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aussievic
07-11-2003, 09:44 AM
been smacked on the bum whilst riding?

How did you react? Happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I was trailing along behind my husband and a car slowed down and smacked me on the bum! I was absolutely speechless (doesn't happen that often).

Cheers
Victoria

Irulan
07-11-2003, 11:26 AM
no but I have had water balloons smack and explode on my helment, and have had rfirecrackers tossed at me. My solution is to not road ride and hit the trails

Irulan

elevenpointfive
07-16-2003, 09:08 AM
Okay, what the hell? What if you'd fallen and gotten hurt, or killed? I'm so sorry this happened to you, aussievic! It's a sad state when men are so intent on harassing women that they will physically endanger people to do so. THINK, man! You really didn't consider that your stupid little power play might have KILLED a human being? Or, much worse, maybe he didn't care. :eek: :mad:

I haven't had this happen to me, thank goddess, but Hilken Mancini writes about just this in That Takes Ovaries! The thug doing the drive-by hit her so hard in the butt that she fell. "Some jerk had knocked me off my bike to feel my a$$". She was lucky there was no traffic and she was relatively unhurt. The satisfyingly vigilante-justice conclusion is that she sprinted to catch the car, smashed the rear window with her U-lock, and escaped on a bike/ped route. These jerks are toying with your life for their entertainment. They deserve punishment.

aussievic
07-16-2003, 02:37 PM
Thanks elevenpointfive.

We rang the police, but by the sounds I'd taken down the number plate incorrectly. I was sure I hadn't as I had repeated it in my head as a mantra until i caught up to my husband and wrote it down. He was about 250 metres in front of me at the time. I was so frustrated and angry that you wouldn't believe.

They really didn't take us seriously though and asked my husband when he called if "they may have meant it as a joke". My husband just responded by saying that if you did that in the street it would be harassment, so is that ok if you do it there, but in a "joking way". He was so close to me that if I'd fallen off I would've gone under the car - the shock just really threw me.

I was scared and have been hesitant to go out at the moment. I know I just have to get myself back on the bike, but you know, its hard sometimes.

The thing is, it was just a power play - I've not got a particularly attractive butt (its big, but i'm working on it!). It is the whole thing about rape not being about sex, but power, just a lower level down. Just another ar*ehole with no respect for women.

Is that book good? I just had a quick peruse on Amazon, but it didn't have a blurb on it.

Thanks again. I'm going to get back out, but it did shock me so much.

Vic

elevenpointfive
07-16-2003, 03:37 PM
Oh, geez, "if they meant it as a joke"??? Hel-LO, if someone could have been severely hurt or killed I don't think it matters how it was MEANT! What would they say if you ran into someone's car as a "joke"? Gosh, I wonder. Freaking lazy police.

It's totally about power. Doesn't matter one bit what you look like.

I'm shouting a lot in this thread. This pisses me right off.

About the book--the U.S. Amazon has it ( link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0609806599/reviews/104-1063295-1507913)), and it's not the deepest read but it is inspiring. I could copy the story for you if you like, and email/PM it to you--it's pretty short. Or a feminist/women's bookstore might be able to order the book for you.

No wonder you're shaken. Anyone would be. Take a little time to let it wear off, if that's what you need. Maybe write a letter to the editor about sharing the road. Investigate alternate routes if this one is consistently unsafe. But don't stop riding. I'm pulling for you. :)

hibiscus09
07-18-2003, 01:57 PM
Just so you guys don't think males are the only one's doing this sort of thing, my husband has told me that females have hung out the window yelling at him while he's jogging (nice things) and their cars have swerved at him in the process. He's also had stuff thrown at him.

elevenpointfive
07-18-2003, 10:28 PM
Oh, certainly. We all know that jerkness is not limited by sex. As much as I'd like to think all women are naturally awesome. :D But my totally nonscientific experiences suggest that boys do this sh!t much more than women do.

hibiscus09
07-19-2003, 01:30 PM
I told my sister that story while we were riding today & she said one time a guy in a truck put his hand on her butt & kept it there for almost a block. She said she was going so fast she didn't want to brake -- she thought she'd fall. What an idiot!

aussievic
07-19-2003, 02:56 PM
My god - that is much scarier than what happened to me. Arrrrggghhh! How can someone do that? I know I shouldn't try and rationalise idiots, but hey!

