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105

the strangest things people in a car said to you?

So i was riding my bike on liberty in bloomfield the other night and a minivan full of trashy looking white dudes going the opposite way looked straight at me and said "i'm going to come on your face" and made some pumping gestures. I think this is hilarious, any other weird ones out there?


mattwatson
2009-06-25 16:48:28

some guy yelled "shut the F*** up!" really loud at me last night as i road down penn ave.


maggie
2009-06-25 16:52:10

Two guys in the back of a jeep mooned me once. classy.


igo
2009-06-25 17:13:36

Well, once this girl shouted that she wanted to do something to me that actually sounded quite nice but is unprintable in a public forum and anyway, I highly doubt she actually meant it.


lyle
2009-06-25 18:10:30

Lyle, you really should have caught up to her at the next light.


Just sayin'.


Mick


mick
2009-06-25 18:51:35

I was going up Baker St from the 62nd St bridge and an SUV gave me one of those mean honks. Made me reach towards the 44 oz soda in my bottle holder.


Then as it passed, a woman in the passenger seat said out the open window, in the friendliest voice, "Keep pedaling, guy. Keep pedaling."


I don't know if there was a disagreement between driver and passenger, or if the woman was being sarcastic, or if the driver meant to give a friendly tap on the horn or what.


Mick


mick
2009-06-25 18:57:39

I was making the left turn to stay on Babcock at the intersection with Evergreen/People's Plank on my way back into Millvale. There was an SUV full of highschool football player-types coming up out of Millvale stopped at the light.


One of them leaned out the window and started singing "Hey girl, hey girl, let me shout at you, hey girl," before I got close enough for him to notice that a couple days worth of beard accompanied my long hair. He yanked himself back into the vehicle, which spun its tires as they took off.


escargonaut
2009-06-25 19:19:04

funny comment from Mick there. I was trying to be gracious this morning and made myself believe that the woman who laid on her horn this morning (for no reason) really just meant a light "hi, I am here" sort of tap.


A friend of mine tells the story of riding through the north side and being stopped by what he describes as a "crack ho...." She stopped him at a light, leaned into him over the handlebars and asked for cash. He was dressed entirely in lycra/spandex at the time. In telling her that he had no money to give her, he suggested that if he DID have any cash on him, she could probably see it through his tight clothing. Apparently made her back off pretty quick. I always found it to be a witty comeback for her inquiry.


swalfoort
2009-06-25 20:02:06

I was standing over my bike, parked and enjoying some water. some dude rolled up and attempted to sell me a toughbook for $75.


this was on monday or tuesday of this week over on highland by the high school.


sloaps
2009-06-25 21:45:32

Aside from the usual stupid remarks like "Get outa my way, why do you think they make sidewalks?" sorts of remarks?


Going down 40th towards Butler one day, I gunned it off the Penn Ave light and took the lane. A guy in a big SUV pulls alongside me at the light at Butler and says, "Do you have any idea how fast you were going? 43mph!" Apparently he wanted to pass me at any speed but couldn't get by. The poor dear.


stuinmccandless
2009-06-26 00:28:06

jason and i were told to "ride til you can't ride no more" once while riding down butler past 57th st. i liked that a lot.


steve-k
2009-06-26 00:37:14

I was called a (explicative) this morning at Penn & 16th by a driver who pulled up behind me at the red light and wanted me to get off the road so he could turn right (there was another car to my left in the right lane). I told him he could wait and he laid on the horn for the next 10 seconds until the light changed. Classy.


dmtroyer
2009-06-26 19:41:39

There was a guy working at a warehouse on smallman st who would frequently belt the "biiiiiicycle, biiiiiicycle" line from the queen song as I rode by in the morning.


I guess that's not from a car, but I still thought it was pretty funny. I could never actually see who was singing those lines from the warehouse.


dand
2009-06-26 19:59:10

I got a "ride your ass off!" from a bearded wino-looking dude in Lancaster this spring, followed with "I'll buy you a beer!".


