Two incidents to ponder:

1:

The other day I was cycling down Mass AV in Cambridge at a comfortable pace when fellow cyclist passed me on the left. While this isn’t a common occurrence, it happens more than I would like to admit, given  my fantasy of fantasies (my fantasy of fantasies is that I am the most daring and fastest and skilled cyclist in the world, a natural-born talent who uses the streets of Boston as his glorious training ground — blowing past the lycra-clad crowd as they stare ahead in confusion and disbelief…).

Anyway, in one of those testosterone drenched impulses, I pedaled hard to catch up to this speedster and              eventually I managed to rest in the comforting womb of his draft. I’m non-confrontational by nature and it’s much more appealing to me to catch up to a speedster and rest in their draft knowing that I “COULD” pass them if I wanted to, then to actually pass them. In any case,  all was good and I was proud of my accomplishment

Then suddenly I saw an obstacle up ahead, a mini SUV parked right in the bike lane. Usually my reaction to a vehicle obstruction is something along the lines of: “Oh Well. This fucker is here, guess I’ll have to look over my shoulder and take the lane to pass them.”

But the cyclist ahead of me had a different attitude. He pulled up to the car and yelled as loud as he could “you can’t be here! You can’t be here! Move! Move!” at the top of his lungs. The woman in the vehicle was shocked but instantly launched back with some indecipherable squeaky yelping. In return, this passionate man yelled “FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!” as he passed the car.

2:

This morning I was bicycling through the clusterfuck known as Harvard Square. I call it a clusterfuck because usually there is a cab or a person or a combination of both in the bike lane at the main light in Harvard Square, as well as tons of impatient car drivers, annoyed at all the pedestrians with their giant crosswalk. Today was no different.

The cyclist ahead of me was a young man with a flair for the artistic, as evidenced by his arm tattoos. He was also a pretty serious rider, as evidenced by the name Eddie Mercxx emblazoned on the back of his t-shirt.

As we made it to the fateful intersection (you gotta know what I’m talking about!), there was a guy standing idly in the bike lane, looking at a cab, or maybe up at the sky. There was also a cab double-parked in the bike lane, right behind the daydreamer. Normally I would just do the old look over the shoulder and pass routine, albeit more carefully since this was a double obstacle.

But this cyclist (like the cyclist I described in my previous story) had a different idea. He gave the double-parked cab a good punch in the door. The driver looked up, confused.

But he was even more unforgiving to the pedestrian: as he saddled up next to the aimless idler, he elbowed the guy repeatedly in the chest and said something like “get out, get out.” Now this elbow could be described as a “gentle nudge” if one were being sympathetic. Or it could be described as assault WITH INTENT TO HARM if we wanted to take this cyclist to task LEGALLY.

What are your thoughts on these two incidents of bike rage? Do you see other cyclists getting up on their High Horse? I’m interested in how people feel about this kind of behavior.


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