People hey?

My husband used to do a lot of running, but he said the most frequent one he used to get was "Get your knees up!" (This is England!) or "Run Forest Run!". If its good natured I think that's ok.

I used to have a big hill on my commute home and as I was labouring up that one evening I had this young guy pull alongside me and yelled "Keep Going!", gave me a big smile and the thumbs up. There was no other traffic and it did give me a boost, got me out of the saddle and really pushed myself for the last 100m. Flipsides hey?

Vic

hibiscus09
07-19-2003, 03:10 PM
Yeah, the nice people stories are much better -- :). Today, my sister couldn't hang on the hills we were riding (she hasn't been on her bike in over a year) & got off the bike & started walking it. This cute cyclist road by and grinned at her and said "it works better if you sit on it and move the pedals around." He was just kidding, and it got a laugh out of her when she was feeling discouraged.

Dogmama
07-21-2003, 04:13 AM
I had an old man cut me off - he was in a hurry to get to the grocery store. I followed him in (OK, probably not smart, but I was PMSing) and told him that he could have killed me. His response? "You could have scratched my car!" and he went inside the store. I called the cops. They came out, I pointed out the man, and they sent me away. I told them I wanted to press charges, but they (cops) didn't really take it seriously - it looked like they were joking with the old man when I left.

At least I did what I could and stayed inside the law. A U-lock applied to his windshield would have been much more satisfying though.

Irulan may be right...

hibiscus09
07-21-2003, 04:20 AM
LOL -- I PMS just like you do. :D You did the right thing.

Irulan
07-21-2003, 06:57 AM
I have a couple of pals in the local PD, one is a bike cop. Their advice whenever any of this stuff happens is to take down the liscense # and call them personally. Funny thing is, most road riders don't carry any gear; I keep a pencil stub and a scrap of paper in my pack *just in case*.

Irulan

aussievic
07-21-2003, 02:35 PM
I had a florist hit me whilst commuting in London (she paid for all damages and I also had some spectacular bruises!). She checked I was alright gave me her number and said she really had to get going as she was delivering flowers to a funeral. My husband replied in a not-quite stage whisper, "Lucky it wasn't our's".

Victoria

Longnblong
08-22-2003, 11:09 AM
I have had tons of stuff tossed at me while riding in pace lines ....CD cases, soda and beer bottles but the strangest thing was early one Saturday morning when I was out alone and a mini van full of teenage boys came up along side of me with the side slide door open. One of them was leaning way out while the others held onto the back of his shirt. He was trying to grab the long braid of my hair. I was shouting at them to back off and when they did not I shouted that I knew some of them and was going to tell their parents. With that they took off.
I agree with some of the other respondents...any kind of contact could be dangerous and potentially deadly. What if they had cought my hair and dragged me off the bike and under their wheels? I wondered what were they thinking.....then I realized. They WERE NOT THINKING AT ALL! They had probably been up all night drinking and thought that terrorizing me would be funny.

Grasshopper
08-22-2003, 03:14 PM
that's just plain scary!!! You're right - what if he'd pulled you under the vehicle? People can be so stupid!!