While riding back to the city from Bridgeville (are there any bridges there?) a young woman in the back of a pick up asked "are you hungry?" I was halfway up a long hill, so my only response was a bit of a weak smile. She responded with a well aimed half eaten Whopper in it's wrapper. I was almost able to catch it and return fire. I did catch one of the front seat passengers say "not cool".


I find it most odd I've only gotten a reference to Lance tossed my way only once.


eric
2009-06-26 21:05:08

that is surprising.


i had this interaction once.


DUDE: Lance

ME: Dale

DUDE: Tour de France

ME: NASCAR

DUDE: (blank stare)


erok
2009-06-26 23:49:26

i had this interaction once.

erok:

i had this interaction once.

DUDE: Lance

ME: Dale

DUDE: Tour de France

ME: NASCAR

DUDE: (blank stare)


= AWESOME!!


maggie
2009-06-27 07:33:00

oops copy/paste fail.


maggie
2009-06-27 07:33:25

Yesterday was the first time I have cycled to work and back. I was in Wilkinsburg at a three way intersection at a red light. I cannot go anywhere. The jerk and his g/f behind me yells "Hey Lady. Your not going to a get ticket" in a mocking tone. THen when the light changed they pulled in front me almost hitting me in the process.


konagrl35
2009-06-27 12:51:25

konagrl35 - you did the right thing. If it's any consolation, I have found that girlfriends usually take a dim view of men hassling other women. He probably got a cold shoulder for that.


lyle
2009-06-27 13:23:53

They didn't exactly *say* this, nor was it directed at me, but I passed a lifted pickup on Mifflin Rd, which had someone whistling "Strangers in the Night" through its p-a.


renny
2009-06-27 14:57:00

I was stationed in France for a while and rode everywhere with out incident. I was riding on a back rode miles from anything when a car with very loud music rounded the bend and shouted, in English with a Southern Accent, " get the f!@# off the road a$$ hole. And people wonder why they hate us. I realize that this representation of Americans is not accurate but for the locals it is what they have come to expect. As For riding the uni in the local area I get a lot "you lost your wheel" and then they look at you as if they were the first person to ever say this, trite but amusing.


buck
2009-06-27 23:17:20

Erok, that is great.


I usually get "Lance" or some racial slur.


A few nights ago, toward the end of my night ride, I was going down Panther Hallow/Blvd of the Allies tailing right behind a car and when I turned down Parkview I got "Dude nice fixie! You were flying!".


It was actually the second "nice fixed" I got that night. The first was on Forbes from a middle aged (possibly homeless) guy riding a MTB on the sidewalk.


ndromb
2009-06-28 17:09:52

A passenger in a truck stuck his head all the way out and yelled, "You are being SUCH AN ASSHOLE right now!" Not sure if this was directed to me or a cyclist behind me who I didn't know. I am a big fan of irony; this dude with his condescending tone leaning out of his giant truck to call a cyclist an asshole really made my day.


sarah_q
2009-06-29 17:12:56

I love it when people criticize you but then do something just as bad.


On the pedal pale ale ride some guy at an intersection put his car in park, got out and told us we were breaking the law. Now I don't know for sure but I can't imagine it is legal to leave your car parked and running at an intersection.


rsprake
2009-06-29 18:41:56

This may be more of a strange occurence than someone saying something strange,but. On my daily ride in Sharon,PA. I crossed through a fairly busy intersection in front of a pickup at the stop sign. Next thing I know the pickup is next to me,(right next to me,INCHES)and the power window is coming down. I'm thinking bottle or worse is going to be thrown,but no,it's a buddy. One I have'nt seen in awhile. He's a talker and wants to carry on a conversation. He stayed right with me,downhill, at least a quarter mile,with a line of traffic behind us,until I turned right, into Buhl Park to get away.


chemworker5
2009-07-01 06:49:12

Well, they weren't in a car, but it's the strangest thing someone's said to me yet while on a bike. Pretty mundane, compared to the rest of the thread...but for me who's just beginning to commute by bike, it was.....odd.


[kid (maybe 7) nearly darts out in front of my bike]

Me: Go ahead (waving)

Kid: Can I ride that bike?

Me: No, sorry--I'm on my way to the store.

