Screamers

unionman

Has anyone had this experience?

I was cycling through Queen Street a few nights ago, through rush hour traffic. A group of teenagers were making their way across the road, weaving through the lanes of traffic (three one way lanes). They drew level with me as I was making my way up the road, and one of them jerked his face up to me and screamed into my ear. Cue laughter from his little entourage. I didn't react, didn't even blink, I think I sensed it was about to happen and braced myself a bit.

After I went past I did that thing of replaying the scenario in my head where I flicked out a punch in anticipation etc etc. Very 'Scrubs' I know.:rolleyes:

Similar experience about a year ago when a white van came toward me on a narrow road, speeded up and driver did the same thing. Now that was more unnerving.

Just wondering if anyone else has had similar situations, how did you react / respond?

markpb

This happens all the time when I'm cycling north on O'Connell st in the evening. Groups of kids waiting at the bus stop (alwasy the 123/38 for some reason) will wait until I'm just going past, jump out ever so slightly and scream at me. The first few times it really unnerved me because there's always a bus coming up from behind but now I'm used to it.

Still annoys me though.

jman0

This one time i was cycling to Sally Gap and they had just put loads of loose chippings down on this particularly steep stretch.
But there was enough of a beaten path from previous cars that i could navigate on my road bike.
Anyway up comes a motorist to overtake me. When he draws level he slows down a bit, then accelerates really quickly in an attempt to spray me with flying chippings.
I swear to god.
I got hit with a few, but nothing serious.

el tel

A good few years ago I was riding up a hill past an itinerant camp in Belfast and saw some gypsy kids on the pavement ahead waiting for me to approach. When I got level one of them swung for me with something in his hand but I made a blocking move against his arm and sent his 'weapon' flying. Turns out the kid was offering me a can of coke and I sent it flying! The poor bugger had probably been watching the Tour de fFrance on TV and saw the spectators offer drinks to the riders. I still feel a little guilty about it...:o

Raam

Some good ones there

A few times people have tried to get me with bottles of Fanta or 7up, they've all missed thankfully. They definitely weren't "offering" it to me! One fella tried to rob a banana from my back pocket. I was stopped at lights, and could hear a car inching up, lights changed I took off and then the car goes past with some lad saying, "argh I nearly got it"

littlejukka

i had an egg flung at me by some scobes outside the flats off camden street. clipped the top of my helmet and smashed on the kerb on the other side of the road. fuming, so i was, but it wasn't worth a fight with half a dozen knackers in their mid-late teens.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Raam wrote: »

Some good ones there

A few times people have tried to get me with bottles of Fanta or 7up, they've all missed thankfully. They definitely weren't "offering" it to me! One fella tried to rob a banana from my back pocket. I was stopped at lights, and could hear a car inching up, lights changed I took off and then the car goes past with some lad saying, "argh I nearly got it"

lol

I've never experienced any of this crap whicle cycling...touch wood.

Ghost Rider

Could have been worse. At least he didn't think you were "just pleased to see him".

Raam wrote: »

One fella tried to rob a banana from my back pocket.

petethedrummer

some f**ker jumped out from behind a big esb box (or something) on the dual carriage way heading towards finglas. Luckily the road was empty cos I swerved alot.

If someone did it to me in town I would probably go back and roar at/punch them.

rubadub

Don't leave home without it

http://search.ebay.ie/ws/search/SaleSearch?sofocus=bs&satitle=pepper+spray&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC5&fbd=1&catref=C5&sorefinesearch=1&copagenum=1&coaction=compare&coentrypage=search&nojspr=y&from=R14&nojspr=y&pfid=0&fswc=1&few=&saprclo=&saprchi=&fss=0&saslop=1&sasl=&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D0&salic=-15&fls=2&saatc=99&sacur=0&sacqyop=ge&sacqy=&fbfmt=1&sabfmts=2&saobfmts=exsif&sappl=1&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&sabdlo=&sabdhi=&saaff=afdefault&afcj=&afmp=&fsop=3%26fsoo%3D1&fcl=3&frpp=50

Gavin

Yeah I've gotten this once or twice, it's incredibly enraging !

pete4130

Lived in the city centre all my life and now living in Finglas, happens on and off alot. I've had white van men beep me from about 1 metre to scare the sh1t out of me before.

