Did you ever encounter a situation where you got ticked off enough with someone while you were riding that you had to take a time out?

Memorial Day weekend brought the usual heavy traffic.THis is expected and been there done that. But this year, everyone on the road seemed particularly crazy and distracted. Road to Ohio Bike week with a friend. About a two hour ride. Heavy traffic all the way and stop and go near the event. We were getting cut off on the highway quite a bit , people just randomly darting in and out of lanes, tailgating, just acting like douches etc...when we got off the highway at a light we both commented WTF is up with this? It was beyond the usual expected holiday craziness. Went to turn. Light turns green. Paused then turned onto the main street. Guy in the lane next to us just drifts into our lane while turning, cell phone in hand and looking down. I sped up, friend brakes to avoid.. Come to the stoplight and guy starts cussing and hollering at me. Why I dont know. He clearly had no clue what just happened. I shouted back at the guy now behind me. Continued to the next light with the guy pulling up next to me and the dude unloaded a profanity laced tirade. Still dont know what his point was but I blew my stack. Stepped off the bike went to the passenger window where his girlfriend was and told the guy he almost took us out and he needs to go down to the DMV and turn in his license. Guy stepped out of the car screaming and acting all billy badass. Young scrawny kid in a ricer playing it up for his girlfriend. Light was already green and people started honking. Realized I crossed a line and shouldn't have let it get to me to that point but just had enough .Friend told me just get on the bike and let it go, which I did. Turned into a Burger King and ate lunch and sat for a while/. Pretty infuriating situation and lost my cool which I shouldn't have let it get to me..wasn't a good ride or event...just walked around the tents for a while and did get a pin striping on the road king fender. Went home and called it a day. Lesson learned. Dont let others provoke you.

 

More times than I will admit to here, especially when I was young, dumb and full of you know. Nowadays I try not to retaliate or give a driver a "piece of my mind". I figure if I didn't get hit, I won, and go on with life.

There have been times when I've had a close call and had to stop and collect myself before I could get back on the bike. Last summer, below Tupper Lake, NY, a deer ran out of the woods right in front of me. I didn't miss him by three feet! I had to stop for about ten minutes or so, until my breathing and heart rate returned to some semblance of normal.

 

At my age I no longer go looking for trouble. If the other guy is a jerk I mentally give them the finger, laugh at them and move on.
Life is way to short to take a foolish chances. Way too many drugged up idiots out there today.

You learned another lesson in life, walk away and laugh. It is not putting your tail between your legs, it is using your brain to be able to go home to your family.

 

Let me be the first to say....should have stabbed him!

 

 

I pretty much escalated it needlessly. Should have just let it go. Just was in the heat of the moment. I just blew my stack when the guy started going off. The thing that pisses me off isnt so much almost getting run off the road(par for the course), its the reaction or failure to even acknowledge what happened or that something just happened. When the guy pulled up was kind of expecting a 'sorry' not a profanity laced tirade. That's really what set me off. When I look back at what was accomplished by going off, all I can say is nothing really. But its hard to be rational sometimes.

 

 

I lost my cool several years ago and after dealing with the after effects I came to the realization that it wasn't worth it. I'm not going to get into details but I could've handled it a completely different way. To avoid getting into a pointless confrontation it's best to move on, after it's over pull off to cool off if you have to. You never know what's going through people's heads in those moments. They might be having a nightmare day, they could be drunk or on drugs, it could be anything. My opinion is that unless the offender is going to engage with you let it slide and carry on.

 

I'm sorry but if that happened to me I would have beat the **** out of him and made him cry in front of his girlfriend and apologize for being an ***

 

Yes, I was coming home and saw my wife in her car. She's a very safe (slow) driver. There was a 'youthful' driver right on her bumper, only inches away. That angered me and I drove right up next to the drivers door. It was a single lane and that meant I was driving on the wrong side of the road. I pointed and waved the driver to back off. They did and I followed my wife home safely. Thankfully.