As some of you from here will know, I am a passive guy, never been hot headed, easy going, life’s to short and all that.

But, for some reason, put me on my bike on my daily commute and just, sometimes, once in a blue moon, I seem to totally lose it with someone who displays bad driving skills near me on my bike!

The change in my temper is amazing and scary at the same time, sometimes I can actually feel my heart trying to beat itself out of my chest, I get this weird tunnel vision, hard to explain, which blocks everything out and focuses my anger to a level I would never get or go to in the rest of my life?

I have been in sticky situations off my bike in the past, as everyone does in life, but never get the same reaction?

Commuters, do you suffer from this? Or is it just me? 🙂

What is it with commuting and seeing red?

Think you need some anger management counselling.

Focus on it, bottle it up, then let it go in a race.
You’ll win for sure. 🙂

I sometimes get the same, pretty chilled normally. The reason you/i get red mist could be that someone has just risked your life to get ahead of you or shave 2seconds from their journey time…..of course if you have the same feeling when your in the car or train you may have a problem 😉

I get it, and I agree with D0NK…I think it’s due to the fact that people seem to be utterly selfish when commuting for the sake of arriving at work a few seconds earlier.

i reckon it’s to do with the fact that you are mixing an activity which you enjoy (cycling) with necessity (commuting/work) and some idiots are doing their up most to take the enjoyment out of it

i have found that i have to completely change my frame of mind when road riding in traffic. It’s an exercise in self control but i just have to positively dull my reactions to incidents which is hard for me as i’m slightly volatile.

agreed – I get really mardi on occasion…

I get especially annoyed with the red light skippers who have to shuffle between me and a car to get through the lights in the first place – it gives them no time advantage and just makes the drivers angry…

getting heated just thinking about it…

especially those in all the lycra on carbon bikes – if they are that good then they should use lights as interval training…

agreed – for the sake of a few minutes – get up earlier!!!

I thought it might have been something to do with our own bodies built in fright/shock reaction?

It is weird though, as I don’t suffer the same reaction in other situations.

stratobiker – Member

Focus on it, bottle it up, then let it go in a race.
You’ll win for sure.

Lol, neat idea, but not sure I would want to bottle it up so to speak 😉

I used to get it, then I chose to conciously chill out. Ride slower and gentler.

Same as Stoner here. Takes me aaaages to get to work, but I arrive happy. 🙂

yup, i do the same with driving. try having a little smirk/chuckle to yourself when someone cuts you up to save those 2 seconds. you are better then them 🙂

i drive 30k+ a year and i really think the chilling the hell out will have added a few years to my life

Stoner – Member

I used to get it, then I chose to conciously chill out. Ride slower and gentler.

Good point Stoner, its something that I do think about, even though 99.9% of my commuting is chilled out tbh, otherwise I don’t think I would use a bike to get to work.

ski. Samehere. You need to stop the angry response ASAP or stop riding in. The health benefit is totally cancelled out by the stress to your health.

Relax, there are alot of bad drivers out there. If there is a near miss- engage sarcasm, trust me they get the point (and its ouch). Shouting makes them reflex back thinking you are being the tool. Sarcasm sinks in.

Same as Stoner here. I used to get it because I was so intent on going as fast as poss but you get beaten by the rules or sh’t drivers.

There’s one spot where I still get it, though. Coming up the Mound (Edinburgh) which is currently closed at the bottom to traffic. Half way up is a junction where cars coming down have to turn right, ie across my path. Now, just because from there down is closed to cars, they seem to think that NOTHING coming up has any right of way. So when I go to cycle straight on, no cars ever stop and the stream of traffic just keeps going. This happens to the extent that I wouldn’t even have the balls to just keep going in the hope they stop because not a single driver seems to have any comprehension that I have right of way. And to rub it in, there’s always a minimum of three cars keep going after the lights have turned red. At this point I start edging out and I get abuse for getting in their way. At this point, my blood boils.

Likewise. It’s one of the reasons I prefer SS for commuting (beyond the maintenance advantage) – you can’t stomp in a big gear, carrying loads of speed. You just reach the stage where there’s no point spinning your legs any faster so you may as well just sit back and chill.

Sharpening up your own skills on hazard perception and prediction, forward planning, etc can help a lot too. Take a look at the car or motorcycle Roadcraft books – you should always be looking for possible things coming up, early warning signs that a car will turn or change lanes without indicating, whether that car in a side road will pull out on you, that sort of thing. If you’re seeing it early and ready to deal with it, it leaves you a lot calmer than if you’re being surprised and having to take evasive action every journey.

reminds me of last night. I was walking up the hill from the train station and a guy was coming down the hill – in a tuck and pedalling like billy-o – just hit warp-factor 7 as he went past me and then I heard this gurgling rage and scream arrgrgrggghhhhhhhhhh.

I turned round to see the lights half way down the hill had just turned to red 🙂

simon-g – good point with the SS. That’s what I ride too.

I think it is a result of the endorphins from exercise and then the rush of adrenalin as someone nearly kills you /ignores you/could not care less for your safety that can result in anger.
There is also the drip effect that you have a number a day /week in a row etc and every now and again you can snap even though it is no worse than the last fool
I tend to bottle it up as you will meet the same fools on the same route on a regular basis so why encourage them.
That said I do have to slap a car about once a week to make them aware of my presence

hora – Member

ski. Samehere. You need to stop the angry response ASAP or stop riding in. The health benefit is totally cancelled out by the stress to your health.