I even had a group of kids run out in front of me on Cuffe Street heading for Stephens Green/Harcourt Street junction (I'd there was about 10 of them aged between 11 and 15?)
The funny thing was I was cycling out to Enniskerry on my BMX to dig trails so I was cycling with a huge shovel sitting on the handlebars of my bike loosely held in one hand. The guy who jumped right in front of me gotthe point of the shovel to his face/neck and dropped to the ground (I was actually trying to slow down and stop to avoind hitting him, as I didn't think hurting one of them would go down to well!?) so he got what was comig to him while another of his friends swung a punch at the left side of my face, but missed SO badly that his arm went around the back of my head and lightly tapped my RIGHT ear????
The shovel was on the ground at this point (lying beside some scumbag holding his throat) and my first thought was to pick it up and keep going before one of them picked it up. Soon as I picked the shovel up they thought I was going to start swinging it at them and legged it.

Another time going over Leeson Street bridge to Stephens Green one Sunday a VW Polo went by and squirted me with a waterpistol, barely got my head/face but the water had a salty taste to it.....so it was either salt water or urine. I took chase but lost them halfway down Leeson Street as they made the green light onto Stephens Green. This happened pre-LUAS so traffic had to go all the way around the green. I reckoned they would go around and either go down Dawson Street or back towards Baggot Street, so i nipped around the green the wrong way. Guess who I saw coming towards me on an ENTIRELY empty street after passing the Dawson Street turn off with nowhere else to go....a VW Polo. Met them head on, front wheel to bumped on an empty street. 3 southside looking girls, one in the back desperately trying to hide the waterpistol discretely. They looked pretty shocked and shook up when I started shouting abuse at them.

Again another time some VW Golf (what is it with VW's?) on Terenure Road as I was heading to Bushy Skatepark on my BMX (maybe its the BMX?) got me in the face with its window wipers spalshing excess water from the windscreen. I gave them the benfit of the doubt. I come up n the car again and some skanger girl laughing looking at me shouting "Now, do it now!" and I got hit by the water again. It's at this point I simple let go of my BMX and sent it ploughing into the passenger wing of the moving car (my hope was to get it caught and mangled under the front wheels so they'd have to be stopped and police called....."the old soap in my eye and I couldnt see story" plus my bike is insured so I wasn't too worried, plus I knew my friend was behind me and would have sprayed them also...which I found out later they had done so there was a witness). Jumped back on the bike to chase them down and give it another go but they'd sped off down the road to turn at a garage to come back and run me down! They couldn exit at the garage as a bus came, but they were FUMING. Put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. My bike was undamaged too.

Raam

I had a bird fly into the side of my head one day. I'm pretty sure he didn't mean it though. They pack a fair punch, I was glad I had my helmet on that day.

Morgan

Town to Enniskerry...on a BMX...with a shovel...jaysus...

pete4130

Yeah, that was back in the day....dont' forget the cycle back too after a hard days digging :cool:

DirkVoodoo

Some people are really pathetic.

I would love to see a motorist get a ban for some of these types of things, totally ludicrous that some people can get behind the wheel of a car and behave like this.

EDIT: Just remembered I was cycling home one night and a taxi was crawling up behind me. Really wanted him to pass because there was a car parked in my way. Anyway, after slowing down for a bit and him not overtaking, I said "feck this" and stuck my arm out to go around the car. As soon as I started to edge past, he sped up and passed me by a couple of inches. Jerk!

simplybikes

folks don't forget to use your water bottle to get your retaliation in first.
When someone draws up next to you in their car to vent their anger use your water bottle to spray them. They usually get such a shock at getting drenched that your long gone before they recover their composure. Nothing like seeing a bunch of skangers getting soaked by a group of cyclists out on a Sunday spin.

blah

pete4130 wrote: »

Yeah, that was back in the day....dont' forget the cycle back too after a hard days digging :cool:

*Eyes well up with tears*

What a champ. I collected these presents for the kids but I think you deserver them Pete.

