Had someone brake check me while on the bicycle this afternoon.

All these anti bicycle folks need to remember that the cyclists paid for the roads with their bicycle registration and fees. If it wasn't for the cyclists we wouldn't we wouldn't even have those roads. </snark>
Let's see.... I have 4 sets of license plates in my garage, and all of the vehicles that they are bolted to burn gas... which is heavily taxed in Illinois to fund the roads.

Exactly who is paying for what here?
 
I know, it was all my fault.... I selfishly took 30 seconds of their day away from them.

Yes, they got caught behind me for about 30 seconds. Marked two lane road, no paved shoulders, still within city limits., with some oncoming traffic. When there's not a paved shoulder, I tend to ride within 2 feet of the white line (3 feet at the most).

I had the sense that something was getting ready to go wrong as they were passing me. As they were coming around, I checked my rear view mirror to see that there was no one else behind me.

As soon as they got in front of me, they put it all the way over on the right edge of the pavement, and brought it down to a complete stop. I was riding at somewhere between 18-20mph. I had three choices. Go to the right and take the ditch (and likely get hurt), run into the back of them (and likely get hurt), or pass them on the left using the oncoming lane.

I took #3 and went around on the left. Thankfully I already knew that there wasn't anyone behind me. There was no oncoming traffic, and I made a successful pass. I was around them quickly as they were at a complete stop, and I was still moving at a good clip.

My next fear was that it wasn't yet over for me, but it thankfully was. They turned off onto the first side street that they came to, and disappeared. Once I realized that I was in the clear, I pulled off in a safe place and let my heart rate come down a bit. I think that also being a motorcycle rider for 25+ years helped me on this one, to be able to quickly make a decision and execute it, that kept me upright with the rubber side down.

After several years and 18,000 miles on the bicycle, this one was a first... and a stunning new all time low.

As much as I hate to think it... it really may be time for me to ride with a GoPro or something similar.
Wow, you handled that well! I guess having a GoPro visible might help improve behaviour? I'm more interested in not getting hit at all than catching the guy that does it... I always wonder if a gun very obviously holstered on your back would help too? Maybe that's inviting more trouble.... Not an option here anyways!
I don't have a road bike anymore, partially because I never want to be stuck on pavement after a few tight car passes on 55mph road! Not worth it to me at least. So now my "road bike" is a "gravel bike" which is my old XC mtb with fast-ish 2.10 gravel tires, and I just don't ride on the pavement if I'm going to hold someone up, I can go 4mph slower on the gravel shoulder for a mile or two until I get back onto my normal non busy road routes where no one gets held up. Way less stress for me and I suppose the hot heads who think bikes shouldn't be on the road... Plus I like to link mtb trails so this does both reasonably if the trails are dry.
 
I look at bicycle riding on the public roads much the same as kids using road to have a street hockey game. It's fun recreation and ok to do within reason, but when cars come along, it's time to pull over to the side of the road and let the cars pass. It's also a time and place kind of thing, too. Playing in a cul-de-sac is not a big deal at all whereas playing on highways or narrow country roads is dangerous and irresponsible.

We have a nearby, heavily traveled country road that used to get taken over by a cycling club every other weekend and got clogged up with hundreds of city folk who would meet up at a nearby town and jam up the whole road all Saturday. The county must have gotten feed up with all the local complaints as now it only happens twice a year and they have to post signs weeks in advance, get permits and hire off duty police for traffic control.
 
I look at bicycle riding on the public roads much the same as kids using road to have a street hockey game. It's fun recreation and ok to do within reason, but when cars come along, it's time to pull over to the side of the road and let the cars pass. It's also a time and place kind of thing, too. Playing in a cul-de-sac is not a big deal at all whereas playing on highways or narrow country roads is dangerous and irresponsible.
So a serious adult cyclist should go round and round in a cul de sac? Right.
 
So a serious adult cyclist should go round and round in a cul de sac? Right.
It was an example. A "serious adult cyclist" should recognize that they are recreating on the public road and base their attitudes and behavior accordingly. How is it qualitatively different from using the street to play basketball or jump around on a pogo stick, ride our horses, tobagon, etc? (All things we did on our rural county road as a kid.) We did those things where there was little or no traffic and got the heck out of the way when cars came along... Just like we did when we were riding our bikes.
 
When I was a medical student I used to ride my bicycle to university a couple of miles away. No recreation about it. That was my transport.

One day I was passing a van stopped at a light, on his right, when he decided to change lanes right on top of me. I ran into the side of his van and was ricocheted over an approach onto a business lot with several poles and covered with loose gravel. I didn't hit a pole and didn't fall down either. I was really mad. One of our neighbours (ironically a pathology resident) who was also riding a bicycle pulled me off the side of the van. The driver of the van rolled down his passenger's side window a couple of inches and said, "I didn't know you were allowed to ride on the sidewalk." He had no idea what he had just done.

My only satisfaction was the size of the dent on his van - about 3' x 4'. I expect he was a little surprised when he got home.
 
