Anyone had odd encounters whilst riding?

[Nick777]

I have. Yesterday.
Without going into specifics, he appeared from nowhere, & rambled for about 20 minutes, and didn't make a heap of sense.
I could tell he wasn't quite right, and he was creeping me out a bit. Particularly when he missed his turn off so he could keep chatting to me.
Eventually he 'let me go'.
Oh yeah, and he has been out of jail for a few years now. Good news.

 

[Anonymous]

ah yes...

I have. Yesterday.
Without going into specifics, he appeared from nowhere, & rambled for about 20 minutes, and didn't make a heap of sense.
I could tell he wasn't quite right, and he was creeping me out a bit. Particularly when he missed his turn off so he could keep chatting to me.
Eventually he 'let me go'.
Oh yeah, and he has been out of jail for a few years now. Good news.

another reason to carry one of these

 

[erader]

another reason to carry one of these



or just quit being such a sissy.

erader

 

[forty four]

so some crazy guy wanted to chat happens to me all the time and sometimes when talking to others i get the feeling im the crazy guy anyways dont be scared of other men. if you have fear you will get messed with if your generally confident you wont some riders are trouble magnets because of there insecurities. one trick when someone is talking with me who i dont want to talk to i just sneakily up the pace more and more until they lose interest never fails.

 

[Megalodon]

Something about riding bikes brings out the crazies.

When I used to work in a bike shop, there was this big scary guy (think Lenny from Of Mice and Men) who used to come in all the time and not buy anything.

One time, he put on a Giro helmet backwards and said, "I can get this for $90 downtown" while we were thinking, "Please leave and go to some shop downtown." I heard from other employees that he had a nervous breakdown one day yelling, "I can't take it anymore!" and scaring the other customers.

 

[Anonymous]

I almost took out ethan hawke...he was staying at a poshy inn near my place with his then wife uma ..I was barreling down an empty country road near the inn and hawke stepped out in front of me looking dazed...I managed a "watch it numbnuts" over my shoulder as he jumped back....

 

[Izzy eviel]

There's a weird bloke who goes running around the park. No matter what the weather, he's out there running in shoes, black jeans, long black coat (that's 3 sizes to big for him) We're on nodding terms now.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

A few years ago while commuting to work a pickup truck with two guys in it zoomed by me on a small residential street into a cul-de-sac and blocked my way where there's an alley for me to continue through, both hopped out of the truck and one of them brandished very large hunting knife. Neither of them said a word, I just simply made a u-turn and found a different way. Keep in mind this was at about 8:30 a.m. in a relatively quiet neighborhood. Odd? I'd say so. Nothing even remotely close to this has ever happened to me after that encounter.

 

[trailrunner]

It was at least 15 years ago. I was mountain biking in a national forest with a friend. We were in a remote area, near WV (which probably explains this story ).

I don't think we say anybody the entire day, except for one guy. It was on part of the trail where we could see a 100 yards or so up the trail. He was another mountain biker, riding towards us. Suddenly, he saw us, stopped, got off his bike -- and put on his biking shorts over his otherwise naked body. He then got on his bike and rode past us like everything was just normal.

My buddy and I didn't say anything. I think we were quietly listening for the sounds of banjos.

 

[jayfro72]

Weird or just funny I'm not sure. On a Monday around 7 a.m. my buddy and I were out doing our weekday ride. I live on the edge of civilization in Alabama, so 5 miles from my house you are riding through farmland; chicken farms, dairies, it's quite beautiful but there are also a lot of red necks and the occasional trailer. Getting close to home we were screaming down a great hill and this shirtless fellow clutching a 5-pack (number 6 was open in his hand) a 120 cig hanging from his mouth was starting to cross the street to the trailer on the other side. He saw my buddy flying toward him stopped and let out a heck of a YEE HAW! He never saw me 20 yards back, also flying and proceeded to continue across the street. I steered left, nailed the brakes, and lost my back wheel a bit, he spun (drunk as SH-T) and began to fall. I managed to stop a bit down the road fearing he might have landed on his head or something. I turned around and Indian style from the double yellow line in the middle of the road open beer in one hand, 5 pack in the other and cig still dangling he says with a smile "come on drink a beer with me godd...mit!" I said "no thanks" and he replied " I got 2 gals in that trailer" . My buddy was fighting back tears at this point and away we rode. We left him still sitting in the middle of the street cigarette still hanging, drinking beer at 7 am on a Monday morning... Cycling in Bama!

 

[TexPat]

Years ago while riding around White Rock Lake in Dallas, I came across a woman who had connected a vacuum hose from the tail pipe of her car to the passenger compartment for the purpose of gassing herself into oblivion. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to exit the vehicle. I've often wondered what happened to her.
While living in Germany I was out for a ride through the tobacco fields near Heidelberg and stopped for a rest when a chap with a Crocodile Dundee sort of knife sat down next to me for a chat. Naturally, I kept the chat short and pedalled off slowly. Then rapidly.
Then there is the naked jogger one often encountered while riding through the greenbelt in ATX...
And the nutter who swore Old Scratch was chasing him down.
The more I think about it, the more oddities seem somewhat the norm.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Last week we managed to **** of 2 guys in an audi A4. We were cruising down a bridge and they kepr using their horn and then almost hit us while passing us. So we waved our arms to tell them they were wrong. The next kilometer or say they kept shouting and following us. One moment they stopped and when we passed they got on the road again. Lucky for us there was a police car passing just that moment

 

[L'arriviste]

So we waved our arms to tell them they were wrong.

A classic demonstration there of Flemish understatement. Love that choice of phrase!

