Imagine if I joked about shooting my coworkers - how would that go?
When I told my family this my, normally quite friendly, brother-in-law asked why.
I told him that it's not unusual to be threatened by drivers when cycling. Anything from close passes that make you jump to a passenger leaning out trying to put a plastic bag over my head.
He got quite angry and proceeded to tell me that cyclists "bring it on themselves and deserve what's coming to them" ...and we get on.
If I suggested waving a baseball bat at strangers on the street he'd rightly think I was mental but apparently if you're on a bike you're fair game.
It's not that unusual for randos I meet socially to say something like "lycra-clad MEN!, it's always men![1], need to get off the road and pay road tax![2], and stop riding through red lights[3] and wear NORMAL clothes![4]"
I could argue with all of that or call them an asshole but what's the point? It's best not to say anything.
It's not about truth or statistics it's about othering an out-group, cyclists and not feeling bad when you scare or hurt them.
1. I ride with lots of women in my bike club. They get just as much hassle but there's generally less kudos at parties in bragging that you tailgated the shit out of a lone woman because she was wearing tight clothes.
2. Road tax in the UK was abolished in 1937. No one here has to pay it and like most cyclists I also have a car.
3. As a point of pride I never ride through a red light but I do see drivers tailgate through red lights or on the wrong side of the road every single day.
4. If I'm going to get sweaty why wouldn't I wear comfortable kit? It's not like I wear a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to go swimming either.
(I've never had issues when cycle touring in Scotland)
I specifically remember truck drivers cheering us on in the highlands. Magic! :D
Sadly I've seen reports in the news of people in Scotland getting rough treatment there too.
Luckily, it's just a minority though. Most drivers, like everywhere, are just normal decent people.
"I was going to sympathise with you are having to put up with [stuff]" - doesn't work.
This might have been a hint that you were looking at the wrong "your".
I think this is mostly down to having more cyclists on the road.
There is still a long way to go though.
From what I've gathered it seems car drivers are annoyed because overtaking cyclists requires more thinking than following the white line, and envious because cyclists don't have parking space problems and can just get off the bike and switch to the sidewalk.
Some people feel entitled to more rights on the road because they paid more for their vehicle.
I think I would recommend them but they're definitely not perfect.
I have had some (rare) reliability issues and I really wish they had removable 18650 batteries for long night rides.
The radar is a https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/698001 which is useful to let you see and know the speed of cars approaching from behind.
These are great. Simple bit of kit that works well.
Cheap chinese action cams without integrated tail light.
The only thing that really drives me nuts about them is that they have a tendency to come out of Airplane mode by themselves. Bluetooth gradually drains them flat if I don't keep them constantly plugged in.
Since I've never really got the Ant+ networking to work reliably either I could probably do without any wireless features.
Oh and I got mine on sale for about half what they normally go for
...and put the savings towards another bike obvs. (n+1) (s-1), etc :D
Recently I’ve attached my go pro and it being much newer is better and digital stabilization but the battery life isn’t great.
So I usually ride without. But I have a cell phone in my pocket..
I even get it from my own parents when they know I ride pretty much everywhere.
I often cycle near Paris and I never got this amount of crap, not from random people, and certainly not from my colleagues. This is surreal.