Bottle Thrown At Me

mrhawk166

Hi all,

I know this has been discussed time and time again, but hey - it's never real until it happens to you.

In the spirit of Bike to Work week last week, I began doing my 13 mile commute via Bike. The first half or so is within nicely bike-laned Orange County local road, but the last half is "Laguna Canyon Road." Canyon road, as in narrow, one lane in each direction, and windy. That's what initially put me off, but with the advent of Bike to Work week, I decided to give it a shot. And I did pretty well last week. I was dead tired by the end, but I figured I just needed to get used to it.

This morning (Monday), week 2, went well. But this afternoon, things got ugly. Everyone else was worried about the danger of the traffic around me - wrong. I have had no incidents up to now, but this afternoon, well, picture this:

A nice long downhill, a single lane in each direction. Nothing on both sides. Traffic comes in clumps. No cars in front, as far as the eye can see, one approaching from behind. I'm enjoying the downhill. I glance down at my wheels, watching them spin. Then I hear a KA-THUNK, and my front wheel receives a severe shock - a jolt forcing it to the right. I struggle to maintain control (at 25-30 mph). As I glance up, I catch something flying off to the right. The car is speeding away, and I notice people looking at me. There's honks, and waves. I had just been assaulted.

I called the cops and asked what could they do. An officer came down to record the incident, but he couldn't do much, he said. Without a) an ID on the car, b) me being able to ID the person in a line-up, and c) me actually seeing him throw the bottle, there's nothing he can do. I thanked him and sent him on his way.

Now what? I hate to let an incident like this stop me from bicycling commuting, but oh my god - that's frickin' dangerous to have bottles being thrown at you like that. As much as I hate to say it, not much we can do though, hm?

Details: I was dressed in my usual cycling garb (bright yellow/black trimmed jersey, cycling shorts), on my Trek MTB with slicks/panniers - so I was looking the cyclist - somewhat at least. I guess maybe it's safer to be in more populated areas, that way people aren't tempted to do things like this, hm?

I tried catching up w/ the car, but there's no way I could on the 55mph road. By the time I hit the first light, he was long gone.

ksheuk

I caught a bottle in the chest while walking about ten years ago. Didn't hurt to bad. Could have been worse if it hit me in the face or head and broke. I was walking so no cycling gear and in the middle of town. The world is full of a-holes. All you can really do is get pissed and get over it. I feel your pain.

mrhawk166

Hey dude - thanks for the message. :-) Nice to know that I'm not being singled out for bottle attacks. The world isn't against only me...

Don't let 'em get you down...

chephy

Ouch! Sorry to hear this, but I hope it doesn't deter you from cycling altogether. You could've been assaulted even if you were walking or driving... There are some nasty sh!ts in the world, alas, but we shouldn't let them scare us off doing things like bike riding. I feel your pain; I know I'd be really freaked out if this happened to me. Good like and hope their bad karma haunts them for a long long time, ha ha.

coolworx

A hot summer day, a long time ago, on a now ancient Fuji 10speed, I had a whole pound of butter thrown square in the middle of my back...

No reason. Just some strange human beings thought it would be hilarious.

Ehhh... I took it in stride, and actually laughed about the absurdity of it all

Orange Fish

Similar thing happened to me a few years ago. I was riding in between Irvine and Huntington Beach on a short evening ride when this jeep (of course with a bunch of kids in it) came from behind and hit me with some sort of inflated object (balloon or condom) that was filled with god only knows what...all I know is that I was sticky and disgusting and rippin' mad. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, cars speed and most of us can't accelerate to 50+ mph quickly, so we can never see who does this. Man, I'd love to find those kids though....

coolworx

What you really mean is that sometimes we ALL WISH our bicycles were equipped with handlbar mounted RPG's.

Chris516

While that has not happen to me, no driver(in the mid-size city I live in) is safe from my verbal and/or legal retribution, whether it is in infraction as heinous as this or, something as minor as being told to 'get on the sidewalk'.

Sham

I can hardly believe how idiotic so many people can be.... I' glad that as of yet no one has said or thrown anything. but my issue is that full size vans pass me on residental roads, going like 40mph, and leave about a foot between their car and ME. this happens at least once evrerytime I ride. what' even worse is when instead of a van nearly sideswipping me, is when a semi truck does it. that scares the hell out of me. I'd Never let that stop me... but I think I'd like to find a new area to ride in...
geez, and if somebody told be to ride on the sidewalk, when I'm in my all -out cycling gear, I would flip out...or flip them off....really, though, I'd yell at them like my mom would (she's a high school teacher)... ride away...

vl1016

I had a bottle thrown at me two weeks ago on a relatively quiet residential road. It hit my front tire and sprayed water on my legs. I started chasing, and the car really took off. I chased it all around town though, until it finally lost me in traffic. Really pissed me off. I have kind of a running joke with my brother, but in Texas, it is actually legal to carry a shotgun or rifle in plain sight. Thoguht maybe I should strap my shotgun to my back every ride, adn see what happens. I'm sure I'd get pulled over a few times, but, like I said, it technically is legal. It is becoming tempting-so is a baseball in my jersey that I could throw at cars that mess with me on purpose.

Chris516

The way I avoid being 'side-swiped' is, by taking a full lane. This ticks drivers but, I don't move. If they proceed to yell, 'GET OFF THE ROAD!!!!', I chase them down and, give them a verbal chewing out and, quote the regulations from the state's(Minnesota) drivers manual.

janiejones

Me too.

I was riding and wacko - a half full one litre Coke bottle in the back.
Also while riding along the edge of the highway on the Gold Coast (Australia) a cream filled cup cake bounced off my wrist and into my face. It sounds funny now - but it was a little freaky at the time - just riding along at my own pace and then splat cream and sponge cake up my arm and over my face. It really messed up my ride. Both of these occassion were due to some losers in passing cars who thought they were funny. Well, I didn't really get the joke.

But what can you do?

Chris516

Scare them by, chasing them down.

cdat

That is a great idea, chasing them down. I've only had things thrown at me a few times but never thought of chasing them. It usually happens on a busy four lane where I would have a hard time catching them but I have had it happen in a residential area. I am now a full time bike commuter so I am constantly on the lookout. If it does happen again, I'll try hunting them and see how they like that.