do I still feel like shit 5 hours later? 😔
5 minutes after I left home approaching a blind left hand bend I was overtaken right on the bend . I’m really weary of being treated like this over the years so I said ” Oh for goodness sake ” . I got round the corner he screeched to a halt with passenger window partially open he’d heard my comment . As I passed him I shook my head and said ” Overtaking on a blind bend ” with that he floored the accelerator tyres screeching shot past me over a mini roundabout into a small estate of houses . Thinking back he was probably itching for confrontation I was carrying on on the ” main” road across the moor to drop some keys off at the in laws bungalow.thats empty and sold today.I was about a mile across the moor when he roared past me window down screaming ” F@@@ OFF ”
Thought best ignore it but I saw him turn around and head back in my direction, by now I was starting to worry , on a moor road no one else around was he going to drive at me ? Instead he slowed right up as he got level with me , I was very careful not to make eye contact. By then I was about 5 minutes from the bungalow so I hurried up and got there and locked myself in thinking discretion best part of valour. After about 20 minutes of carefully checking out the window I thought I’d take my chance , legs were still shaking but I tried to carry on and enjoy the ride but to no avail and have up after about 5 miles and scurried off home 😔
So as I said even after 5 hours I’m trying to get past it but it keeps playing on a loop all the it’s and buts and maybes Hope I can hurry up and get over it 😔

Unfortunately the only way this type of behaviour changes is by hurting the driver in the pocket.
Cyclingmikey on YouTube seems to get results so maybe think about a f+r facing camera for your helmet and pass on any close passes/bad driving to the police?

I don’t blame you feeling sh*t about it – sounds like you came up against a proper bell end.

If they get that angry about a couple of comments that weren’t even abusive they were just that aggressive kind of person looking for confrontation.

These are the kind of people who hopefully get caught out by cameras on bikes recording their reckless driving and poor subsequent behaviour. First lot of points and a fine will temper down their behaviour with a bit of luck. If not they’ll eventually get banned.

hmm, well its really shitty, i agree
but
what you are experiencing now seems likely just a continuation of the adrenaline rush, as you are still dwelling on it, and totally unable to change the outcome its become a lovely catch 22.

breathing, mindfulness or a more intense distraction, or relaxing drug of choice (herbal tea or alcohol are popular)

These are the kind of people who hopefully get caught out by cameras on bikes recording their reckless driving and poor subsequent behaviour. First lot of points and a fine will temper down their behaviour with a bit of luck. If not they’ll eventually get banned.

+1

As annoying as it is, as cyclists we’re better off being absolutely resolute stone cold with any initial confrontation like that. As wrong as the cun* is, the “Oh for goodness sake” aggravated the situation. You have to remember most people are barely more intelligent than monkeys. Any minor shake of the head or murmuring will set them off.

Not. Worth. It. against a monkey piloting 1.5T+. Let them piss off and then get the anger out by doing a sprint or similar.

Sad state of affairs but really the only way to avoid these conflicts – no matter how sh** the drier has been – is to absolutely 100% carry on without reacting

Did you et the reg – that’s intimidation !

fossy only a partial unfortunately 😔 probably not enough just the first half 😔

Just ignore and get on with the rest of your day, you’re focusing on it as you’re worried about the ‘what could’ve been’ scenarios, but sounds like the guys your usual intimidation bloke, doesn’t matter if he’s in a van, pub or walking down the road, he’s always set up to take offence at every look he gets.

I’ve had it myself commuting. I was just in traffic, but taking my ‘place’ in the lane. Guy behind me starts revving and shouting, so I just tell him to ‘fark off’ – we were in traffic, moving slowly. I then nipped down the inside and got away, but he charged up after me. As I rounded a roundabout, he pulled alongside swearing etc, so I shouted back ‘I’ve got your reg’ – he shot off the, that’s when I got his reg. Wrote it down then headed straight to the police shop.

They investigated, but could not find any CCTV, and driver only admitted he was there, my word vs his. The incident was logged against the car though, as it had ‘history’ according to the police, so if something did stick in future, these other incident’s would be raised.

My mate was knocked off today, driver couldn’t give a shoot !

As annoying as it is, as cyclists we’re better off being absolutely resolute stone cold with any initial confrontation like that. As wrong as the cun* is, the “Oh for goodness sake” aggravated the situation. You have to remember most people are barely more intelligent than monkeys. Any minor shake of the head or murmuring will set them off.

