Mostly I’m a calm person – most challenges in life I’m confident I can deal with. I’m not an angry driver – and I’m ok most of the time when I’m riding.

But just recently I’ve been getting increasingly tired at the number of times I’m getting shouted at, close passes, beeping horns etc.

I do ride a lot – 2-3 times/week c 100 miles/week and I will ride primary when I think I need to (around parked cars, side turnings, pinch points etc.

I usually deal with the harrassment by just shaking my head or just riding off but a couple of times recently I’ve just given someone the finger, cos I’ve had enough. One was a woman who was screaming at me for not getting out of her way down a residential road, another was this morning – tailgating taxi driver – I flicked him the V’s then had to stop at a red light and then had him ranting and raving (as in really shouting) for 30+seconds until the lights changed.

How do you ‘find your peace’ when you’re on the receiving end of this kind of treatment?

Sod inner peace! Just punch ’em!! 😀

Just think, for these people to get that bothered about a few seconds extra on their journey…they must live really sorry lives.

Just let them get on with it, knowing that you are a better person. 🙂

Edit: Failing that, +1 for punching them….

Just say,…”Oh excuse me for doing my bit for trying to save the planet”

binners – Member
Sod inner peace! Just punch ’em!!

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Find my peace? If your standing you should be able to shout louder than someone who’s sitting. I let them (and probably the rest of the town) know exactly how I feel!

Yes im generally an easy going friendly fellow..
But when hassled while out ridin’ by farmers with nothing better to do than go off their heads because im about to ride a footpath & not a bridleway… Well, i turn into a bit of an unreasonable fellow… I dont want this pointless hastle from an idiot like him!! So i tell him to **** off & get a life & ride off while he still continues to shout about fuckall!! The ****!

…. Sorry that was hank…

My favourite line from an office spat might be worth chucking in:

“Don’t shout, it makes you look stupid.”

if it’s something I’m expecting (abuse from taking primary on dodgy sections) I just smile, blow them a kiss and wave, if I was JRA and it’s something random and unexpected….dunno, might get irate or might try to calmly explain why I was doing what I was doing.

But when hassled while out ridin’ by farmers with nothing better to do than go off their heads because im about to ride a footpath & not a bridleway… Well, i turn into a bit of an unreasonable fellow… I dont want this pointless hastle from an idiot like him!! So i tell him to **** off & get a life & ride off while he still continues to shout about fuckall!! The ****!

It’s easier to complain when your in the right 😉

As for the rest just call the police, it’s an assault.

i get this question completely and i know how i feel depending on what my reaction is…

if I smile and blow them a kiss, its a good day.
if I give them the finger and shout abuse, then its a bad day.
if I take my D Lock out and pound the silly little s**t into the ground, its a very bad day 😉

Remaining faultlessly calm, polite and reasonable is undoubtedly the best approach.

If you succeed in doing this, please tell me how.

Change your commute

Buy a helmet cam. When people realise what they’re saying is being recorded for posterity, they tend to think before they speak.

Try not to rise to it. It’s not easy, but it’s the other individual’s argument, let them carry it around with them and don’t continue it in your own head. I don’t agree that flicking Vs and exchanging profanities is the way to go. By all means be assertive, but giving aggression in return to aggression is only going to agitate you and make the other individual angrier.

I’ve had a taxi driver stop me and try to tell me that his taxi lane was reserved just for taxis and wasn’t for bikes. I showed him a map that said differently, but he maintained that my “map was wrong”. At the end of the day, he made himself look a dick in front of a line of his peers and missed a fare. I’ve also been stopped on bridleways and challenged with the “this isn’t a cycle path!” routine, even though I’ve been six feet away from a sign that says otherwise. You can’t reason with such arrogance and the best way to deal with it is to dismiss it outright and ignore it. If you fail to validate these idiots, they tend to go away and find someone else to argue with.

I believe the correct response is “Button it fatty”.

I usually do a left to right motion with my partially clenched fist on the left hand side of my face whilst pushing my tongue into my right cheek at the same time the left fist approached the left hand side of my face!

they love it! 🙂

I find that an intense silent stare can make the recipient a) very uncomfortable and b) a bit stuck for what to do next.

So I suppose this might work in the situations you describe? 🙂

I just ignore it all, knowing that I AM ALWAYS RIGHT!!! 😈

this is how I usually react

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOs9ll0-fL4[/video]

Go gran torino on his ass….