So far the only thing that's happened to me is a guy that kept turning around and riding by me - he did it several times and waved each time. It was wierding me out but luckily I got to a fairly busy street quickly and I don't ride that road anymore.

momcat
09-16-2003, 07:48 AM
I have had a car load of guys try to knock me off by opening a door into me-I got the tag # only to be told that our state has no numbers like that. I have also had people spit at me. But the absolute stupidest one is the person that I was waving around me, who stopped and got out of his car to yell at me. He then got rear-ended and got to explain why he was out of his car at an intersection screaming obscenities at a bicyclist. (Who, I might add, was very glad to ride back and talk to the police)

chrisanna
10-23-2003, 04:53 PM
Hi girls! Been a long time for me to be back at this board. Boy, all of us at some point will have ugly stories concerning crazy drivers, but don't let it keep you from doing what you love!!!
...mine all seem to have happened early on when I was new to the road- nothing recent, thank goodness....
Once, the passenger in a car threw out a large gatorade bottle at me. Hit my front wheels and just rattled me a bit. I got mad, swore and kept on riding....should have gotten the plate# though. I remember the vehicle and think I've seen it since(I live in a reeealllly small town). Had a Suburban-load of pubescent males slow to my speed and scare the living h*** out of me yelling. For that one, I stopped. They had to keep going because of other traffic. While concentrating up a difficult climb, a man once slowed down to make stupid kissy sounds. Creep. I determined not to let him break my climb. Swore some more and kept on.
All these things didn't actually scare me as made me mad. I wanted to beat the c*** out of them.

ausgirl
05-13-2004, 04:50 PM
That is pretty bad AussieVic! The worst I've ever had are morons who yell and swear at you. I've been slapped on the bum a few times, but that was by another cyclist that I was training with and he was going my speed and I knew he just meant it as a joke. One really bad group of people though is the army. When they are passing through town on the way to do training exercises their trucks are slow and take up the whole road so they slow everyone down, and on top of that each tank or vehicle might have a guy hanging out of it yelling rude stuff at you.

longnblond
05-14-2004, 06:55 AM
Phyllis Hassan



Who she is

Phyllis Hassan, former president of Greater Dallas Bicyclists and member of Lone Star Cyclists was hit by a vehicle Saturday during a country ride near Granbury and died Sunday evening, Mother’s Day. She was like a mother to many of us, and was certainly a best, dear friend. Phyllis was a former president, activities director, Spokesman editor, ride leader, and rider of GDB; Leader, and newsletter editor for Lone Star cyclists; and active coordinator for the Tour de Italia ride.



Phyllis is an amazing person. Born in England, she retained that beautiful British accent even after living in the US for over 50 years, and the Dallas-area for almost 20 years. She is someone we all can only hope to be like when we reach our mature years. Phyllis never told us her age, but some of us calculated that she was in her mid-70s. What’s more amazing, the hospital staff tending to her after her accident calculated she was in her 50s based on her healthy condition.



Some Details

The details are still a bit sketchy as I write this note, but it seems Phyllis was riding ‘off the back’ of a group ride as she liked to do and often did. Because she is one of the safest and most conservative riders I know, she was not concerned if the pack/herd got ahead. The route included FM51 in the area near Granbury, Paluxy, Tolar, Rainbow, Brushy, and Glenrose, and was probably 40-70 miles in length. It’s a beautiful country area where many of us have ridden many times. The ride was with the Lone Star club who tend to look for more rural (and safer) routes than the middle-of-North-Dallas rides many of us ride by necessity.



She was struck Saturday at about 12:35 pm by the right-side, outside rear-view mirror of a passing mid-size Ford Bronco. I have no facts, but it seems that the driver had a moment of inattention to the road. The driver stopped and called 911. Phyllis was taken by CareFlight to Harris Methodist hospital in Ft Worth. While investigating the event, police found the rest of the group down the road. After confirming that they knew Phyllis, the police told them about the accident and where she had been sent.

The folks at the hospital gave her the best possible care. Her skull was not fractured, so the vehicle speed was probably not excessive, but the impact was sufficient to inflict severe brain trauma. The neuro-surgeons said she did not suffer. The hospital was very accommodating for the 10-20 folks who were there round-the-clock.