Kid: Where do you live?

Me: .... Not near here.


I should have said "Nebraska". That would have thrown him for a loop.


And in case you're wondering, I'm the person riding around on a sea foam green bike with a red milk crate on the back. There is someone else with the exact same bike, ironically, but no crate. :) Anyway, in case you want to avoid me. Heh. :D


greenbike
2009-07-03 00:54:38

A week or two ago someone yelled out "Pepe Le Pew!" while I was on my bike. Like bicycling to them is French so that's the first thing that came to mind to them or something? I have no clue.


little_owl
2009-07-03 14:47:34

little_owl wins. That's the best. lol


nfranzen
2009-07-03 17:34:32

Climbing up swinburn once I had a lady call me a fatass. It stunned me. I think that she really knew how to get into my head.


steevo
2009-07-03 17:44:11

Last night about 1 a.m., Saline St.


Dude from car: Hey, do you know what side a duck's feathers are on?

(pause)

Dude from car: The outside you idiot!


Prank-call-from-a-car.


sarah_q
2009-07-04 22:38:06

Riding down Duquesne Blvd during the Three Rivers Arts Festival and some dude bellowed "Get a car!" as I stopped beside him. I told him I was sorry he was such an angry man. He replied with "Get a car!".


egats
2009-07-08 15:44:59

haha


erok
2009-07-08 16:17:47

My brother was riding in Oakland and pulled up to the red light behind Schenley plaza by the library. A huge Cadillac pulled up behind him and started laying on the horn. An old man leaned out and started yelling "You think you're a car??? You're not a car!!!"


njhohman
2009-07-08 18:55:43

Wow. I guess that means I CAN roll thru red lights then (which, just for the record, I don't.....)


Ok, that sounded better in my head. *Shrug*


greenbike
2009-07-08 19:07:23

I got called "Lance" over the weekend. I was so confused that I took it as a complement. Sorry Erok, I couldn't snap back with the "Dale" quip.


:>


sloaps
2009-07-08 20:58:29

You should take it as a compliment - no one ever calls me "Lance." I guess even the 4-wheeled/no-brain species recognizes me as a plodder. :(


Mick


mick
2009-07-08 21:08:06

Interestingly enough, I passed a cyclist yesterday on my way home who happened to be wearing an old Dale hat...


ericr
2009-07-09 13:23:02

I confronted a driver who was honking his horn, and aggressively passed me yesterday who went on to tell me that "Pittsburgh streets are too dangerous to be pedaling along on a bike."


I went on to tell him that regardless of that, the law is the law and I have just as much right to the road as he does, and that he was the one who was making the roads dangerous, not me. He said, "Well you're not going to convince me dude." I said, maybe the law will and thanked him.


This was on Liberty just before the Bloomfield bridge and he was trying to sneak passed the line of cars by speeding up the right lane. That intersection needs a diet!


rsprake
2009-07-09 14:27:42

I wonder how many of these motorists are actually the same person. The 80/20 rule suggests some overlap.


lyle
2009-07-09 16:24:46

the diet is coming. precisely for that reason. what a bad design.


that reminded me about one time some guy honked at me on carson, i caught up to him at the next light, and asked, "what's your deal?" he said, "the streets are dangerous...and this is the SOUTH SIDE!!"


oh suburbanites. i like how people tell me that the streets are dangerous, and they drive like crap


erok
2009-07-09 16:25:22

rsprake -


Was all this shouted or spoken?


It sounds like you turned something that could easily have been a road rage shouting match into a dialog. That is an excellent thing!


Mick


mick
2009-07-09 17:06:25

It was loud, but not entirely angry or an argument. When you're at a light you only have so much time to talk so you tend to rush a little bit.


I think it's the same guy my co-worker has had two run ins with. The second time he called the cops with his license plate. The guy is just a jackass in a light colored Lexus SUV.


Erok, that's what cracked me up about this guy. He was the one causing the danger, I was in the left lane towards the side, but in his way so he couldn't squeeze by.