 

[TopCarbon]

I have. Yesterday.
Without going into specifics, he appeared from nowhere, & rambled for about 20 minutes, and didn't make a heap of sense.
I could tell he wasn't quite right, and he was creeping me out a bit. Particularly when he missed his turn off so he could keep chatting to me.
Eventually he 'let me go'.
Oh yeah, and he has been out of jail for a few years now. Good news.

just be glad he was on a bike and not behind the wheel, ****ed off at you.

 

[GWAR79]

encounters

An excited handicap boy wearing a football helmet, cape and carrying a broom for a sword ran out into the street and tried to joust me to death last year. He missed, but not by much.

My wife killed a small bird going 6 mph up a hill. Hit it with both tires as it was eating a worm.

A guy threw his coffee mug at me this spring. Missed my head by a foot. I was doing nothing wrong. I look forward to our first encounter, as I'm going to find his red 80s jeep, knock on his door, and punch his mustache off.

 

[GWAR79]

rocks

Last week we managed to **** of 2 guys in an audi A4. We were cruising down a bridge and they kepr using their horn and then almost hit us while passing us. So we waved our arms to tell them they were wrong. The next kilometer or say they kept shouting and following us. One moment they stopped and when we passed they got on the road again. Lucky for us there was a police car passing just that moment

my game plan when being harrased, as it should be for all of you, is to quickly pull over, put 2 baseball sized rocks in my jersey pockets, then continue riding. If the harrasement gets serious, you have some defense

 

[Michielveedeebee]

A classic demonstration there of Flemish understatement. Love that choice of phrase! [well /QUOTE]

thank you must say I was rather terrified when they stopped

 

[usedtobefast]

hooked with a guy on a long ride and we chatted for a while and then it became,
how do i get rid of this guy? i kept thinking he would go on his merry way, but he followed me all the way home and i finally just said i have to go, see you later. it was a bit awkward. he couldn't stop talking. creepy for sure.

 

[scribe]

Something about riding bikes brings out the crazies.

When I used to work in a bike shop, there was this big scary guy (think Lenny from Of Mice and Men) who used to come in all the time and not buy anything.

One time, he put on a Giro helmet backwards and said, "I can get this for $90 downtown" while we were thinking, "Please leave and go to some shop downtown." I heard from other employees that he had a nervous breakdown one day yelling, "I can't take it anymore!" and scaring the other customers.

I think quite a few hang out in the Clinic here.

 

[Nick777]

just be glad he was on a bike and not behind the wheel, ****ed off at you.

Ha ha, true.
Funny thing was, I saw him the next day (still in his Telekom top) chewing the ear off another cyclist. Well, not literally, but anyhow..
He looked at me, but don't think he recognized me without the bike & helmet.

 

[the_kman]

Weird or just funny I'm not sure. On a Monday around 7 a.m. my buddy and I were out doing our weekday ride. I live on the edge of civilization in Alabama, so 5 miles from my house you are riding through farmland; chicken farms, dairies, it's quite beautiful but there are also a lot of red necks and the occasional trailer. Getting close to home we were screaming down a great hill and this shirtless fellow clutching a 5-pack (number 6 was open in his hand) a 120 cig hanging from his mouth was starting to cross the street to the trailer on the other side. He saw my buddy flying toward him stopped and let out a heck of a YEE HAW! He never saw me 20 yards back, also flying and proceeded to continue across the street. I steered left, nailed the brakes, and lost my back wheel a bit, he spun (drunk as SH-T) and began to fall. I managed to stop a bit down the road fearing he might have landed on his head or something. I turned around and Indian style from the double yellow line in the middle of the road open beer in one hand, 5 pack in the other and cig still dangling he says with a smile "come on drink a beer with me godd...mit!" I said "no thanks" and he replied " I got 2 gals in that trailer" . My buddy was fighting back tears at this point and away we rode. We left him still sitting in the middle of the street cigarette still hanging, drinking beer at 7 am on a Monday morning... Cycling in Bama!

thats an awesome story! bahahaha

ive never met any crazy people when riding (douchebag drivers everywhere but thats normal) but i always like a good yarn with a stranger. Dont see whats so crazy about it, its good etiquette. Nothing worse then a rider who dont wave/nod/talk.

 

[tubularglue]

2004/2005

Rural Virginia

had two guys in a white can circle
Me three times. On the last pass the guy in the passenger seat pulled out a pipe and had it ready for me out the window. A car then came in the opposite direction and the van left. This happened after the occupants had driven directly next to me and were screaming at me directly. I had replied in their window to "fck off - and then the scenario above.

Just ignore people now or when I open my mouth I scream like a raging lunatic

I never provoke the encounter, but most of the time my ego wishes to control the outcome

It let's the steam off

 

[ustabe]

In the South End of Boston I once passed a car whose driver was not wearing any pants.

On a happier note, a car carrying a couple of teenagers once slowed down to pass us a couple bottles of beer as we were climbing a hill. They were little 8-oz. bottles, so they fit in our pockets til we got to the top.

 

[Major Taylor]

I had a friend back when I lived in another city who could not be honest about cycling. He exaggerated everything he had done, even if it was patently obvious he was exaggerating.

For example he would grossly exaggerate the pace of the Sat bunch ride we both did-my computer usually read about 22 mph average but for him it was always 28 mph.

He would describe a breezy day when you were both out in cyclonic terms.

If it was pretty hot for you, the pavement was positively melting for him. Nothing he did or experienced was ever, ever slightly average.

In his defense he raced masters and his results were always pretty average, he never exaggerated those, but everything else sheesh.

 

[Major Taylor]

In the South End of Boston I once passed a car whose driver was not wearing any pants.

You say that likes its a bad thing. I say more pantless drivers!