Post-ride rants

[Tri Girl]

I hear you... and have nothing to offer that would answer your unaswerable questions.
The "yayhoos" you refer to are just the kind of people who are likely to be obnoxious on any given occaison. I can only assume that they are the adult bullies of our society that like nothing more than to bug/pick on others because it's fun/entertaining. I only hope that one day somebody scares the beejeebers out of them when they're in a stressful situation and makes them feel as vulnerable as we do.
Last week my cycling friends and I were joking about inventing some device that could be hooked up to our bikes that would spray paint on cars that scare us or pass us too closely. It could be triggered by our left braking hand as a little button. One press would release some paint that writes out "leave cyclists alone" on the side of their car. We also thought about installing some retractable device that would scratch their car (like in movies when the hubcaps of cars have knives that come out to flatten the tire of another car while driving). Ok- impractical and childish- be we laughed about insane ways to make cars leave cyclists alone. We just hate the feeling of vulnerability that we have at times. We, admittedly, had too much time on our hands...

[Kimmyt]

More of those 'overly cautious' types. The ones that hover right behind you, afraid to pass you (even when they have plenty of room to do so, say on a one-way road that is plenty wide for both of you), but instead hover behind you as you chug up a hill at 10 mph, looming behind you still even as you wave them to pass you.

When you're at a stop sign waiting for the road traffic of a street you're to cross to wane so you can cross. They don't have a stopsign, so you'll wait for a break in traffic to dart across. It's not a problem, you're unclipped and possibly sipping water. Except for the fool who decides he'll be a nice guy and come to a stop and wave you to pass, causing you to frantically get clipped back in, piss off the other drivers behind Mr. Nice Guy, and mutter to yourself about how people just need to pretend like you're another car.

And the ones that don't just pass you, they pass you completely in the other lane, sometimes while there is oncoming traffic (common sense my friend, leave me enough space to not get knocked over, and I will be fine, don't put yourself and as such me into an even more dangerous situation by swerving into oncoming traffic).

I mean, I feel bad because I appreciate caution from drivers as opposed to reckless i-could-care-less-that-you're-on-the-road-with-me attitude, but please still remember your own safety as well.

[Geonz]

For the past couple of weeks I've been practicing the Pre-emptive Wave, and it's worked around here. *Before* the Too Nice Person can (usually invisibly) try to wave me through, I'm waving theTNP through.
Hollering doesn't happen much around here but it seems to be on the increase ?!? As in maybe on some radio show or hostile forum (cafepress visitors?) it's the Great Anonymous Prank du jour? I hope not...

[HoosierGiant]

Our favorites are the I-pay-taxes-it's-MY-road types who get right behind us and lay on the horn to announce their exalted presence. Apparently, the sight of two cyclists riding abreast conjures up images of the end of life as they know it, and only massive amounts of pressure on the horn will fend off the death and destruction to be wrought by those perceived fitness fanatics chewing up the miles on the roadway in front of them. Now mind you, there won't be another vehicle in sight for a gazillion miles (okay, I exaggerate -- 37-and-a-half miles), and they'll still act as if we're supposed to dismount, adorn the roadway with red jerseys, and applaud as they motor by. YEESH!

[Running Mommy]

Up here we have the Overly kind motorists who give you a whole lane by going into the median turn lane for you. That would be grand except that the middle turn lane usually is filled with scree which their tires then spit in your direction!
Usually the types that do this are going at least 10-15 mph over the speed limit, so that makes it even worse. I feel like yelling out "just give me a tap of the brakes and three feet! Would it kill ya??"... sheesh...