randie999@gmail.com Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 I used to get yelled at, people would buzz my handle bars, people would throw stuff at me. I put a stop to nearly 99per cent of all that : I now wear jerseys that say "armed cyclist" with a picture of a big gun. Now people give me lots of room. No one revs their motor behind me at stop lights anymore either or tries to make a right hand turn while trying to run me out of the way. It works well with the stupid spanish in their stupid looking race car hondas , haitian punks in their old beat up toyota corrolas and the stupid punkass 20 to 50 year old red necks in their diesel pickups. The only group that has never bothered me are the brothers. They just look at me strange thinking probably "whats that crazy old white guy pedaling his white ass through here for?" They are probably right, but I always find other cultures interesting in learning about.
bikebloke Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 the culture here is if everyone knows you (apparently) have a gun they will kill you just to get their hands on it im not even going to get into your prejudiced description of other people and how those might affect your interactions with other road users .... why don't you just try a "share the road "cycling jersey and see if happiness doesn't go further in life than threats of violence 1 post and this is what you have to say
Francois Du Rand Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 Being a gun enthusiast myself, I find this a bit disturbing. The whole idea is not to let everybody know, and also that seems to me almost like a passive aggressive threat...... I know its annoying when people do this, but I think as a cyclist in good old sunny SA we either have to suck it up or ride somewhere else.
Patchelicious Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 If you are randie, rather 69, 99, even with a 3rd 9, won't sort your problem out.
No Hare Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 Welcome mateyou made no mention of the inyuns Got the same problem here with a cultural group called the "boere". I would be riding at a decent 40 miles a hour and these guys will come pass on their trekkers (type of African hot rod-pickup truck) and gooi (Nguni for dust- up) everything with the exhaust fumes.
GrumpyOldGuy Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 Ha, Ha, I see you live in West Palm, I worked in Cypress Creek Ft Lauderdale for a few years, not too far away and lived close by for a few years as well, I never had any problems.... that doesn't sound like West Palm though, sounds rough, a bit like Broward county or maybe downtown Miami....!
fabs Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 I used to get yelled at, people would buzz my handle bars, people would throw stuff at me. I put a stop to nearly 99per cent of all that : I now wear jerseys that say "armed cyclist" with a picture of a big gun. Now people give me lots of room.No one revs their motor behind me at stop lights anymore either or tries to make a right hand turn while trying to run me out of the way. It works well with the stupid spanish in their stupid looking race car hondas , haitian punks in their old beat up toyota corrolas and the stupid punkass 20 to 50 year old red necks in their diesel pickups. The only group that has never bothered me are the brothers. They just look at me strange thinking probably "whats that crazy old white guy pedaling his white ass through here for?" They are probably right, but I always find other cultures interesting in learning about. I think these guys ( stupid Spanish, haitian punks , old red necks ) don't like the orange fur you have on your stem
Grogs Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 Read Malcolm Gladwell on the "culture of honor" that pervades white society in the Southern States of the US. It's in his book Outliers, a brilliant read. The thesis is that the ancestry of this ethnic group is largely of "Scotch Irish" origin, people from the "borderlands" of the British Isles, large numbers of which emigrated to the US in the 1800s and settled mainly in the Southern States. These people, for four or five centuries before the 1800s, were pastoral farmers (i.e. farmers of livestock, as opposed to agricultural farmers). Pastoral farming is inherently a lot harder than agricultural, and this lends itself to increased aggression and generally more violent temperaments among members of pastoral farming communities. (Stealing an animal is a lot easier than stealing a crop, unless the thief harvests your crop overnight while you aren't looking). Pastoral farming therefore results in a more protective, defensive and aggressive attitude in order to protect one's livestock. And this attitude carries over into other aspects of daily living. It is an attitude which, Gladwell argues, has been carried down through the generations in white society in the Southern states of the US. This could be why white drivers in the Southern states tend to be aggressive, especially when a cyclist in front of them is percieved as acting in an insulting manner by riding where the driver is entitled to be driving. Interesting thesis. There was a certain American cyclist (an anti-cancer campaigner) who won a few races in Europe some years back, but who was subsequently stripped of his titles for these races. He's a Southerner.
Patchelicious Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 That sounds really interesting, I wonder if parallels in the logic could be draw regarding aggression here in SA. Will definitely read this!
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