Another dig I had was one he said "what if cars drove slowly and got in the way on a highway?" I replied with "Bikes aren't allowed on highways and have you been on 376 lately?" I cracked myself up over that one.


rsprake
2009-07-09 17:20:32

Niiiiiicce. :D


greenbike
2009-07-09 17:42:23

what if cars drove slowly and got in the way


ha. forbes ave. 4:30pm. cars at a standstill, bikes go thru


erok
2009-07-09 18:41:51

Exactly. No logic.


rsprake
2009-07-09 19:28:43

Nope, never been honked at on Liberty by a guy in a Lexus.


On a different note, erok, where can I find plans for this "diet" ?


On a related note, I make it a point to converse with the cagers whenever I can, if they have their windows down, or are in a convertible. Usually I just ask for the time. That requires them to acknowledge my presence and treat me as a peer. If there's not time, then a comment about the weather is better than nothing.


lyle
2009-07-09 19:40:28

lyle, the city has them.


in a nutshell:


the lanes will be connected to the sharrows. uphill: across the bridge intersection right lane for bikes, buses, right turn only with sharrows


downhill: right lane bikes only. there is a right turn ramp.


the idea is to prevent aggro drivers from cutting ahead, and out of towners from getting confused.


erok
2009-07-09 20:22:40

I remember the blog post from a while back about the sharrows disappearing on Liberty Avenue; is there any progress on getting those re-painted? (It's entirely possible it was discussed here and I just missed it.)


ieverhart
2009-07-09 20:40:11

That sounds about right. What about the parking spaces downhill in front of the medical clinic just through the intersection? Can anything be done to remove those spots or push them down the street a little bit?


rsprake
2009-07-09 20:41:48

they are supposed to be repainted. don't know when


erok
2009-07-09 21:36:09

After completely stopping at a 4-way stop this morning, proceeding through (causing the main flow of traffic to slow their "slow and roll") I had some guy getting into his pickup on the other side of the street yell at me, "that there is a stop sign!". Odd thing was, he was illegally parked in a no parking zone, on the wrong side of the street (facing against traffic). If he wasn't older than the hills I would have guessed he was just being ironic.


dwillen
2009-07-10 16:05:05

Riding in Oakland yesterday someone told me to get on the bike path. I was like, wtf, what bike path? The world famous Forbes Ave bike path?


sarah_q
2009-07-10 16:06:48

Sarah, that is traditionally the worry some bicyclists have about the existence of bike paths - the idea that drivers will act as though bikes are legally limited to those bike paths.


Mick


mick
2009-07-10 18:31:35

I understand that the bike-path attitude exists, but telling a cyclist on Forbes that they should be on the bike path makes about as much sense as telling someone in a car on Second Avenue that they should get on the Parkway.


reddan
2009-07-10 18:59:57

I had someone in Morningside yell out their window asking me (in a sarcastic tone) if I thought I was 'Neil' Armstrong.


conneeps
2009-07-13 16:12:36

I had someone in Morningside yell out their window asking me (in a sarcastic tone) if I thought I was 'Neil' Armstrong.


the guy who filmed the lunar landing with Buzz Lightyear on a sound stage in Burbank, CA?


sloaps
2009-07-13 16:35:49

"i still don't know how yall get those things out here" i think referring to me riding in the middle of no where braddock hills, i just replied with "its fun" not know ing what he was talking about


imakwik1
2009-07-13 17:57:53

Neil Armstrong - first bicyclist on the moon?


mick
2009-07-13 22:27:20

when i was younger, i cut a fresh mohawk and was riding without a shirt in the buslane on fifth ave in oakland. a woman stuck in traffic in an air conditioned car mouthed "I Love You." At least that's what i thought (or hoped). she probably said something like "I'll kill you," or "Elephant Shoe." regardless, it made me feel good.


erok
2009-07-14 15:57:27

Speaking of the Pedal Pale Ale, I recall when we were passing through the Highland/Centre Ave intersection, when a passerby (might even have been on a bike) commented:


"Too many bikes...must be some kind of movement"


It was pretty funny at the time, especially because we were a movement to probably the last thing he suspected, delicious beer!


rev-dom-slu
2009-07-15 20:10:03

Ken Zvirman of Jo-mar Provisions threatened to kill me with his gun.


djrbikes
2009-07-16 02:03:16

Alas, that's not all that strange. I think "Elephant Shoe" wins. That's definitely the strangest thing I can imagine. Spats, sure, but shoes? Madness.


lyle
2009-07-16 03:13:33

So, I turn off Penn onto Peebles, minding my own business.


