I'm bored, my horror story about bikers

[94Corolla5Speed]

So I'm tired and bored, and I thought I'd share with you guys a little story that happened to me last summer.

It was one Sunday night in the middle of August, and I was doing as I normally do, just cruising around in my car with some friends. We were having a pretty good time and enjoying the night, when we came upon some bikers. A few were on crotch rockets, and one was on a Harley-crotch rocket hybrid sort of thing. Alright, cool, the noise they were making was pretty good, so we cruised behind them for a minute or two.

So we got to a point where they had to make a left turn onto a sidestreet, so I had to stop behind them since I couldn't pass into the other lane because of traffic. I had to wait for about a minute till they turned, so I was slightly (only slightly) ticked. At this point let me remind you that I was still rolling on my Kumho Powershits at the time. After they turned, I accelerated the slightest bit harder than I normally do, and what do you know, my tires let out a horrendously loud chirp, with the bikers turning around to look at me. Whoops, my bad guys, didn't mean to do that.

This is where it gets scary. A minute later down the road, the bikers pass me up again. In the back of my head, I'm thinking, "no, this can't be happening." Oh but it was. They pass through a light and as I'm coming up to it, it turns yellow, so just to try to be safe, I dive into the left turn lane and stop. Whew, glad that situation's over.

Not a chance my friend. As I'm sitting in the left turn lane, I see them stop, turn around, and make a right on the street I would end up on if I were to make a left, and stop. f**k. Shit is f**k now, I am scared shitless. (Even as I'm typing this right now, my hands are trembling.) Me and my friends are freaking out now, and amidst this, I calmly state: "Hey guys, what would you think if I did something totally illegal and dangerous right now to get us out of this situation?" No one protested.

So, with no traffic in the oncoming left turn lane, as the light turns green I annihilate my clutch and rocket forward into the opposite side of the road, highbeams on and horn blaring. I pass the traffic next to me, keep going until about 80-90, then bolt into a sidestreet, weave my way around, get back onto a main street, and back into the sidestreets, lights off, and park.

At this point, my friends and I are telling each other that this is going to be a story that one day we will look back on and laugh. But not now, we were all still trembling. After a few minutes, we decide it's time to head home, so we get back on the main street so I can drop my friends off.

Not 2 minutes after, as I'm stopped at a stoplight (perpetually checking my rear-view mirror) I see two bright lights far in the distance. Normal, just a car. Then they started to move individually. Dearjesusgod no, wtf wtf wtf. This is it, I was telling myself, as my friends were ducking.

The bikers pull up next to us, and I just stared at them, open mouthed, not knowing what to say. One of them speaks: "That shit you pulled back there was stupid. I'm an off-duty cop, and within a week, your license is gonna be suspended for six months, watch your f**k back."

They pull away, and I just sit there. f**k my life. I drop my friends off at home, and over the next few days I slowly begin to realize that this guy couldn't have been a cop. No helmet, no gear, didn't call for back up, and why would an off-duty cop turn around and wait for someone just to scare the shit out of them? Nothing happened to my license, or record because of this since then, just some douchebag bikers being assholes. All it takes is just one group of assholes to put me off bikers, and this did it.

Anyway, yea, that's the story. Enjoy.

[AHTOXA]

Shit like that happens and yeah, they were assholes.

If I were the rider and in their position, I would have been confrontational as well, had I not seen that it was completely unintentional. I mean, you can tell by a person's face when they think they are in above their head. Why be a dick and pick on a car full of kids obviously scared and trying to avoid a confrontation.

[watkins]

I would have just gotten out of the left turn lane and gone on further up the street and gone on a parallel road. Or banged a U-ey

[PILL]

What was the big deal? They call you a cager for a reason. Use that cage to kick some biker ass.

[noob5,000,000]

Should've started firing wildly out of the window.

[permabanned]

tldr

[StrangeWill]

I dunno just sounds like a cop that knew you were going to slip up, you played his game.

Chillaxing will get you out of situations much easier than playing The Transporter.

[theholycow]

If I were the rider and in their position, I would have been confrontational as well, had I not seen that it was completely unintentional.

