have you ever squirted a driver with water?

[Acotts]

The thread about being hit by a car reminded me...

After getting run off a road in Darien, CT by a car in a neighborhood. I cought up to the driver and gave him an epic squirt in the face with my water bottle. right between the eyes with a totally full bottle of water. The kid flipped out. He couldn't have been older than 18. I didn't say anything. I blanked and I just stood there looking at him as he freaked out. After about 45 akward seconds I biked away. Looking back, it was probably pretty intimidating. I was certainly rearing for a fight. (I was 22 and on a terrible streak with bad drivers.) Anyways, I really got him good.

Since then, I made a pact with my riding buddy who was not with me at the time. If we ever get in an altercation with a driver. I will provoke the driver, (and possible receive a beatdown) while my buddy take the person's keys out of the ignition and rides away. I think that would be the coolest payback ever. totally worth the beatdown (though to be honest, I think I can handle most people. But I figure, any dude willing to get out of his car and fight a biker, is probably totally nuts. Crazy vs tough...crazy alwayse wins.)

-Tstify!

[Kevan]

carrying around a 2-4000 lb. baseball bat.

[toaster]

Legally that's an assault.

I've gotten back at some outrageously rude motorists with a hit of Gatorade on the car or windshield (better) when downright justified. Some drivers get very enraged when their car is touched or especially squirted. I'm equally enraged when my space is violated by impatient, rude motorists.

I'd never consider a squirt through an open vehicle window directly at the occupant. That would precipitate a fight and be wrong. Gatorade on the windshield is an awesome score though. I've felt pretty good if that was my best comeback in some situations.

[J.Greene]

provoking a fight with a 4-5k lb vehicle is not without its perils. Just sayin'

JG

[michael white]

I try to squirt them with water only when they're on fire.

[Acotts]

QUOTE=toaster]Legally that's an assault.

I've gotten back at some outrageously rude motorists with a hit of Gatorade on the car or windshield (better) when downright justified. Some drivers get very enraged when their car is touched or especially squirted. I'm equally enraged when my space is violated by impatient, rude motorists.

I'd never consider a squirt through an open vehicle window directly at the occupant. That would precipitate a fight and be wrong. Gatorade on the windshield is an awesome score though. I've felt pretty good if that was my best comeback in some situations.[/QUOTE]

I almost got arrested a few years later in that same neighborhood while I was jogging. This happened this summer, just a few months ago.

I was run off the road by yet another car. (I bet it was the kids mom.) It is was a very affluent neighborhood so there was plenty of road and no other traffic. The driver went out of the way to run me off the road. Anyways, I naturally yelled some profanity and flipped her off. About five minutes later a cop car screetches to a halt in front of me. The yuppie called the cops!

Anyways, I was about ten feet from leaving the neighborhood when the cop stopped me from leaving so that he could throw me out. He was threatening jail and just giving me a really hard time. So, I followed my ACLU advice that instructs to say as little as possible to intimidating police. I had no shirt or ID with me. The only words I spoke were my name, and I pointed to the neighborhood that I was staying. He kept getting 10 inches from my face and asking my what I was doing in this neighborhood and what my problem was and I just looked at him. It seemed to fluster him quite a bit. At that point, I would rather have gone to jail than give that guy the satisfaction of replying to his insulting tone.

That was the worst run ever! It still boils my blood when I think about it. Also, I want to mention that despite these two posts, I am really a pretty calm guy. Just some people have so little regard for others it can set me off. Sometimes it seems that cars bring out the worst in people.

[Ray]

Some drivers get very enraged when their car is touched or especially squirted.

And they friggin LOVE eggs. I once was given a dozen farm fresh eggs at the end of a ride from a riding buddy who had a farm. I had to ride another 7-8 miles home from the parking lot with a carton of eggs sticking up out of my middle jersey pocket. It occurred to me that if a driver messed with me in any serious manner, I knew JUST what I'd do. Never happened though.