Bald white dude in little red car: "Get a life!"


I couldn't think of what to say back because of how little sense what he said made.


robjdlc
2009-07-20 02:53:42

yesterday on my way to work I got beeped and something yelled at me. I'm not even sure what was said so I dont know if it was good or bad.


willie
2009-07-20 13:59:03

This morning on my way to work I was following a tractor trailer down 5th avenue. We stopped at a light by Robert Morris, and he was in the through lane. Of course, I was behind him, not trying to filter past. You know how habits just get ingrained, and you don't usually stop to think about why you do certain things? That's how I am about lane positioning. But for some reason, this morning, I was reflecting on why I was where I was and I suddenly realized "Damn! I wonder if he knows I'm not squeezed up next to him." So I backed up, backed up, backed up, until I could see his mirror, and I waved. Sure enough, his right turn signal came on. He had been trying to find me so he wouldn't crush me when he changed to the right lane, up ahead. Pretty cool.


At the next intersection, I pulled up next to him, waved, and said "Thanks for looking!" He rolled down his window to ask for directions, and I probably saved him ten minutes of dinking around, assuming he didn't get headed the wrong way down Liberty and have to double back.


So, one for the "positive interaction" file. And something to think about: if I had been tempted to filter forward on the right next to a truck whose driver was not so attentive and careful...


lyle
2009-07-20 15:57:51

Well I found out folks on bikes are not the only ones to get stupid things yelled at them. I was fishing the other day way up the north side trail just past the 31st street bridge. Some of the rowing teams were out practicing. As a few boats floated past me a huge motorboat with a bunch of rich looking douch bags on it comes ripping by full speed and they yell to the crews. "stroke, stroke, stroke". I wonder if they get that alot.


willie
2009-07-27 20:35:55

Tonight I got "Nice flashlight, fagot!". At the red light, I said "It's pretty easy to yell at someone when you can drive away in a car, huh?" They sat scared at the light until it turned green, and they finished "I'll f*cking kill you, Asian!"


I've got every Asian slur, but never just "Asian". I am impressed with how creative people have become these days.


ndromb
2009-07-29 04:46:44

Willie: As someone who moved here a year ago from the southern shores of new jersey, that is pretty popular. Dumb, but popular.


robjdlc
2009-07-29 05:54:58

I've got every Asian slur, but never just "Asian". I am impressed with how creative people have become these days.


i feel like this must be what passes for asian-based ethnic slurs in cities that contain universities like cmu, or, say, berkeley. those folks are educated! they'd never call a [ethnic slur for korean] a [ethnic slur for chinese]!


that's pretty funny, though. never heard that before.


hiddenvariable
2009-07-29 06:14:31

Hysterical! Can't say I have ever heard, "get off the road caucasian!"


rsprake
2009-07-29 13:50:59

Hysterical! Can't say I have ever heard, "get off the road caucasian!"


I think that is my new come back.


ndromb
2009-07-29 17:34:03

I suppose I'm fortunate in that the worst ethnic slur I've ever been subject to is "got any money, white boy?". And that was from a sidewalk, not a car, so doesn't really count.


I don't think I've ever even been called "Yankee" except in a gently matter-of-fact way.


lyle
2009-07-29 18:46:41

Riding a pedicab on the South Side (with passengers, even) a few weeks back I got "You're not in China!" twice in the same night.