Pull your imaginary gun 😉

But when hassled while out ridin’ by farmers with nothing better to do than go off their heads because im about to ride a footpath & not a bridleway…

I reckon you should ride up alongside his tractor window whilst wearing a go-pro and tell him off for dropping mud on the road 😀

Change your commute.

Avoiding confrontation and future danger is BETTER than going toe to toe with someone or being rear-ended from behind one day if you DID win a toe-to-toe brawl.

The hardest man is he who keeps his fitness and life. Only fight if you are attacked- because fights in adult life are usually very nasty things. Not like the school playground where Mister Teacher runs across and breaks it up.

The foolish man is the one that picks fights, fights and eventually dies of a heart attack.

I flicked him the V’s then had to stop at a red light and then had him ranting and raving (as in really shouting) for 30+seconds until the lights changed.

Why did you flick V’s at him, surely that just makes situations worse?

Maybe your riding style isnt the best and thats why you are attracting so much negative reaction from drivers?

Does anyone know of a water pistol that looks just enough like a real gun to give someone a fright without looking so much like a real gun it would be illegal? I’m just trying to imagine the look on someones face when you pulled it out and pointed it at them…………………and then pulled the trigger 🙂

BTW don’t swear either. A cyclist did this to me (I was driving) and I asked him repeatdly to repeat what he said and why.

(I was indicating left approaching a left turn at lights)- watching the idiot shoot up the inside from a distance so beeped him to remind him I was turning. In turn he swore loudly calling me allsorts and waving his hand).

Funnily he didn’t repeat it when I asked him if he liked filterting into cars about to turn left.

Why did you flick V’s at him, surely that just makes situations worse?

Maybe your riding style isnt the best and thats why you are attracting so much negative reaction from drivers?

Oh hello Mr Troll.

No I agree with FunkyDunc.

Gawd. I think I agree with hora 😳

blowing a kiss works well, as does completely ignoring said person while they rant and rave like an idiot.

Removing the wind mirror from said agressors car with SPD shoes normally does the trick.

But im a bad tempered fella 😉

Find my peace? If your standing you should be able to shout louder than someone who’s sitting. I let them (and probably the rest of the town) know exactly how I feel!

+1, sod the finger, a really loud “OOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIII FU************** OFF” gets their and everyone within a half mile’s attention. I last did this whilst being cut up (theres alsorts of trafic calming furniture so she was trying to overtake me in a gap that really didnt exist) by a school run mum outside a primary school at kicing out time.

This is a forum for riding off road, Stick to off road and the rage subsides. I saw 3 deer and numerous squirrels on my commute, none of them shouted at me. Thinking about it I didn’t see any rabbits today maybe they were having a lie in as it was minus 3.

Benny Hill was an angry cyclist?

for me when riding I seem to garner more abuse and assaults from pedestrians. In the last 6 months I had a drunken youth jump on my saddle when stopped at lights and demand a backie to the red lion (lol) and another youth attempting to spit on me while riding under a bridge on the canal. The one time I did have a driver have a go was when I did turn round in answer to his horn bleating and stick my tongue out at him and then wiggled my ass at him while standing on t’ pedals. This enraged him further and he pulled over ahead of me and started to get out of his white van to have a word with me but I instead cycled straight past him and then he passed me very close.

I just wave now. Anything else just gets me wound up as well as them which ruins my day. If I just wave and smile I know there is nothing they are stuck being angry and I’m not.

As I said on the “how have you changed” thread, I no longer see any merit in getting involved even when the motorist is a dick. Better to ride on….

Wave and smile is the Correct approach…..

Drag from van and “Batter senseless with righteous indignation” at the time felt very deserved…. but I was wound up about it for quite some time afterwards and I was very lucky nothing else came of it

(he had deliberately blocked a Toucan crossing and I banged on his back door as I went round him, he then in a fit of rage came after me in the van and cornered me with it, hurling abuse and serious threats.
So when he came out with the “Next time I am going to F***ing kill you” line, I “invited” him out of the window for some education on why you shouldn’t threaten people)

I was annoyed with myself for having gotten drawn into what could have turned out quite nasty, If I have cause to get angry at all on the commute now, I have done something wrong.

A couple of mine recently (when I’ve managed to catch up with them or had the opportunity to discuss matters). delivered in a head-masterly voice:
“Do stop being so petty”
“Do you feel better after that little tantrum?”
and
“Are you proud of yourself for being a bully?”

I like the “Don’t shout, it makes you look idiotic” one. It’s going in the bank that one.

“Don’t shout, it makes you look idiotic”

Also just saying “pardon I didn’t quite catch that”. I had a guy give the same rant about 4 times before he realised I was just taking the piss.