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As many peo ple that read my blog know I am an avid cyclist. I have been on the bike for years and obey the laws and in general give much more leeway to vehicles than required by law out of courtesy since many drivers do not understand that cyclists have just as much right as they do to be on the road.
So, that said, for many years I have dealt with people driving by in their rusted out pick up trucks making comments while they try to fit behind their steering wheels drinking their 44 oz Big Gulp. Its the typical, not so original comments that they give, always the same, "nice spandex shorts" or "go Lance Armstrong", then a finger usually pops up (pretty sure that one finger is how far they can count, also if you take offense to the above then you are not realizing I take more offense based on what happened below). I, being me, always mouth back, and until tonight they always kept going.
Well, tonight that all changed. After finishing my fastest ride in a long time (2o MPH average on a hilly 21 mile route) we were coming back through town when a white mid-size car came up along side us, to be REAL CLEAR, myself and the rider with me were on the side of the road and not impeding traffic. The wife, in all her wisdom, decides to show the finger she can count to one with and starts mouthing obscene comments. I did the same and showed her I could count to one as well. She had also made some pretty bad comments that were so ridiculous a person could not take offense since they were so kindergarten.
At the stop sign, her husband decided to pull across and get out of the car and want to fight, I just rolled through slowly and said whatever and rolled on. I am 37, almost 38 year old man who does not live on an elementary playground, that said, I am big enough and fit enough to hold my own and was more than prepared to do what is necessary to make sure he realized that he picked the wrong person on the wrong day.
About a half mile up the road the car pulled up and parked, the person decided to park on the shoulder and then they blocked traffic and came after us, not being one to ever runaway, I stopped, unclipped from my bike, as he came up, he was mouthing along with his wife. I won't go into all the details of the mouthing, but I will admit I was giving right back. But the most important part is the guy actually was threatening violence and took a swing at me, I grabbed his wrist since it was not a full power swing. And we kept arguing.
Well, knowing that this needs to be fixed, I got their license plate number, called the police, and filed a report, since I had an actual witness, he also filed a witness report.
Locally cycling has grown and most of the leaders in the community are active cyclists, they understand that there needs to be education. I was happy to have one of them call me tonight about this incident after hearing about it. Kudos to the community leaders for being active in making sure we have a safe environment to ride in. It is people like the angry people tonight that are at fault, not us cyclists.
It looks like there is a good chance the story will go in the local newspaper and it will be mentioned with the license plate number of the couple in my twice a month radio show. It was also posted on Hicktown.com, here is the link: Watch Where You are Going $%$%$
For the record, they have a Missouri license plate, it is PJ5 K4Y , for those other cyclists, note it and watch out for them, this is a public service:)
Also, for the record, I was once 244lbs, its tattooed on my wrist, so I understand what its like to be that guy with the 44 oz Big Gulp....
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