unionman

Hope this thread won't deter would be cyclists.:o

I only have myself to blame...

pete4130

Ha thanks, but the kids deserve them more than me...I sold out to the car for the longer journeys.
Ok, now this is off topic but here goes....A friend was telling me he was driving his van one day and some saw skangers standing outside a house, being loud and obnoxious....so he decided to throw his takeaway curry at them....got the skanger in the pristine white tracksuit square on....lovely!

sdep

Seems to me it's usually bored disaffected kids trying to get a response from someone, anyone, to prove they matter and show off to their mates. If you asked them why they did it though, I expect you'd get a 'dunno'.

Apart from them, I've been shouted at by a man swaying drunkenly with his trousers round his ankles, and narrowly dodged a drive-by egging. I really can't understand someone who gets their kicks trawling round town with the window down and half a dozen eggs looking for people to chuck them at.

One I liked was a woman at a bus stop waving an imaginary finish-line flag as I sped past. I gave her a smile for that.

niceonetom

i've had screamers, usually young ones in tracksuits, and fake punchers, usually fellas with a can in the other hand. it can scare the bejebus out of you if you're away in your own world, as i so often am on the bike, more or less on autopilot.

last summer in the phoenix park i had a strange incident. clipping along nicely and i spied a cute little squirrel about a foot in from the edge of the road, directly in my path and looking straight at me. he was up on his haunches doing that sit-up-and-beg thing that makes us forget that squirrels are just rats with betters tails. i moved out a bit assuming that he would retreat as i sped on, but no, he was frozen to the spot. i would have missed him if he hadn't made a lightening dash at the very last moment. they're fast little bástards. anyway he timed his run, apparently trying to go between my wheels. well he didn't make it, and my skinny rear tire damn near cut him in half. i might be my imagination but i think he let out a little scream too, perhaps just a he realised his own stupidity. messy.

as regards humans being ássholes to cyclists i suggest we all take a policy of just-keep-going if possible and go-completely-mental if not. it's good for us to cultivate a reputation as mad bástards capable of wildly disproportionate and violent reprisals, if provoked. motorist and pedestrians should whisper it to each other "don't fúck with the cyclists, they're mental".

edit: i just remembered a good one i had a while ago. a bunch of kids at a bus stop on the quays doing the folrmula1 eeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooowwwwww (complete with dopler-effect) at cyclists as they passed. gas.

Raam

niceonetom wrote: »

"don't fúck with the cyclists, they're mental".

He's a "cyclepath"!



I'll get me coat.

Zorba

For some reason i seem to attract young teenage girls, usually get something along the lines of "i love your bum bum" or "i love your sexy shorts" (was wearing tights at the time!!). Or young lads tend to shout some sort of "go on faster faster" sure they be saying other things but with the wind and other noise i never catch the whole thing. Think the show us your bum bum was my favourite

RainyDay

pete4130 wrote: »

Another time going over Leeson Street bridge to Stephens Green one Sunday a VW Polo went by and squirted me with a waterpistol, barely got my head/face but the water had a salty taste to it.....so it was either salt water or urine. I took chase but lost them halfway down Leeson Street as they made the green light onto Stephens Green. This happened pre-LUAS so traffic had to go all the way around the green. I reckoned they would go around and either go down Dawson Street or back towards Baggot Street, so i nipped around the green the wrong way. Guess who I saw coming towards me on an ENTIRELY empty street after passing the Dawson Street turn off with nowhere else to go....a VW Polo. Met them head on, front wheel to bumped on an empty street. 3 southside looking girls, one in the back desperately trying to hide the waterpistol discretely. They looked pretty shocked and shook up when I started shouting abuse at them.

