yikes, both these stories sound horrific. And the guy who passes then stops then passes gives me the creeps. If he has any sense he's thinking "this gal keeps up with me on a mountain bike, I won't mess with her."

Craziest thing I've seen lately was downtown Oakland this guy riding with a chair on his head. This is no dining room chair or folding chair I'm talking about a HUGE overstuffed armchair, almost a love seat.

Sensible thing if he's using a bike for transport like in third world countries is to brace the chair on the bike and use the bike like a cart or roller, or still better get one of the many brands of wonderful of bike trailers available for sale or rent in the area.

But nooooo, it's upside down on his head ;-)

The entire chair surrounds his field of vision, the high back of the chair is right in front of his face and he's riding across Grand and Lakeshore heading for blocks of diagonaly parked cars totaly unable to see traffic.

No helmet of course unless you count the chair as one.