grabbing handlebars of bike- from a car!

[wiseowl]

Hate for this to be my first post, but I recalled this area on the forum and wanted to vent. My DH took my mountain bike out for a rural dirt road spin today. He noticed a woman reaching very far out of the passenger side of a vehicle coming towards him, then the car veered towards him and she grabbed his handlebars. She yanked, and he yanked back. She was so far out of the window that he almost pulled her out of the car. Somehow he stayed on the bike and upright. We are in an area where people normally go way out of their way to be kind to cyclists (I know many of you deal with asinine behavior on a daily basis) so it was particularly shocking. Didn't they think how it could have gone? If he was pulled into the side of a moving car? If she was pulled out of the window of a moving car? He couldn't get the plate, unfortunately. I don't know what makes people like this...anyone else heard of this charming "game"? I have a friend who did a cross-country charity ride and encountered just about every other kind of meanness, but not this one. Sigh.

[Starfish]

I'm so sorry. All I can say is U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E

[Eden]

Holy Cow! if someone did that to me they would probably yank me under the car and kill me!

[Trek420]

Yikes glad that your DH is safe. And while I'm an extremely kind, loving, non-violent, turn all 4 of both cheeks, soft spoken, peaceloving person .... I'm kinda sorry he did not yank her all the way out

Good on him to see her lean and I imagine anticipate the possibility. This takes the slogan "ride deffensively because if they can do something dumb, they will" to new heights.

And welcome to TE

[mimitabby]

just curious, where do you live?
I'm glad your DH won that tug of war, she'll think twice before she does it again!
(I hope!)

[abvnx]

wow, thats scary. glad your DH is ok. i have no idea what i would have done in that situation

[Kimmyt]

its a shame he didn't pull her out of the car

[wiseowl]

We live in Vermont, near the NH border. The car was from NH, but I don't expect that out of them, either, having lived in NH previously. I guess there are yahoos everywhere! But like I said, mostly people go out of their way to be courteous- this was just so incredibly dangerous and mean natured. DH said he would have felt bad if he had pulled her out of the car- I told him emphatically that I wouldn't have felt one bit bad! But it would have made a bad situation worse.

[mekira]

OMG that's scary I wonder what would make someone do something like that???

[Zen]

Highly likely the perp was in her teens/early 20's and possibly under the influence of something, most likely alcohol.

Other than that useless observation, I'm stunned and speechless.
If she had done that to one of us lacking in upper body strength the outcome would have been much worse.

People. oomph!