Relax, there are alot of bad drivers out there. If there is a near miss- engage sarcasm, trust me they get the point (and its ouch). Shouting makes them reflex back thinking you are being the tool. Sarcasm sinks in.

Another neat idea, Hora what sort of sarcasm do you engage out of interest?

I get it occassionaly. It’s not because I feel the driver has put me at risk or anything it’s just that I cannot stand pi$$ poor driving.

There is no excuse for not indicating.
There is no excuse for not looking both ways at junctions.
There is no excuse for driving a car half in a cycle lane.

Sometimes I just adopt the same attitude as the drivers and ride on regardless, pulling out in front of people and not really looking where I’m going. It’s amazing how many of them beep their horns and start shouting. Weird eh ?

Kev

Weird isn’t it – whenever you go out in traffic, no matter how short the journey, whether you’re in a car or on a bike, you always see shit driving. Arrogance, ignorance, stupidity etc etc.
But! Never get used to it!

I’ve lived in London for a few years now. I’m very used to it 😀

Another neat idea, Hora what sort of sarcasm do you engage out of interest?

Seriously, the amount of aggro I got into- led people at work to conclude one day I’d be on intensive care. Maybe some fights I’d win but some I’d lose/be punched out- and badly being run over etc.

My commute is the “wavy-hand commute”.
I have the same route, same sort of time and conclude that the drivers will be similar so if I use the wave-thanks hand daily, they’ll be use to me and treat me better (by and by). Anyway- same drivers not every day but there will be every other day. So if I stick twos up-shout alot, postering, well its not good.

Back to the sarcasm- Ive pulled alongside and said to a bloke ‘oh I thought it must be a woman driving’, ‘have you passed your driving test yet’?, ‘in a rush are we Sir’?, ‘run forest run!’ (in dumb yank-accent)- this one is mainly for me to calm down with, ‘and who are you escaping from Sir’?

Most make me chuckle/lighten up.

The last straw for me was when someone beeped at me (I had repositioned as I was on the yellows and he thought I was holding him accordingly), so anyway he beeps as he passes- I stuck twos up and he pulled over at the side of the road further along. His wife went ballistic- said she was going to kill me. I shut his door and made him get back in (polite but firm) but she wanted me dead- said she was going to run me over. So I changed tack and decided to calm her down, saying ‘look, sorry about all this can we just move on’ etc. She had the look of murder and carried on. I rode off and when they pulled in again further up I decided to pullover and apologise- just take it on the chin for safety sake- well she blew up even bigger this time. So I didnt commute for two weeks after that.

Thats when I thought this is ridiculous- is there a benefit to commuting?

Ps. Its not worth getting angry- part of my route takes me past a large Police station and I have been cut up by officers rushing in for their shift!

I used to get very angry and it ruined my day. That means they got you twice – once by nearly hitting you and once by ruining your day.

I made a concious decision to chillout and to spoil their day more than they spoilt mine.

So – sarcasm / a nice line in inventive insults and pedal off laughing while they fume in a traffic jam.

The driver that cuts you up to wait 5 seconds longer in the next jam – as you go past him again a nice wave goodbye and a big shit eating grin.

Insults – ” I hope yer next craps a pineapple” “thrombus” ( medicalese for bloody clot) “Did you pass a driving test or get your license on the back of a cereal packet” “I suggest you get a car you can actually drive” ( to the 4×4 drivers) or “big car small willy?”

And then ride off laughing at them

Or the sad shake of the head

As for why you react like that – its the adrenaline. Your body thinks you need to fight off a sabre tooth tiger. Be in charge of your body – don’t let it rule you

A killer-line, ask if he (or she) likes eating cake/pies. Make sure the exit route is there though as they’ll get rilled up. Plus I cant use this anymore being a porker myself!

Only ever used a line once tbh, to a Mother on a school run who nearly skinned me.

I pulled up to the the passenger window of the car and spoke to the teenager daughter in the passenger seat.

“Do the world a favour and don’t grow up like your Mum”

The Mum went mental!

Childish & silly I know, but it was immensely satisfying 😉

I shouted “You’re in the way you ****” at a motorcyclist this morning. (He was sitting holding up traffic in the left lane, while waiting for a gap in the right). 2 cars in front of me, crossing the road was a schoolboy who was looking around to see who was shouting at him!
I must not shout sweary stuff near the school!

Good one, ski! 🙂

I got most annoyed on Monday. I overtook someone on a road bike going up a hill, got to the top to find that they’d doubled their speed and were doggedly sitting on my rear wheel, was just looking forward to a bit of commuter racing with someone on a proper bike for once*, or even a bit of drafting to make the last 6 miles easier when it turned out they were going on to Ripley and not turning off to Belper. Hmph. There is no good racing on my commute.

Joe

*It isn’t fair to commuter race against people with flat bars in a hilly area, it isn’t exactly a challenge dropping them on the downhills is it.

Ah yes, motorcyclists. Some of them dont know how to use their gears, Ive been undertaken inbetween a kerb and my car whilst I was driving through the centre of Dorking, boy Ive seen some wonderous riding on motorbikes, big ones as well. Riding at 40mph+ in a 30 and they wonder why some people pulling out of side roads cant judge the speed the bikes approaching them at….FAST. Yep ‘make good progress’ also can mean ‘arrive into an accident quicker’… 🙄