This. I broke my own rule on this yesterday; I was ridiculously close passed by a nob in a VW transporter and just as a reaction yelled out. He stopped and as we were out in the countryside I thought I was in trouble.

Apparently my sin was not using the (non-existent) cycle path. There’s one through the preceding town that ends, and another starting to cross a roundabout about 200 yards further up the road (and I don’t use either to be fair) but he felt that as I didn’t that made me fair game to be buzzed, and then abused and threatened for shouting out in fear as much as anger.

As I’ve said before. If it wasn’t deliberate they deserve pity for being shit drivers. If it was on purpose then why would I aggravate things to see exactly what sort of idiot they really are.

I thought I’d memorised his plate but then I put it into MOT checker and couldn’t find it so either fake or I’ve got a bad memory. But on the basis that this isn’t likely to be their only instance, it was an immaculate (really nice, well kept) Transporter in a sort of mid blue, driven by a late 20’s early 30’s guy with ginger hair and a big ginger beard, on the outskirts of Godalming in Surrey. Anyone seen it? Then I can make a decent police report.

eeesshh! feel for you, sounds like a total bully behind the wheel!

Hope you’re okay OP. I know it’s difficult but just try to relax and forget about it. I wouldn’t to be fair and would’ve probably escalated things further so might be best to ignore me 😀

Unfortunately the only way this type of behaviour changes is by hurting the driver in the pocket.

Hurting them in the face, body or trashing their car also works. Some **** only stop when they realise that not everyone can be bullied or intimidated. Nothing worse than a coward

fossy only a partial unfortunately 😔 probably not enough just the first half 

Report what you have got, that behaviour is well beyond just a dodgy pass. The Police may not be able to do anything, but you may confirm a pattern someone else has already reported, or someone else may report him in a few weeks time.

I try to stay calm, having shouted at the driver who was the straw to my camels back a few years ago – he pulled over and assaulted me.

“For goodness sake” or “Really?!” are my usual responses, but usually under my breath.

Massive adrenalin flush combined with the psychological upset will make you feel crap for quite a few hours. All you can do is recognise this and rationalise it out.

I always console myself with the thought that the hard man in the car shouting at you would never dare do that to my face. They are angry because they are probably driving home from their minimum wage shit job, back to their ugly wife and delinquent kids

I just ignore them nowadays.

Look on local vw fb page see if you can get a reg number

Wow, if he reacted like that to For goodness sake, I wonder how he would’ve reacted to being called a stupid ****, which is my phrase of choice!
Last I had like that, a motorbike overtook me just before a roundabout, I made some comment, which he obviously heard. So he waited til I pulled up next to him and looked across (he was probably less than half my age) said something I couldn’t hear cos I had music on. I took an earpiece out and said “What?” he said “**** off!” and sped off! Really, it’s quite funny how pathetic these people are, thinking cyclists are some sort of victim they can have a go at.
I would say having a cam is good – you can load stuff onto youtube and have a laugh putting a nice, offensive description underneath! or you can report them, if they are real ****.

You’ve done nothing wrong and you were just unlucky to cross paths with this person.

Don’t let this one event put you off something you enjoy and are legally entitled to partake in.

It’s not your fault.

Fly 6 and a hotline to the police keeps one of my family busy. The police love him and he’s had numerous convictions. In your situation I’d not hesitate.

For really close passes I bang on the side of the vehicle. If I can hit the side of a van, it must be too close by definition. It also freaks out the driver.

And when I’m on the trike. well tough, you’re going to be behind me or hitting oncoming traffic, because I ride with the inside wheel at the normal distance from the kerb. The trike is another metre wider than that.

Not. Worth. It. against a monkey piloting 1.5T+. Let them piss off and then get the anger out by doing a sprint or similar.

Totally agree in theory but in practice I find this difficult due to red mist, adrenalin or whatever.
You clearly also get the same dickhead behaviour from other drivers when in a car.
A car pulled out right in front of me on roundabout yesterday so I gave him a quick beep. Rather than apologising for realising what he did (normal behaviour) he drove along at 5mph for a mile then sped up a bit and then turned right (without indicating) but stopped whilst turning presumably to try and get me to drive into the back of him. All because HE made a mistake and pulled out right in front of me!

Most situations like this are down to who is the biggest nutter and he was assuming I wasn’t as I could have followed him home and done something very nutterish.

I had almost exactly this happen and I phoned it in.

