I live in SoCal, the worst are the old folks that drive older cars around Laguna Woods. They are so bad that I avoid the entire city.

Next up are the teenage phone zombies. Specifically the teenage girls in white (always white) BMW and Mercedes.

Then you get the tossers in trucks that think it is funny to scare you.

I love to ride, but I hate the three miles that I need to do on the street to get to the trails...

I try to ride as early in the morning as possible when there are the least amount of cars out. I've been fortunate so far, but you run into the occasional idiot in their car. I've been considering getting one of those cameras that you mount on the handlebars but I always ride with my RoadID bracelet (I don't work for them) just in case something happens. I've had a couple of friends injured (cars/pedestrians) and one fatality (not car related).

Next up are the teenage phone zombies. Specifically the teenage girls in white (always white) BMW and Mercedes.

Yep on the teen texters. THe only time I was right hooked was by a teen boy texting.

As is usual on a weekend morning, I rode my bicycle this morning.

As is usual I had the normal close encounters with stupid drivers on the few street miles that I need to ride between various trails.

This morning I rode the 'uphill all the way' route, which includes several miles of climbs ranging from 'kinda tough' all the way to 'really ?????!!!!! WTF'.

After cleaning two of the latter climbs (300ft and 420ft) I reached the point where I had to switch to the road. I was also able to really stretch my legs on a slightly downhill section. I was on my Aerofoil, so the speeds approached ludicrous at times on the run down to the next trail. t one point I found I was spinning out - the later trace revealed 42.8mph. in torrential rain - we had a summer 'shower' that was very much like trying to ride through an ever-lasting waterfall.

Anyway - On one section, I was moving fast, in the rain, in the bike lane. Over all of the noise of the wind and the rain hitting my helmet and glasses and the noise of the traffic I heard a 'BEEEP, BEEEEP, BEEEEEEEP' behind me. I glanced quickly (kinda hard as I was laying a plaid trail at this point), there was an elderly Mercedes behind me in a color that is best described as 'Hearing aid Beige'. The old guy driving it looked to be about the same age as dirt. I glanced again and he was hammering his horn 'BEEEP, BEEEP, BEEEP'. I figured that he was objecting to me. I quickly checked that nothing was falling off the bike and also that my shorts had not split and I was inadvertently mooning him (it would not be the first time), but all seemed in order.

BEEEP, BEEEP BEEEP he went, then he accelerated alongside me and then

and then

the bufoon

Only moved into the car pool lane, forcing me to take to the brakes HARD.

In torrential rain. Now with spray from a 1970's baby poop colored Mercedes.

WTF ???

I missed running into the back of him by about 1.82mm, maybe slightly less.

The clown then continued to brake hard, all the time I was laying on the brakes and hoping that Shimano did their homework on the 105 series and staying incredibly close to his rear bumper. I was braking so hard that the rear wheel was only in vague contact with the road at this point.

Then suddenly he heaved the car right into the entrance to a strip mall.

Because I was so intent on not hitting him, I found I almost followed him in, but rather I stopped at the other side of the entrance.

I had to talk myself down from hunting him down and punching him in the face. It was such an incredibly dangerous situation, I was incredibly lucky that I had selected good brakes over affordable ones when I built the bike up and it was incredibly lucky that the just happened to work as well as they did despite the monsoon conditions.

I rode home fairly slowly, I spent a lot of time calming myself down and thinking about what I might have done wrong. The only thing I can thing of is that I did not really understand why he was laying on the horn at me, until he made his move. Maybe next time I will be better informed ?

I grew up in Wisconsin just across the river from the Twin Cities. I can't even begin to calculate the number of road miles I logged in and around my town. In all those years and miles of riding, I can only remember a couple of times when a driver was rude to me.
After high school I moved to Florida for college and stayed after I got married. What a difference! People here have absolutely no consideration for cyclists. Drivers passing literally inches away at 60mph on country roads, yelling obscenities at you because you're not doing 50mph in a 30mph zone like they are, honking when you don't instantly get to 45mph after a stop light, and fighting with the soccer moms over parking spaces in a public park because little Johnny plays soccer for six weeks out of the year there.
And, to make it worse, when the civil engineers design the roads, most of the time they don't put in a shoulder, let alone a bike lane. Even if there is a shoulder or bike lane, it's usually so full of glass and debris that you end up having to ride in the traffic lane to keep from running over all the garbage.
Ok, I feel better now. Thanks for letting me vent.
May the wind be always at your back and the sun be always shining on your ride.