Quote Originally Posted by emily_in_nc View Post
I'm sure we all have our version of this kind of story, but it's happened to us so seldom that it really bothered me. DH and I were at the beginning of our ride and were in the center lane of a rather wide but not-very-busy road waiting at the red light to cross. We were both wearing high-viz jackets, helmets, and have big mirrors on our bikes. We were stopped in the center lane (no cars in that lane) because the left lane is left turn only, and the right lane is right turn only. A SUV rolled up to the right of us, and this gray-haired man, maybe 65ish, rolled down his window and yelled "Get out of the middle of the road, you idiots!" then rolled forward to take his right-hand turn.

We are in southern coastal Texas right now (N. Padre Island), and have found the Texas drivers to be very polite, much to our surprise, but this guy had an Illinois plate. We haven't had any other "driver incidents" while doing a boatload of miles here (especially DH).

It really pissed me off because we were following the rules, in the appropriate lane, with all kinds of safety gear, and he still felt he had to say something. He obviously thinks bikes belong on sidewalks or paths only (of which there are neither on this road), or walked across at crosswalks. I wish we could have educated him, but it would have done no good, I'm sure.

I managed to have a good ride even after this, but it did get my blood boiling! There's still SO much ignorance in the non-cycling world, and this makes me really sad.
Those kinds of things shouldn't happen to nice people like you, just trying to do the right thing! And you weren't even blocking his lane, why was he upset??

It's hard not to let that stuff get to you, the good news is that physical activity is just the thing to clear away the fight-or-flight adrenaline that kicks in, and you were on your bike. At least you enjoyed the rest of your ride!