-Ray

[Fixed]

provoking a fight with a 4-5k lb vehicle is not without its perils. Just sayin'

JG
first law of bike mess 101
cheers imho

[C5 Snowboarder]

Don't know where you live but in WA State recently we have had a few altercations on the road or in bars or wherever that make the news now and then. One I remember was two cars that escalated to an all out fight. Another in a bar that made the news. What I am eluding to is when you pick a fight to get even you do not know how the other person will react. That person may want to take it to a higher level than you - just like the ones I mentioned above that made headlines in the evening or morning news. In those there was one guy in jail and the other at the morgue. I hope you will keep this mind when the escalation starts. Good luck with that :fight:

[mikki]

Once I was cycling with my husband in the summer and my cycling top had apparently creeped up a bit on my back exposing my lower back, I thought I'd been shot by a passing car. It was really painful. Upon quick examination by my hand I pulled it away from my back dripping not from blood but from eggs! Seems like both my husband and I had been hit by a crackerjack pitcher that nailed the exposed part of my back. It caused immediate welts and we were able to catch up with the black Honda (never forget the car!) and threw our water bottles at the side of the car.Hit it, causing no damage but a loud "Bang". The punks just took off from the light as fast as possible and it left me wishing I had some paintballs in my jersey just for times like that. A red or yellow paintball would have been a great contrasting color on a black Honda, no?

Having shared my fantasy, I agree that it isn't such a good idea to wrestle with a 5,000 lb. metal box or idiots that may have guns or such. We'd never win.

[Acotts]

In no other aspect of my life do I ever really get angry at people. Frustrated yes, but angry never. I am a very optimistic guy and I strive very hard for the humility and perspective that seems to be very natural for folks like Fixed and Your_Friend.

I think it may have to do with the fact that my running and biking is my church. It is my special place that I go to think, unwind, and make peace with myself. And then when people, for no other reason than simple disregard for others, invades my well being while i am at my most zen...it can set me off.

I know it is bad to have a co-dependence on anything. But I dont eat meat, dont smoke, dont do drugs, only drink half-caff coffee, and never have more than a few beers...my endorphines are all I got. Like a lot of junkies, I may be calm 99% of the time, but I can get very snippy when people ruin my buzz.

[Acotts]

Oh and I agree. The whole taking peoples keys is more a of a revenge fantasy than anything that will actually happen. I have been biking for five or six years now, and I can count on one-hand all the times that I have ever gotten angry at drivers. The chances of me actually escalating something into a real fight are virtually non-existant.

But a man can dream can't he? (I think my humility just took a step in the wrong direction :D )

[Ozz]

...ruin my buzz.
I believe the correct term is: "Harsh my mellow"
;)

I am going to try and work this into a conversation today...preferably with a customer or company execs. ...it's so 1986!:beer:

[Ray]

I dont eat meat, dont smoke, dont do drugs, only drink half-caff coffee, and never have more than a few beers...my endorphines are all I got. Like a lot of junkies, I may be calm 99% of the time, but I can get very snippy when people ruin my buzz.
You just need to get out more bro. Acquire a few more bad habits and you'll be fine. You wouldn't be near as ready to snap on a bike if you could smoke a joint, drink yourself into a stupor, or ingest a hefty chunk of dead cow after a ride. :cool:

I'm joking, of course, but you raise an interesting point. If you have too few 'vices', does that make you more protective of them? More likely to over-react if someone interferes with one? Dunno. I have plenty to spread around and my rage is a VERY rare event (I can remember twice in my adult-life really really losing it at someone, and neither time was on a bike).

-Ray

[Acotts]

I believe the correct term is: "Harsh my mellow"
;)

I am going to try and work this into a conversation today...preferably with a customer or company execs. ...it's so 1986!:beer:


I origionaly wrote "harsh my mellow" and I went back and changed it in fear of becoming too cliche since I already stated that I was stealing the term from another forumite. I will have you know that I have used it at least twice in real life conversation since then.

Oh as for vices...my excersizing is a pretty big one. When training for an IronMan, so many things in my life suffered. The sad thing is that I will never be in great shape, I will never win a race, and I will never be able to stop trying. I tell my fiance "At least I am not a gambler or alchoholic."

