoming worse douchebags than Audi and Mercedes owners. There are tons in my city. THEY think they own the road and are rarely in the bike lanes, which are plentiful.
    My biggest gripe are when they are in the left-turn pockets. Bastards don't think they are holding up traffic, but the are.
     
  3. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't sweat it. You didn't hit him and you surely weren't very aggressive with your car.

    I respect cyclists, but some can be real dicks and make them all look bad.
     
  4. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Some of my best friends are avid cyclists, and they're great people - but like pedestrians, just because you have the right of way, doesn't mean you should take it for granted or not be considerate to cars.. And it would also be nice if you could "save the world" without having to remind everybody about it constantly. Those "One Less Car" signs are obnoxious.
     
  5. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    This isn't Europe, either, where bikes are at the top of the food chain.
     
  6. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Depending on the local laws, cyclists do have as much right to the middle of the lane as an automobile. How close were you to them? Most states require you give cyclists three feet when you pass them.

    On our group rides (21-30 of us), we ride three abreast. It's actually safer that way than riding single file. It forces drivers to wait until they can safely pass all of us at once. You ride single file with that many people and you get drivers who start to pass the group, get caught by an oncoming car and squeeze the cyclists off the road.
     
  7. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    I thought I was far enough from him. Whatever I might have done that he thought endangered him was not intentional. I don't think he had any business confronting me.
     
  8. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Tough to say without knowing his history. Maybe he's been sideswiped before and is paranoid.

    I've done it. I've also had drivers intentionally try to run me off the road and even throw coke cans at me when I was soloing and hard against the right-side curb.
     
  9. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    It was completely unintentional on my part. I didn't think I did anything wrong and no harm was done. He should have left me alone.
     
  10. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    False flag.
     
  11. 3_Octave_Fart

    3_Octave_Fart Well-Known Member

    I will say a close pass by a motor vehicle at 30 mph is a terrifying experience.
    Most 'bad' cyclist behavior I see is plain arrogance, lack of road sense and training.
     
  12. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    I was going about 15-20 at the most.
     
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