Why? I don't understand what he did that was so offensive to the bikers. After they were off the road, he burned a little rubber.

Anyway, I really only clicked on this thread so I could post this:

[subzero]

guarantee you if he was alone he wouldnt have done shit.

[AHTOXA]

If I were the rider and in their position, I would have been confrontational as well, had I not seen that it was completely unintentional.

Why? I don't understand what he did that was so offensive to the bikers.

Because some people in cars do it intentionally behind cyclists as well. They think it's funny scaring a rider.

[Blondie]

I learned how to drive a bike a couple of months ago. So this is coming from one who has the perspective of a car driver and the bike rider.

Riding a bike on the road w/ other cars is a terrifying endeavor. Cars switch right into your lane, no single no nothing, they don't even know you're there. They don't even turn their faces to LOOK if someone might possibly be in the lane. If I were in a car, I probably won't get seriously injured if someone tried to come in my lane without looking. If I'm on a bike, I'd be run off the road. This is the truth. People have literally run me off the road. I'd have to move into shoulders on the highway, downshift and rocket off hoping the guy in front of me doesn't slam on his brakes for no reason like they do here in Miami, weave through cars, or run over medians... When coming to a stop light, I've got to rev it in neutral to make sure some car doesn't decide to blindly switch into my lane so that they might take off first when the light turns green.

The second I see a car do some stupid shit near me, I must automatically assume that my life is in danger and gtfo. Sometimes I get PISSED. This idiot Corvette was trying to pull some shit on me on a highway right near my house. He was trying his absolute hardest to keep up with me. I left his ass in the dust. Guy got pissed at me later on when we were both waiting for a light to change off the exit that we took. Probably felt stupid he lost to a chick on a bike when he's got a measly 500hp coming outta a retarded 7.0L engine.

When I'm on a bike, I HATE CAR DRIVERS. I have to assume that all of them are idiots in order to defend my life.

[tehfade]

I don't get why people are so scared of bikers. What, exactly, are they gonna do? I mean, if I really, honestly felt that I was in danger from one, I could just swerve into him and problem solved.

And, not to be overly incendiary, but I also haven't got the slightest sympathy for the safety issues that bikers face. If it's so damn dangerous riding a bike, and all car drivers are jerks who are out to kill them, where the hell do they get off splitting lanes, driving in the breakdown lane, flying by people on the highway, and all the rest of the crap I always see them doing??

[Blondie]

And, not to be overly incendiary, but I also haven't got the slightest sympathy for the safety issues that bikers face. If it's so damn dangerous riding a bike, and all car drivers are jerks who are out to kill them, where the hell do they get off splitting lanes, driving in the breakdown lane, flying by people on the highway, and all the rest of the crap I always see them doing??

Riding a bike in itself is not super dangerous.
My brother and I are very responsible riders and don't ride in emergency lanes, in between cars, nor do we drive 80+ mph on the highway. We've never gotten into an accident.

The are a few times that I have driven in between lanes. An example is when a car in front of me randomly slams on their brakes (I swear, people are so preoccupied doing other things while driving here that they notice they're about to slam into the car in front of them. People here TEXT on the highway). In this situation, in a car, I could slam on my brakes as well and smile because I have ABS that works. On a bike, I can either close my eyes and hope that god takes over, or I can jump in between lanes until it's safe to get back into a lane. The brakes on a motorcycle WILL lock up, braking hard will either lead to you flipping over, flying off, or doing some kind of crazy maneuver that ends up with you stalling and sliding across the road taking down 3 cars and ending up in a guard rail. This is the truth. It isn't the motorcycle's fault, the rider's fault, or your creepy neighbor's fault. It's the fault of an irresponsible driver.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that all car drivers are out to kill me. I will say, however, that people that solely drive cars are not usually instructed to watch out for bikes. Hell, they don't even watch out for people riding bicycles in bike lanes. There's something called "share the road". In driver's ed, I never recalled the teacher OR textbook mentioning that. Therefore, in order to save my own ass, I will drive between lanes, switch into a shoulder in the event that I'm being run off the road, or downshift and gun it when needed. Car drivers do stupid shit all the time, more so than motorcycles. I WILL fly by you and scare the shit out of you if you're coming into my lane. Hell, if me downshifting and gunning it scares you to the point that you crash, it isn't my fault.

