Still a bit shaken

[Fnaar]

Blimey, I'm lucky. 32ish miles today... saw about 4 cars once I was out of town (which took about 1min 30 secs)
Nil carborundum illegitimi, BTFG.

 

[tdr1nka]

an hour!!!!!

Psyhco driver in stolen Volvo out for late night sport, apparently not unheard of by the local Police who finally rescued me.

Spent twenty min. hiding under a van while Volvo drove up and down the road looking for me, shouting how he was going to kill me.
The next hour was spent on foot, gripping my D-lock like a war hammer, hiding in the grounds of a local hospital shut for the night no A&E dept and I didn't have a mobile phone either.

I had given the driver two fingers for unecesarily driving up behind me on a deserted road at breakneck speed and doing an emergency stop at my back wheel, for a laugh, when I was making a right turn.

 

[longers]

 

[tdr1nka]

Tis a shocker isn't it! The previous month I had front tooth punched out of my head by a ped who I had missed but enraged when he stepped out from behind a bus without looking!!

A bad run of luck, thats all it was but I didn't cycle for five years, I still have the odd days when I leave the bike at home because I don't feel confident enough.
I admit that the 5 years off the bike now seem somehow less fulfilled than the years before and after.
It's now year 2 of riding the bike again, finding this forum has made a great deal of difference with all the support and advice that it has to offer.

So this is where I say to BTFB, get back into the saddle but in your own time. It hurts so much because something you love has been spoilt for the moment, take it from me these moments do pass.

 

[longers]

I liked Pete's advice.

There are good people out there, it can be possible to focus on the negative aspects of society to the detriment of all the quiet goodness that goes on.

 

[summerdays]

Get back on the bike and go for one of your favourite rides, away from the area where the incident happened. You can go back to that spot when you've regained your confidence.

 

[yello]

I don't know about bfb but you guys are sure helping me! Seriously, I've had incidents (not in the league of anything mentioned here) were I've felt like not riding again, and I've tended to beat myself up a bit for being a wimp. Something as silly as a driver hurling abuse at me can upset my karma for days, I just seem to fixate on it and go over it again and again and again. Anything worse than that calls into question my entire reason for being!!

So cheers guys. It's nice to know I'm not the only one that can't just shrug this sort of stuff off, as much as I want to!

I guess you know the answer bfb - get back out there but, as Shaun's top notch advice says, in your own time at your own pace.

 

[BentMikey]

I know some say we should stress that cycling isn't dangerous, because to do otherwise puts people off, but experience shows that there are dangers - and the attitude of other road users is one of them. I doubt anyone can cycle for a long time without coming across someone who acts aggressively towards them.

Only you can know when you feel confident, but I really hope you do get back to thinking of cycling as a great thing to do.

It's not that you'll put people off, but more that cycling really isn't very dangerous at all by comparison with many of the other things we do in general life. It can certainly be intimidating though, but that's quite a different matter. The intimidation is, IMO much harder to deal with sometimes.