Those poor young men with all that pent up...

[Toks]

AGRESSION. For the second time in a few days some young man decided to shout abuse at me while I was simply riding my bike. Today I was called a f''ing tw@t' and on Sunday myself and another cyclist just minding our own business were called that word that rhymes with 'runts'. OK its no biggy I'm old enough and ugly enough to take this sort of random abuse. But WTF? This irrational slinging of Anglo Saxon words in my direction is new on me Its not as if I had jumped some red lights or was riding in a pack of twenty (blocking the road ). In fact in both cases the 'swearatrators' were on the opposite side of the road and not driving (a passenger in a car today and someone walking on the pavement last Sunday). Can't we do something to help these pea brained folk? I'm guessing that like some of the pre-schoolers I often have to assess during my work these young men probably just want a bit of attention.

[Ivor]

how bizarre. haven't experienced anything like that lately.
Had a slightly close call in traffic this morning when someone brushed past me, and he didn't apologise when I shouted out a warning. He seemed a little surprised when I caught up with him about 3 miles later though. bless.

[Nick W]

Toks

Sorry to see you are the victim of so much abuse.

There are some sad people out there. I have had nothing similar recently but last year I had white van man drive dangerously close to me and hurl unwarranted abuse and on another ocassion white van man was coming down the LTB hill from Woodmansterne, when I was riding up, gave me a toot to get my attention and then drove straight at me, swerving away at the last moment. Really hilarious.

As I say, take some comfort from how miserable they must all be.

Nick

[Grahame]

Being of a more solid build, I occasionally receive compliments on my fine physique from some of these wonderful members of society.

My favourite was a young gentleman wearing a backwards baseball cap (known amongst my academic colleagues as "moron caps" as the wearers seem to have IQs significantly below the norm) and driving a Corsa with a collection of dents, rust and aftermarket spoilers. He accused me of being significantly overweight (true, so no problem with that) and questioned the marriage of my parents - ie he called me a "fat b*st**d".

My response at the next lights was to agree that I'm overweight but to point out the lack of intelligence in his comment and to confirm that by cycling I was doing something to "correct" my weight issue. I think my exact words were "I agree I'm fat, but I'm not a b*st**d. You appear to be an ignoramus and at least I'm doing something about my weight." The lights then changed to green and due to the traffic jam ahead we were unable to further enlighten each other.

[Roy Green]

Well, I dunno Marco, but the wing mirror option sounds a good one to me ... But mayby that's because I'm old and grumpy .

[Toks]

Blimey its sounds like I've been lucky given what happened to one or two of you. I agree Marco I try not to engage in a slanging match ever since a man in a van attempted to mow me down early in Regents park. I stuck up the middle finger when he displayed a very reckless manoeuvre and with nobody around he decided to really scare me, and succeeded. I'm not one for bashing wing mirrors although it can be very hard not to react sometimes.

[Amy]

Yep, I've had a good few idiots over the years - they're getting more prolific

Loved one of the more recent ones, can't remember where exactly - Hilly 50 perhaps? Passenger tells me to ride single file - errr, I was actually over taking at the time and his driver overtook me...

I did have another recent one where I think I made it clear I wasn't impressed with the standard of driving - to say I was scared was an understatement but mostly I swear quitely to myself and wave at the rear mirror

Grahame, you are my hero - another good one to go with the lady on the mobile phone trying to drive

Another classic example was in Sutton, though you could say I brought it upon myself. Coming past a line of stationery cars, a driver just chucked his crisp bag out the window - not at me - but it got my goat (not too mention being illegal). So I picked it back up and dropped it back in his window, saying he'd dropped something. Oh dear, it wasn't quite empty and he jumped out the car spilling crisps everywhere as I continued out past the lights. I knew he'd do something on the way past but I thought he might drive close to scare me - no, he leaned across his passenger (?girlfriend) and squirted me with some water from a child's drink bottle. I nearly fell off laughing...

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Toks"]OK its no biggy I'm old enough and ugly enough to take this sort of random abuse. Can't we do something to help these pea brained folk?

[Andrew G]

...well he did say he was getting a gut Snoop, perhaps his boyish good looks are starting to fail him too .

I find it rarely happens but either ignore, or if someone's cut me up or driven stupidly then sometimes wave at them through the rear window. Either alerts them to me being there if they didn't see me/weren't paying attention, or annoys them more than if I reacted more. Occasionally I'll wave an arm and shout but the shout's just a noise to do the same alerting job and not agressive.

I'm a natural coward anyway, but think that a reaction only gives them what they want anyway so why give them the satisfaction. I can highly recommend Zen cycling.

[philf]

Grahame- if you want a quick riposte, try the one about your weight, the insulter's mother, and her habit of rewarding favours with hobnobs. I'm sure you could come up with something there..

[Ivor]

[quote="philf"]Grahame- if you want a quick riposte, try the one about your weight, the insulter's mother, and her habit of rewarding favours with hobnobs. I'm sure you could come up with something there..