Just as I consider manual car drivers to be more educated drivers and more aware of the road than auto drivers, I consider bike riders to be more educated and aware of the road than car drivers. We go to school, take tests, and have a special license which allows us to drive a bike, no matter what our age is. In Fl, once you turn 18, you're allowed to drive a car on your own after taking a computerized test that you can cheat on, and failing the driving test 3 times until you get someone that feels bad for you.

[theholycow]

The brakes on a motorcycle WILL lock up, braking hard will either lead to you flipping over, flying off, or doing some kind of crazy maneuver that ends up with you stalling and sliding across the road taking down 3 cars and ending up in a guard rail. This is the truth. It isn't the motorcycle's fault, the rider's fault, or your creepy neighbor's fault. It's the fault of an irresponsible driver.

The argument could be made that while on the bike, it is your responsibility to keep a large enough following distance to handle that event more gracefully than needing to split lanes. Tractor trailer drivers (or me towing my camper with my pickup) face many of the same misbehaviors as motorcyclists, especially the stopping short one, but they manage without lane-splitting.

I wouldn't begrudge a biker his safety, nor anyone else, for avoidance of lane violations; I believe anyone should run over anything that's not a pedestrian or another car when they run out of road. I'm an equal-opportunity runner-overer -- breakdown lanes, curbs, lawns, fences, and deer are all fair game when my other option is to hit a pedestrian/bicyclist/motorcyclist/car/truck. It's just that the correct answer to "they can stop shorter than me" is always "increase your following distance". Excuses like "people will cut in front of me" don't make a whit of difference when I'm towing my camper...

I will say, however, that people that solely drive cars are not usually instructed to watch out for bikes.

RI must be a great place for safe motorcycling. You can't get a motorcycle license in RI without taking a safety course that includes on-bike time, and the standard cager drivers' ed course here very clearly includes warnings about motorcycles -- hiding in blind spots, maneuverability issues, different effect of road surfaces on them, braking distance, etc.

There's something called "share the road".

You think it's bad for motocyclists, try getting it yelled at you when you're on a bicycle obeying the law and yielding reasonably...

Just take a look at reports from bicyclists on how "Share the road" signs affect the way cagers treat them:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=rec.b ... he+road%22

Therefore, in order to save my own ass, I will drive between lanes, switch into a shoulder in the event that I'm being run off the road, or downshift and gun it when needed.

In order to save one's ass, one should do those things no matter what one is driving.

Hell, if me downshifting and gunning it scares you to the point that you crash, it isn't my fault.

Antagonizing road users will not gain respect for your cause. Knowing their weaknesses/peeves, just as you want them to do for you, will. If it's not a matter of choice but a technical issue, it would be courteous to modify your bike. I choose to treat motorcyclists with respect and care for their special needs, and it would be nice if they return the favor by easing into gear instead of suddenly going from 2000 to 12000 rpm in a deliberate attempt to startle me. Being startled doesn't cause me to jerk the wheel or stomp the brake, but it might cause someone else to do so, so it's in the motorcyclist's own interest to be predictable instead of purposely startling others.

[padauk_dust]

Well, contrary to popular belief, bikers don't hate people in cars - and they will not try to beat you up if you do something like screeching your tires. We might laugh or shake our heads but that's about it.

Having ridden motorcycles for a while and doing numerous group rides, I can tell you that most bikers are cool, nice people. There are a lot of cops who ride, most of which are very cool and understanding of things.

Cosmin, they looked behind at you because the mirrors on a bike usually suck and they couldn't see shit . They weren't pissed off.

I was wondering why they might be trying to follow you but then I read that he was an off-duty cop. He was probably just going to wave you to the side of the road and say something to you.

I didn't read all of the above posts but yes, bikers are very defensive because we have to be. The general rule is: Assume that no one sees you/knows you're there. That's how you stay out of trouble.

These guys were just keeping an eye out for the safety of you and them. I wouldn't have followed you, but then again, I'm not a cop and can't tell someone to change their driving habits.