Again another time some VW Golf (what is it with VW's?) on Terenure Road as I was heading to Bushy Skatepark on my BMX (maybe its the BMX?) got me in the face with its window wipers spalshing excess water from the windscreen. I gave them the benfit of the doubt. I come up n the car again and some skanger girl laughing looking at me shouting "Now, do it now!" and I got hit by the water again. It's at this point I simple let go of my BMX and sent it ploughing into the passenger wing of the moving car (my hope was to get it caught and mangled under the front wheels so they'd have to be stopped and police called....."the old soap in my eye and I couldnt see story" plus my bike is insured so I wasn't too worried, plus I knew my friend was behind me and would have sprayed them also...which I found out later they had done so there was a witness). Jumped back on the bike to chase them down and give it another go but they'd sped off down the road to turn at a garage to come back and run me down! They couldn exit at the garage as a bus came, but they were FUMING. Put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. My bike was undamaged too.

Reminds me of this incident. The Gardai promised they would come back to me after speaking to the driver, but I've heard nothing back as yet.

Dirk Gently

shouters and windscreen water squirters, I hate them more than people who park in cycle lanes. Seen a few older lads get an awful fright from shouters. I kind of expect it now and don't wobble too bad when they get me. I'm sure someone will have a bad accident someday due to it. The thing about shouters though is that they are always as quiet as a mouse when you catch up with them at the traffic lights.

beans

Confession time - I pre-empted a screamer yesterday by making to clip him in the face on the way past. Saw this youngfella at the side of the road, all smirks and winding up for something. Sure enough, as I got close he made to jump out in front of me - I stuck my arm out and just missed the tip of his nose.

It's not the right thing to do, it only makes it more likely he's going to do it to some other cyclist today... but it did feel pretty good.

sdep

It's not just here. In the news yesterday was the strange tale of the professor who unicycles round Newcastle getting shouted at in the name of research. He says it's almost always young men who have a go at him, but thinks it's just down to them seeing him as a sexual rival. On his unicycle.

Fozzy

It's happened me a few times, most times I've been able to stay calm and not swerve but one bunch of teenagers did it to me once and I nearly went into a lampost. I would've nearly went into it anyway without the screaming as they were so close to me. I think I must've been in a bad mood that day because I spat on their passenger window as I cycled by them at the next lights. I'm not usually like that, it's just that I could've hurt myself bad because of them

Donny5

Well, it's good to know I'm not alone in getting the rage!
I have to say, I rarely get shouters, but I have had lots of other abuse. I was the victim of an egg attack along the Rock Road. I tried to catch his Golf, but it was in the summer, with all the roadworks along there, meaning I was sharing a limited space with traffic. He was lucky.

Another driver stopped and gave out stink to me for crossing over to the outside of the lane to enter a right turn lane on Newtown Park Avenue. The road was clear when I had crossed, he had caught up with me after the maneuver. I tried to explain that the lane I was in was for right-turns, when he flipped me the bird and drove off. That (and the fact he had a maroon Freelander) pushed me over the edge. I caught him at the lights at the bottom of Newpie, reefed open his door (I do that a lot, it's screws with their comfort zone) and screamed at him, ending it with something similar to "...and everytime your kids see you, they'll see an arsehole and a coward!".

That calmed me down. I used to be much more volatile than that, too. I'm amazed I was never knocked a punch by some people, or arrested by a motorcycle guard I stopped and berated for going through a yellow. Personnally, when it comes to shouters, I'd be inclined to throw out my left leg to give them a good kick. After all, they're not interest in you safety...

david1two3

I saw four giddy ten-twelve year old boys on thursday near Finchley getting ready to shoot me with blow -biros so I informed them out loud that I was going to have to kill them, they shot me anyway and I told them they were dead as I laughed my self into my long gone youth.There is an element of danger in many things but I wasnt going to get excited about this. If I was on foot they wouldnt dare but I wasnt so I thought briefly about creeping up behind them to give them a fright but didnt think I`d get near enough.

The eggs are a different thing in that it is a real missile and you think your fooked until it goes splat,I have hung around the scene making a lot of noise in the past and even told the ten blokes in a block of flats that they were **** with just a little wrist movement, the place is a murder hotspot but a bunch of **** being told by one person is a bit unerving as they begin to wonder what your secret weapon is. There is none but they dont know that and the group mentality is that they only behave badly when they know theyre strong,so they assume that youve got the power otherwise you wouldnt dare.