The police said someone would be in touch. They weren’t.

I phoned them and arranged to meet someone at the nick to give a statement. They weren’t there and there was no record of the appointment.

Everyone else was too busy eating donuts to take a statement.

I hung around like a bad smell until someone took a statement. They said they’d be in touch.

When I chased for progress there was no record of the incident, my call, my attendance at the station or my statement. They reckoned I’d imagined the whole thing and I should consider the consequences of wasting their time.

Remembering back to the driver and his short back and sides, I think he was one of theirs.

I have found that having a camera makes me less likely to respond to incidents. I got one after deciding that wrestling fat drivers wasn’t a good look for me.

I have found that having a camera makes me less likely to respond to incidents. I got one after deciding that wrestling fat drivers wasn’t a good look for me.

Film it, post it on here and we’ll decide if its a good look or not?

I had a car stop and shout at me after a close pass after i had raised an arm and shouted at them (if it helps they were in an audi Q7). Part way through the following “conversation”, the “lady” in the passenger seat said that her husband was a fu*&ing cyclist too, and something along the lines of i needed to get the Fu%$ out of their way and i was holding them up as they had to stop and shout at me. I had enough at this point and told them to fu^$ off and rode away. I then got berated by them as they pulled in front of me again, for swearing in front of their kid in the back, who had obviously witnessed this whole episode of trying to bully another road user even though (in my eyes) they were in the wrong and continued to be in the wrong, which i tried to explain at the time.

This was about 2 years ago now and i still get cross about it, not just the close pass, but the subsequent bullying behaviour by stopping the trying to argue about it, several times, but the poor child in the back will have been exposed to this rubbish for years now.

That exact incident has happened to me every couple of months since I got a gravel bike and started riding more miles on the road. Always with the kid.
The best one was riding up the steep lanes to the Black Mountains, was forced into the verge by a car. Objected, car turned around and drove back up alongside me demanding I apologise to their f’ing kid through an open window. Gasping for breath (it’s very steep) I managed to find the wits to say “I’m sorry your father’s a ****”. He roared off absolutely incensed.

I appreciate that this approach brings no long term benefit to anyone other than me, but I found that the best way of dealing with idiots on the road is to take a deep breath, be calm, and not react. Anything else had me thinking really negatively about it for far longer than I felt I ought to be, just like what happened to you.

The best one was riding up the steep lanes to the Black Mountains, was forced into the verge by a car. Objected, car turned around and drove back up alongside me demanding I apologise to their f’ing kid through an open window. Gasping for breath (it’s very steep) I managed to find the wits to say “I’m sorry your father’s a ****”. He roared off absolutely incensed.

Outstanding presence of mind. I always think of responses like that – some hours after the moment has passed.

I had an incident last week. A close pass (as in waaay too close) by a loaded up log lorry on a section of single track road. Driver could have slowed down and waited literally 5 seconds for me to get to the point where the road widened to 2 lanes. I chased him down, he stopped, and we had an honest and frank discussion, mostly one sided, about his poor driving performance / decision making. At one point he said “You **** think you own the road” at which point I educated him on his lack of understanding of the hierarchy of road users which is now in the highway code and our relative positions within that hierarchy.

I may have sworn at him a couple of times.

Some people are just unhinged i’m afraid. I’m seeing and hearing this sort of thing more and more sadly.

I must have some interaction like this at least every 2 months. I cycle a lot from Surrey into London so a lot of mileage and a lot of opportunity for it to happen – and it does! I can hand on heart say it’s never my fault, usually it’s the type of person you described and the ones who HAVE to be one car in front!!

I blame the continuing stress that started with Covid and the ongoing stresses of the economy, news etc…. a lot of people just aren’t with it anymore.

Don’t take it personal. Do check out Cycling Mikey, he’s brilliant. There are some amazing examples of self importance, entitlement etc. These are some of my favourites…

…..and it’s always best not to escalate it tempting as it might be!

I think the guy deliberately filming people in stationary cars using their phones is breaking rule #1.
I know it’s letter of the law illegal but with no kinetic energy involved the risks are miniscule. I’m very anti driving and phone use but the stationary traffic end of it does my head in. I guess it was just easier to blanket ban it than have caveats.

This is a normal reaction, I had the same thing after being on the receiving end of unjustified road rage in my car. Had to park up in a layby and I was shaking like a shitting dog for quite a while afterwards.