OT: funny interaction with driver

[John Murphy]

I think I'm finally getting this down because this was gold.

I was riding down the overpass on Limerick Lane headed towards Los Amigos. There's a one way stop there, Limerick has no stop and Los Amigos does. This is a notorious (at least to me) intersection, people living in North Windsor can't get on 101N at Arata so they use Los Amigos as a cut through and speed, then run the stop sign - several accidents just in the last few years.

Toyota Tundra runs the stop sign in front of me. I wave my displeasure at the guy and he slams the brakes. "Why you blowing me shit!" I said "because you ran the stop sign". He replies "I SLOWED DOWN". I said "it's not a SLOW DOWN sign, it's a stop sign." He says "I saw you and there were no other cars, I did not endanger you at all". I said "you know who you sound like? You sound just like one of those WHINY ENTITLED CYCLISTS WHO THINK THEY DON'T HAVE TO STOP AT STOP SIGNS"

At this point he got out of his car and said "we're going to have this out right now". Spandex is clearly slimming because I don't think this guy had yet figured out I am 6'1" 200 pounds. He left the motor running so I sort of rode further away from the car and when he got to me I rode to his car and said "I don't want you to change your mind so I am going to borrow your car keys"

I didn't actually grab the keys but this sort of disarmed him. I pointed out that one of my neighbors (pointing down Limerick so it was clear I am live right there) got his F-150 put through what used to be that guardrail by someone running that stop sign. "You people from Windsor cut through on Los Amigos..." At which point he says he lives on milk barn and he knows they all speed.

I pointed out that he didn't endanger me because I saw him coming around the bend and said "this jerk is going to run the stop sign so I hit the brakes". He said "if you had been closer I would have stopped" and I pointed out that I have no reason to predict that given that so many drivers seem to think it's a 3 way stop.

Slowly we started to reach common ground. He did throw out the obligatory "2 abreast" (guess he figured he was on thin ice for a stop sign comment) and said "I see your side and I don't want to be 'that guy'"

I said "if you think we are on different sides then you ARE that guy, right? Think we all just want to go places safely".

We left on good terms and I met my neighbor. But it was funny. I had the trail a bike attached and the last thing I said was "wait - where's my son?"

John Murphy - ta...@murphstahoe.com

[djconnel]

Funny how a week of riding on ridiculously narrow roads on the Amalfi Coast failed to yield even a single remotely hostile interaction. Back to the land of testosterone....

[StStein]

Going to be there myself in two weeks.  Now I really can't wait.

[Blair Menn]

The car key bit was A-one.  Nice work Murph.

[djconnel]

Key things:

* Don't expect vehicles to yield at cross-walks.

* Don't assume the lane ahead of you is yours: oncoming buses (SITA, but worse are the full-sized tour buses), oncoming passing vehicles, etc, may be occupying your space.

* Vehicles pass with a lot less than 3 foot margin, but it's not too bad.

* Be really careful when passing vehicles parked on the right side of the road.

I really recommend, though, the hiking.  The "Path of the Gods" and surrounding paths are amazing.   I hiked that from Praiano to Positano then took a water taxi (30 Euro) back to Praiano.  There's a series of 4 hiking maps (5 Euros each) for the Amalfi Coast.  I also enjoyed walking the Phoenician Steps on Capris.

I did several climbs along the coast.  What I didn't try was SP366, which I'd wanted to ride, but didn't get time.  Viewed from a taxi,  it seemed to have too much car traffic to be fun, but I saw cyclists on it, so perhaps in the morning it would be good.   Often roads are better from the riding perspective than from the windshield view.   The climb to Ravello ( SP373) was such an example: no problem.

[Christine Ryan]

On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 3:11 PM, djconnel <djco...@gmail.com> wrote:

* Don't assume the lane ahead of you is yours: oncoming buses (SITA, but worse are the full-sized tour buses), oncoming passing vehicles, etc, may be occupying your space.

 

FWIW, this holds true if you're driving a car as well... at least that was my experience. A bit hair-raising, going up to Como from Florence. Beautiful, but hair-raising.

[Christine Ryan]

(Er, Milan, not Florence...)