Some key points in her life:

-married for many years to Mo and maintained their friendship

-raised two beautiful children – David and Andrew

-a proud grandmother

-active in GDB leadership in 1988-1994

-Ride across America 2001 Seattle to Norfolk VA (a major portion of it solo)

-Ride across Nova Scotia summer 2003

-Texas 200

-Ride across Arizona

-Tyler-Jefferson-Tyler ride

-Numerous hikes and mountain bike rides in Big Bend

-Hiked across the mountains of Uzbekistan in the late 90s

-Provided trail maintenance on off-road trails in Colorado

-Coordinated a ride to Cloudcroft NM that led to life-long friendships

-creator of the ‘Cool-as-a-Cucumber’ ride as an alternative to HHH

-One of the key staff for the ‘Porta-Potty-Queen’ at Autumn-in-Bonham

-Organizer of Tour de Italia where she loved serving as the parking-meister

-Thursday night dinner ride; HHH several times

-Knee replacement earlier this spring, and was riding within 2 months.

-I know there is more, but this is what I can recall just now.



She encouraged everyone to do things while they still could, because one never knew what might be around the corner. She lived life to the fullest and will live on with all of us. She subscribed to an organ donation program, so Phyllis will continue to be with us as she saves and/or improves the lives of others.



My thoughts on accidents

The majority of accidents can be prevented. In fact, in my humble opinion, most accidents are avoided everyday. Think about the times you had the ‘near-miss’. What prevented the accident? Someone or all involved anticipated an approaching condition and ‘slowed-down’. They were prepared and avoided the incident. Being prepared doesn’t always prevent an accident, as in this case; but it helps.

You can ‘get-away’ with single instances of carelessness on numerous

occasions. (Just ask NASA)

• When it is a single instance of failure, the results are inconsequential. But it only takes one intersection of multiple failures for a catastrophe. (Just ask NASA)

• Think of that the next time you follow the pack into an intersection or down the shoulder of a highway.

• Think of that the next time you run a yellow light in your car

• Think of that the next time you pick up your cell phone in the car

• Think of that the next time you flip your visor down and lose sight of the road

• Think of that the next time you exceed the speed limit.

• Think of that the next time you take a bite of hamburger, answer the cell phone, come over a hill, into a blinding sun at dawn, while going 10mph over the speed limit, and are listening to a very important something on the radio, and find something unexpected. We’ve all lost a friend. Let’s not lose the lesson of safety.

• It’s a no-contest when your 19.5 or 27 lb bicycle plus your 150-200lb body intersect with a 3000-6000 lb car or 75,000-200,000 lb semi-truck.

• Think of that.

• THINK





Keep Riding
Despite all your preparations, accidents do happen, but we have to keep riding. If I quit driving my car because someone was killed in Dallas in a car accident, or stopped going to grocery/convenience stores or banks because of someone
killed during a robbery, I would have been isolated long ago. LIFE IS A RISK AND YOU ONLY GET THE JOYS WHEN YOU TAKE THE RISKS. RETAIN YOUR STRENGTH TO KEEP RIDING. Phyllis would have wanted it that way. She would also want you to do something about Bike Safety.

See the note about Phyllis at:
http://www.biketexas.org/ and http://gdbclub.org/gdb/index.shtml and a note about her Cross-Country trip at:
http://grannygears.com


* Accident, from Dictionary.com
1.
a. An unexpected and undesirable event, especially one resulting in damage or harm: car accidents on icy roads.
b. An unforeseen incident: A series of happy accidents led to his promotion.
c. An instance of involuntary urination or defecation in one's clothing.
2. Lack of intention; chance: ran into an old friend by accident.
3. Logic. A circumstance or attribute that is not essential to the nature of something.
[Middle English, chance event, from Old French, from Latin accid ns, accidentpresent
participle of accidere, to happen : ad-, ad- + cadere, to fall; see kad- in
Indo-European Roots.]