We did those things where there was little or no traffic and got the heck out of the way when cars came along... Just like we did when we were riding our bikes.
Where does a cyclist go on a rural country road with no berm, only dirt off the edge of the pavement? Serious question. Road bikes aren't bmx bikes or mountain bikes, you can't ride them in dirt. You think a cyclist should stop, dismount, and step off the road when he hears a car coming?
 
All these anti bicycle folks need to remember that the cyclists paid for the roads with their bicycle registration and fees. If it wasn't for the cyclists we wouldn't we wouldn't even have those roads. </snark>
Oregon has a one time registration fee for $200+ bicycles, sliding fee based on purchase price
 
Call me cynical but I feel as if I've been on both sides. Nearly hit by a car while riding a bike and my thoughts are they are oil and water. There is a certain disdain by motor vehicles to have to stop or go slower, when everyone is in fact in a hurry.

At the same time, there was mention of socioeconomics. I have been at a stop light when a pack of cyclists appear. Since they can't blow the intersection, it's too major/busy, they use my trunk to not have to put their feet down. One of their bikes is worth more than my car, let alone 6 of them in a pack.

At the end of the day, if we are to be realistic, these two vehicles have a very hard time sharing the road. What happened to Johnny Hockey recently is a sad reminder.

Times have somehow changed. Many of us here have said we as kids used our bikes to get everywhere, even 5-6 miles from home at age 10. I am nervous about my kid riding just to the junior high school when that time comes.

There are way too many stories but I seem to recall there was one in CO where it was on video where a guy in a Volvo on purpose mowed down a cyclist. This viciousness exists, believe it or not. In the battle of car vs. bike, the latter is always going to lose, whether right or wrong.

edit looks like it was TN
 
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Share the road. If you have to pull over on a bicycle do so to let the masses pass you don't be the road obstacle! Don't be that guy that causes road rage and creates accidents from drivers that can't handle their car because they are over taxed with emotion. I've seen that happen as they go around trucks and lose it. Same with bicycles don't be an obstacle! I'm the cyclist as well and I respect the road and understand that the person with the most Wheels wins.
 
Where does a cyclist go on a rural country road with no berm, only dirt off the edge of the pavement? Serious question. Road bikes aren't bmx bikes or mountain bikes, you can't ride them in dirt. You think a cyclist should stop, dismount, and step off the road when he hears a car coming?
Around my area, hoards of people from town load their bikes onto their car and drive out here on the edge of suburbia, looking specifically for rural county roads to ride on. Roads with lots of traffic averaging 2 or 3 times the speed of a bicycle, where there are no berms or shoulders, with lots of curves and limited sight distances where passing is often quite hazardous... And the cyclists seem to think their basic human rights are being violated when drivers are frustrated when they come around a corner and have to hit the brakes unexpectedly and forcing them to pass when you can't see far enough to know if there is incoming traffic.

I'm not advocating that bikes be banned from the public roads, and I certainly don't think drivers are at all justified when driving unsafely around cyclists. They should be punished. I'm just saying that recreational riders do not have any kind of moral high ground and should be more highly regulated. They should also choose to ride on roads that have shoulders and low speed limits.
 
Hammer down great ride today do I have issues with some motorist sure but don't let it bother me. I run certain routes at different times of day and different days with different routes to avoid maybe a issue today no problems at all out early and back. Have I had my run ins sure brushed up rolled coal on you name it life of road biking won't make me e ever stop.

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There is a word for any car driver who would brake check a cyclist.
It begins with the letter A.
Others in this thread have expressed their disdain for bike riders, but the guys on bicycles have as much right to use the roads as does anyone else.
Don't be that jerk who figures that might makes right and that those pesky guys on their bikes just need to get out of the way.
Back in the day, I raced and I did a lot of rural road miles to train. I rode enough with the bars then in use that I had no feeling in my thumbs for a period of years, although that did come back. Most drivers nearly fifty years ago were quite courteous toward me, although most drivers then were a lot more so than now.
The most harrowing thing that I ever had happen was that a carload of girls got close enough for one of them to lean out and pat me on the butt.
 
You think a cyclist should stop, dismount, and step off the road when he hears a car coming?
Ridiculous, not even in the same ballpark. They should yield to on coming traffic however.
There is a word for any car driver who would brake check a cyclist.
It begins with the letter A.
Same goes for the cyclist, some can have other words that begin with other letters. Most do not though.
 
I've basically given up riding on roads that lack good shoulders. Last time out I heard a pickup coming up behind me. Something set off my Spidey-sense and I went for the shoulder--the road was one of those where the pavement ends at the white line. I'm pretty sure he was crowding the white line--but he was also towing a large boat too. Which usually has a trailer axle wider than the truck. Had he meant to buzz me with his mirror might have had me run over by his trailer.

I stick mostly to the backroads now. Not 100% safe but safer. There's some decent shoulder roads around me but they go in limited directions.
 
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