I guess I can't disagree.


ieverhart
2009-07-30 17:53:16

yes, you are right sir. we are not in china.


erok
2009-07-30 18:44:52

Some people have an eye for the blatantly obvious.


stuinmccandless
2009-07-30 22:14:26

I had a good one today. We were coming home from downtown by way of the Eliza Furnace Trail. We happened to have out front blinkies on when a woman, who was stopped in traffic on the Parkway in the lane above us leaned all the way out of our window, and with a very scornful look proclaimed "Those lights are going to give somebody a seizure!!".


netviln
2009-07-30 22:28:52

Better be careful, she might shoot you in the head.


ndromb
2009-07-30 23:35:09

Couldn't understand what the guy said in his minivan as I passed him, but all I know is that he threw a handful of change at me. I didn't know whether to feel angry or complimented...


raphael
2010-01-11 19:29:43

'Lance!' more times than I can count.

'Get off the road!' not as many.

But the best was on my way to work and this guy was trying to pass another car (in an active school zone) by using the turning lane (that I was occupying). Thwarting him was cause for my receiving the one fingered salute. Now usually I don't react to such childishness but this guy caught me before my morning coffee and I responded in kind. Wrong move! He turns around and proceeds to chase me down streets and through parking lots screaming out his window the whole time that he's gonna 'kick my ass!' with such glee in his voice that it totally trips me out. We come to a flight of stairs leading down to another parking lot and I hike-a-bike down. He gets out of his minivan, takes a look at the stairs (it's winter and he's a fatty) and decides that he's lost the advantage since he's now on foot and I'm no longer riding away but am waiting for him at the bottom. (Bullies hate an equal fight). So he takes a moment to think of a parting shot, and comes up with...wait for it...'honky' (I'm white, he's black). What is this? the seventies? LOL!


88ms88
2010-01-11 22:52:48

"Dude, it's Keanu Reeves on a bike!"

I've heard before that I look a bit like Keanu, but I had a damn balaclava on (pulled up over the mouth but not the nose) and was in motion past this drunken pedestrian. Can't believe he picked it out.


alnilam
2010-01-11 23:44:51

"you can't ride your bike in the street."


from a cop in mt caramel, pa.


nick
2010-01-12 00:19:57

I pulled up to a light on Grant St. last week. A guy carrying a pair of overstuffed travel bags stepped out into the crosswalk. Took a few steps. Looked at me. Looked at the flashing "Don't Walk" sign. Said something I didn't quite catch. Looked again and then said, "I'll go back" and returned to the curb to wait for the "Walk" signal.


I realized that what he had said at first was "Oh, a cop". He had mistaken my black and gold jacket purchased from a police supply catalog for the gold and black jackets worn by Pittsburgh Police.


This was, in fact, why I bought the jacket. So that drivers, if even for a moment, might mistake me for a cop and not do stupid, illegal things around me. My jacket was apparently successful in intimidating this guy back onto the curb.


And just yesterday when I was leaving work, a father and his 5yr old son were waiting for a bus near where my bike was locked to the rack. The boy was commenting about the road salt coating my bike when I walked up. He said to his father that he thought I was a policeman.


Cop jacket for the win.


kordite
2010-01-12 12:23:51

A few weeks back when it was warm (30 degrees), I was stopped at the light at Grant and the Boulevard of the Allies. It had been raining that morning and my long pants were still wet so I was wearing just the bike shorts for the ride home figuring that I would be more comfortable with bare legs then with wet long pants.


A bus driver turning off of Court Place onto Grant came to a complete stop, blocking traffic, to yell out the window and ask me if I was cold.


No.


kordite
2010-01-12 12:27:53

In all my years of riding I can't say I've ever had anything clever or funny shouted at me. However I have gotten "get off the road!" so many times it (almost) doesn't get to me. I normally respond by shouting "why??". Then;

a. the person really just had this one burst in them and speeds off

b. it really confuses the person momentarily and then they speed off

c. if they feel like hanging around to discuss the finer points of the law, they slow down the other cagers, piss them off, and they become the problem. Win!