:(

chrisanna
05-14-2004, 03:29 PM
I don't know about other ladies out there, but this post really touched me. It's made me think about my ride home today and my next one out tomorrow....Also, made me think back to just a few years ago when I finally got up the courage to actually get out there and ride on the road for the first time ever. I have come a lonnnnng way in gaining road confidence since that time. The close calls or even road deaths I hear about seem to make me more aware about safety - or lack of it out on the road. You're so right though - don't let the scary things out there keep us from pursuing what has given us strength, skills, confidence or simple joy.

aussievic
05-18-2004, 04:49 AM
i can't believe that its been almost a year since this happened to me. To be honest it did put me off riding for a bit. Just the anger that it created in me - proper incredible hulk levels......

Thanks also longnblonde for the news on Phyllis. Such a waste when something like an accident takes an incredible lady like that from the world.

Well, I'm currently in France as part of my trip home to Australia. My husband is chilling in the tent reading The Three Musketeers whilst I'm in the reception checking my mail. was it worth getting back on my bike?? You betta bloody believe it!!!

Stay safe everyone
Vic

longnblond
05-24-2004, 10:19 AM
WOW! aussievic
Writing to us from "somewhere in Europe" how exciting does that sound to those of us who are tied to a desk and only ride locally. I am proud that wonderful women ride bikes...and you certainly sound like a wonderful woman.
I often think that riders are much safer in Europe, they actually use bicycles as a mode of transport and the sport of cycling gets much respect. Have a great time over there.

longnblond

aussievic
05-25-2004, 03:27 AM
Thanks longnblonde

I think the attitude in North America is very similar to the attitude in England. When I lived in London and rode my bike, people thought that I couldn't afford a car, therefore I must be a second class citizen.

In Belgium and France, pretty much everyone respects the bike and is curious about where you're going, where you've been. We're also using a BoB at the moment as we're doing a lot of camping and people are really intrigued by that. We were at a train station the other day and an official came out and was asking all sorts of questions about it and how it was attached to the bike and what our route was and will be. He then went back inside and started talking to his colleagues and pointing back out to us.

I'd really recommend France to anyone who wanted to cycle tour. Lots of secondary roads with very few cars and really friendly people and very yummy food.

Have people and their attitude in North America changed since the price of oil started heading skywards??

Vic

MudGrrl
06-22-2004, 10:15 AM
Originally posted by aussievic

Have people and their attitude in North America changed since the price of oil started heading skywards??

Vic

Of course Not!!!

I saw a roadie almost get hit by a Jaguar this past Saturday.

And the person driving the Jaguar had the audacity to lay on the horn!!! :rolleyes:


I try to stay off the road as much as possible in the US....drivers here believe that the road is their god given right.

Maybe that is why MtBiking is so popular here.:D

*********************
on another note-
My dumb cousin of mine got 3 DUIs, so they took his license.

He went out riding on his bike (can't drive, now), and some teenagers threw a bottle at him.
He caught up to the teenagers and started yelling at them for endangering his life!

ausgirl
06-22-2004, 06:23 PM
I try to stay off the road as much as possible in the US....drivers here believe that the road is their god given right.

That's not just in the US! I can't speak for the rest of Australia, but here in Queensland a lot of drivers have that attitude. Especially in a rural area where people come in from out of town and aren't used to dealing with the traffic of a small city.

Luckily for us, with 120+ club members and some making the headlines in the newspaper and local news - the result is that we've got a high profile and people with any sense would think twice about giving us much trouble. We still get horns beeped and rude things yelled at us by stupid boys who think they are funny.

MudGrrl
06-23-2004, 07:03 AM
I lived in Germany for four years, and found that rather friendly. It was a given on Sunday that there would be tons of bikers out and about.

I loved it.

cathleen
06-30-2004, 10:38 AM
I wish the skyrocketing cost of gasoline made for a more bike-friendly America, but sadly, I don't think it does.

:(

PS: MudGrrl, I completely *heart* your sig file!