I collared some 13-14 year olds who were water bombing in Walthamstow and when I cornered them they **** themselves and yes the were well shook up after me but being hit in the face by a pint of water is more than enough to put you into the oncoming traffic at 25mph. Nobody got hurt but they learned there is a price to pay for attacking cyclists at random.

pete4130

The ultimate comeback to drivers who give abuse it to remain ultimately calm if you manage to catch up with them and nicely ask what the problem is, while being slightly apolgetic. When they let relax a little, you whip the keys from the car and cycle off with them...or throw them away if he's chasing you on foot. I'm still waiting for the opportunity to see that one through.

unionman

I haven't looked at this for a couple of days, and there are some hair-raising moments in there. Thinking about this over the last few weeks, I'm trying to keep to a new mantra; Don't engage with the rage. Happy and peaceful Christmas to you all.

infinity&beyond

a few months ago i was cycling (in the cycle lane) up towards stillorgan. out of the blue a football whizzed by my face - missed me by inches! i got a real fright as i could have been knocked onto the road and into the path of a bus passing me at that very moment. the ball came from a break in the wall to my left and i wasn't sure if someone had done it on purpose or not, but i doubled back and waited for them to collect their ball. after 10 or 20 secs (delay = guilty?) two young lads (12-15?) came out from behind the wall and got the fright of their life as i launched a verbal assault on them.

i still feel a little guilt for lashing out at them as i don't know if they were trying to hit me. plus my wife gave out to me when i told her the story!!

as for shouters, i've had that a couple of times from passing cars. it's really unnerving and could easily cause an accident. it makes me really mad, but i rarely get to catch them. i always imagine what i'll do when i catch them, my "favourite thought" is to turn their passenger mirror out....not so i'll damage it, but so they'll have to get out of the car and put it back to it's correct position. basically inconvenience them.

my brother told me a funny shouter story. he was cycling along, got sprayed by a car's windscreen thingy. he caught up with them at a set of lights. the car had one of those "no fear" (clothes brand) stickers on the back. the driver had his window open, so my brother rode up on his outside and roared in his window. the guy almost shat himself. my brother roars at him "I thought you had no fear". the joke was probably lost on him, but the bro was really pleased with himself.

on a somewhat related topic. reading over this thread has reminded me of when i was younger, probably 10 or so. when it snowed and we got bored pelting each other with snowballs, the thing to do in our area was to go to the main road, make a pile of snowballs and then ambush any passing buses. we weren't trying to do damage, just have a laugh. as a grown up i am totally embarrassed!!

blorg

niceonetom wrote: »

cute little squirrel ... lightening dash at the very last moment ... timed his run, apparently trying to go between my wheels.

They seem to do this all right; sometimes they succeed:




from http://www.joeydurango.com/pixpages/squirrelpage.htm

Thomas_S_Hunterson

blorg wrote: »

They seem to do this all right; sometimes they succeed:

ugh, that's horrific

blorg

Sean_K wrote: »

ugh, that's horrific

Sorry, this might make you feel better:



No-one likes to see squirrels mangled in bike wheels but bear in mind that cars produce more common road-kill and that these squirrels were not killed without corresponding injury to the cyclists. I see these squirrels sort of like someone who commits suicide by jumping off a building to land on top of someone, etc. Very inconsiderate.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Yea, in a car it's not as bad for the driver than on a bike. At lease in a car, it's unlikely that the animals will be shredded in the brake-discs!

Stupid squirrels.

PeadarofAodh

I was on my way back from Blessington cycling through Terenure noticed a bunch of about 10 skater-boy kids in their teens giving abuse to a cyclist passing them at walking pace so I sped up, got really close to the kerb while their backs were turned and absolutely screamed at the highest pitch my manly voice could manage.

One of them actually fell over the kerb in shock...cycled away pissing myself with laughter!

Cabaal

PeadarofAodh wrote: »

I was on my way back from Blessington cycling through Terenure noticed a bunch of about 10 skater-boy kids in their teens giving abuse to a cyclist passing them at walking pace so I sped up, got really close to the kerb while their backs were turned and absolutely screamed at the highest pitch my manly voice could manage.

One of them actually fell over the kerb in shock...cycled away pissing myself with laughter!

Revenge is sweet,