edmonds59
2010-01-12 12:53:45

They didn't say anything so I don't know if this counts, but a couple of years ago I was riding home down Bingham St. right around twilight, I had a cateye headlight on blinker mode and a red frog light on blinky on the back. Now I should mention that the cateye casts a sort of blue-ish glow. I was heading west towards the stop sign where Bingham bends left around the terminal bldg., as I was maybe a block from the aforementioned stop sign I noticed the car ahead of me roll right through the stop without slowing down. I didn't really think anything about the situation, but as I got closer to the car in question and prepared to overtake it he slowed down, pulled to the side and stopped, as I rode by he wound down his window as thogh he was being pulled over. He thought I was a cop pulling him over for running a stop sign! FUNNY


chefjohn
2010-01-16 17:53:11

Just a few weeks ago I was riding down bingham street on the sidewalk with a buddy that was walking because he hurt his knee. We Where passing under the road that the bike pgh office is on when a car drove by us and they yelled at me to "get on the sidewalk" and sped off. After looking down I realized I already was on the sidewalk. At that point me and my buddy just shook our heads and said wtf is wrong with people.


willie
2010-01-16 21:23:02

During the G-20, a cop -ordered- me to get on the sidewalk. Not understanding but not about to question him, I joined a throng of people on the sidewalk. Turns out President Obama's motorcade was about to enter Downtown and traverse Grant Street.


I doubt I will ever hear that one again.


stuinmccandless
2010-01-17 22:26:50

What about yelling at the cars!


whitewhale
2010-01-18 15:09:04

^ I hate to admit that I have gotten off the bike and chased a dog (or two). Their reactions were worth it. (I didn't catch them).


88ms88
2010-01-18 19:44:20

Tonight, in Squirrel Hill, a guy yelled out his window at me, saying "Get a light!" Of course, I had lights on, both front and rear.


ieverhart
2010-11-17 05:31:05

ieverhart's story demonstrates the power of positive thinking - a passing motorist hollers something at him on his bike. But rather that hear something mean, he chose to hear a piece of sound advice relative to the cycling conditions. He decided to hear "get a light," when all evidence germaine to the situation suggests the motorist likely said "get a life."


Keep up the positive thinking out there...


atleastmykidsloveme
2010-11-17 13:07:16

Did I hear "Get a Thoreau!"?


edmonds59
2010-11-17 13:24:26

He's probably shilling for Budweiser. Or (shudder) Miller.


lyle
2010-11-17 14:54:10

My all time favorite is an expansion upon the classic "Hey Lance!"


This was just after the last Steelers superbowl victory, and a lot of people were out partying in the streets, and some drunken maniacs were passing me in their pickup, when one of them stopped his "WWWOOOOO STEEEELLLLERRRRSSSSS!" to yell to me "Hey Lance! Get a horse!"


I've never laughed harder.


rick
2010-11-17 16:42:31

I wonder what people think when you laugh at something that was supposed to anger or upset you.


rubberfactory
2010-11-17 16:49:18

i was recently told that i have a "hot ass"... by

some ladies like my moms age. weird


steevo
2010-11-17 18:45:24

I've gotten, "Nice Pants!"


namtrahselrahc
2010-11-17 19:04:09

some day I'm gonna have the presence of mind to shout the most common thought in my head as I pass cyclists when I'm in my car - "Nice calves, you rock!"


ejwme
2010-11-17 20:13:49

I love this thread so much.


My favorite (not so strange) thing yelled at me was, "Smile, you're on a bike!"


rosielo
2010-11-17 20:33:43

@steevo, I got swatted on the ass by some cackling lady downtown who walked behind me as I was trackstanding... about fifteen years ago. I wish that would happen again :(


lyle
2010-11-17 21:17:50

This past weekend some youths hanging on the corner screamed "give me back my bike bitch!", typical, but then, atypically: "shut that bike up!"


commentary on my poor derailleur trim, i'm sure


noah-mustion
2010-11-18 03:27:58

Ok this is by no means PC but I had a lady in a suv pull up next to me while I was waiting to make a left turn (so I was in the far left left 'turning' lane.


Hey you belong on the Sidewalk! she yelled as the green arrow lit up.


You belong home and pregnant! I yelled back and rode off.


dbacklover
2010-11-18 12:07:27

Correct answer was "Who let you leave the kitchen?"


Or, "Since are women allowed to drive?"


rubberfactory
2010-11-18 12:11:15

if it was in PH, a totally valid response would be "What sidewalk?"


ejwme
2010-11-18 16:00:32