All I can do is age gracefully and add some perspective to my life. What I am learning, and it has taken a long time, is that no one ever really wins. I was talking with Tory Jacobson, a one or two time winner of Kona, about why he stopped competing. He told me that no matter how hard I tried, there were folks out there that he would never be able to beat. It drove him crazy. I have another buddy who ran two sub 2:25 marathons and never won. At what point do sit back and say I am good enough?

it is a very hard lesson for me, and I think that I am making progress.

[Karin Kirk]

I believe the correct term is: "Harsh my mellow"
;)

Oh, that's precious! I gotta remember that one.

[palincss]

Don't know where you live but in WA State recently we have had a few altercations on the road or in bars or wherever that make the news now and then. One I remember was two cars that escalated to an all out fight. Another in a bar that made the news. What I am eluding to is when you pick a fight to get even you do not know how the other person will react. That person may want to take it to a higher level than you - just like the ones I mentioned above that made headlines in the evening or morning news. In those there was one guy in jail and the other at the morgue. I hope you will keep this mind when the escalation starts. Good luck with that :fight:

Kind of reminds me of a quote from a movie:

You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?

[Archibald]

Oh, that's precious! I gotta remember that one.
Every time you use it you have to give me a nickel. If you hear someone use it they have to give you a dime and you give me a nickel of that. We'll all get rich!

[chrisroph]

yup.

2 kids in an old bronco were passing and the kid in the passenger seat hung out and screamed in my ear. they soon thereafter were stopped in a stream of cars at a red light. as i approached, i pulled out a water bottle and gave the kid in the passenger sear a monstrous squirt of water right in his face as i passed. he about jumped through the roof. the driver was cracking up. i blew them a kiss, turned right off the road--they were stuck behind multiple cars--and disappeared down a bike path. it was sweet. i kind of sensed that the squirt would not cause anger, they were stuck anyway and i had an escape path.

[csm]

squirted? no..... but there was this one time when I was much younger that a muscle head cut me off and told me to f off. I happened to ride past him at the next traffic light; a light that just turned red and I knew would be red for a bit. this meathead cut me off in a minit mart parking lot. where I'd just purchased gatorade and filled up a water bottle. as I pedaled past his Black Honda Prelude (forget the year...89 maybe? with all leather and the sunroof package, I threw the bottle into his car. the lid was loose too.
he tried to get onto the shoulder with the car, traffic was too tight. he then got out of the car and gave chase. fortunately, I scooted through the traffic light and made it to my house.
I certainly don't condone this sort of thing and realize it could've escalated way beyond that but..... it does make me smile all these years later.

[neverraced]

I threw the bottle into his car. the lid was loose too.



That is pure genius, and the distraction of trying to pick up the water bottle gives you valuable time to disappear.

[BURCH]

The thread about being hit by a car reminded me...

After getting run off a road in Darien, CT by a car in a neighborhood.

I am enjoying your posts. Not that I condone you acts, but they are making me grin. I used to live in Norwalk for a few years right where it borders Darien. I used to love biking on some of those roads back in there especially at this time of year. You do get your "I am more important that life drivers", but I never had any troubles. Most motorist were very patient, but I could see how it is hard to stay calm when getting run off the road by someone in that area. I imagine not many people in that area are ready to actually fight back because most of them have too much to lose.

A redneck in a beat up truck...now that is a nother story. Steer Clear I say!!!

[Tom]

If you set it up right, it stays pointed where you want it but it's sort of on a gimbal. If somebody annoys you, you can point it right in their eyes. Not that I've ever done that.

[Acotts]

I am enjoying your posts. Not that I condone you acts, but they are making me grin. I used to live in Norwalk for a few years right where it borders Darien. I used to love biking on some of those roads back in there especially at this time of year. You do get your "I am more important that life drivers", but I never had any troubles. Most motorist were very patient, but I could see how it is hard to stay calm when getting run off the road by someone in that area. I imagine not many people in that area are ready to actually fight back because most of them have too much to lose.

A redneck in a beat up truck...now that is a nother story. Steer Clear I say!!!


Oh yeah, I am much more quick to let go the redneck in rural Maryland throwing soda bottles at me than the 16 y/o yuppie in the 1990 saab turbo. (dont let the modest saab fool you, he has Beemer by now. He had to proove to daddy that he can take care of a car, first)