Be carefull: road rage

[jag69]

This was close...... short version ...

I am on my way home from work and I am at a stop light.  The light turns green, I look both ways and proceed through the intersection and down the road.  I shift from first to second everything is fine.  A Toyota Celica is to the right of me and begins to get close.  I do a head check and the driver and passenger are laughing as they get closer to me.  I don't feel comfortable ( I don't have any cushion) so I speed up and attempt to shift to third ...... Here is where I must have pissed them off.  I mis-shift at about 7,000 RPM's and the bike stays in second as I increase in speed.  The People in the Celica must have thought I wanted to race or that I was making fun of them ...  :dunno: with the sudden whack of the throttle at second.  At this time they start to follow me (chase).  As I approach a red light they are right on my rear tire.  I am monitoring them through my rearview mirror.  I have left myself an out just in case they decide to rearend me.  The light turns green and they get right next to me ON MY LANE  :x    :x .  I always cover the front brake in the city......well it saved my ass today ..... they attempt to run me off the road and slam on their brakes.  Since I am covering the front brake, I make an emergency stop .... shift into first ..... and take off.

Needless to say I lost them through the traffic and went straight home and parked my bike in the garage.

I am thankful for many things:

I did take the MSF course
I wear my gear
I have read about 7 motorcycle specefic books (from Street Strategies to Track Techniques)
I didn't try to fight back
I was covering the front brake
I was on a GS (very flickable in traffic)
I didn't soil my boxers

All I could think about was my wife and two little girls waiting for me at home.

All this for a mis-shift.

Be carefull out there !

[bbanjo]

Knuckleheads suck, and will always suck.

[cernunos]

The more I read your post the more I shook. Wish you could have gotten their tag number. TTL you didn't get hurt. I keep wondering what in the HE** is it with people anymore...more and more jerks everyday. Here is where it should be legal to carry a wepon for self-defense and use it...because it would have been self-defense. Maybe you and some buddies can ride around sometime and see if you spot them. And when you do, show them what real road rage is. Loving the baby G, loving the forum, and loving you.

C.......

[jag69]

It happened so fast that I didn't even think of getting the lic number.  The only thing I noticed that it was a Toyota Celica.   I just wanted to get out of there.  The part that really is bothering me is that all this happened because I mis-shifted.  That is when they got upset.  When I saw them getting closer to me at the beginning, they could have been laughing at me because of all of my gear and me being on a little GS.  I am one of the few that wears gear in this town.  T-shirts, jeans and tennis are the norm hear.  You do get an occasional helmet.

[jiggersplat]

shaZam! like that makes me want to carry a gun.

[jake42]

this goes back to an earlier post of mine about mounting a 50 caliber machine gun to the front of the GS.  I was just concerned about the crappy suspension being able to handle the load.

Glad you're ok.

By the way, people laugh at me all the time because of all my gear too.  I dont' give a shaZam! I have a little one at home too.

Jake

[cozy]

glad you're ok. A similar incident happened to me yesterday, courtesy of some Eagles fans in an SUV, i ended missing my exit  for school trying to evade a bunch of a**holes.  we americans are becoming extremely aggresive with our vehicles.

[scratch]

Glad you made it home. I've rapped on people's windows, with my right hand, to get their attention; and waved really quickly afterwards. And, that was before carbon fiber knuckles. Now, I honk the horn...and wave.

[jag69]

Thanks for listening or should I say reading.  I am glad I kept my cool.  Who knows what could have happened if I didin't  .  I did ride to work today.  I also could give a rats @$% about what people think about my gear.  My only problem is I keep buying more gear.   Heck, I think the value of my gear is more than my bike  :lol:

Keep your cool and be safe

[jason_S]

I was out riding the other night and pulled up next to this SUV.  After sitting there for a second I hear, "Hey look at this nancy boy on this bike" I assume he was talking about my gear (Nolan N100E, FS Mach3 jacket and Race Fury gloves, all blue).  I don't know if he thought it was too "flashy", or just cause I had something between my skin and the road.  I thought it was kinda funny coming from someone driving a 2 ton steel cage.  Loser.

[scratch]

Those chickenshit cagers.

[Roadstergal]

Here is where it should be legal to carry a wepon for self-defense and use it

Yeah, and if so it would have been legal for them to carry a weapon and shoot out your tire - because the rubber-rippin' GS was challenging them.  

That is truly a freaky scary thing to experience, and I'm just glad you came out of it OK.    IMHO, licensing standards in the US are too low; people don't respect the fact that they're piloting a one-ton missile.

[brandiwine]

Maybe you and some buddies can ride around sometime and see if you spot them. And when you do, show them what real road rage is.
C.......

just curious as to what exactly you're suggesting.      i realize this is just talk and you were probably exagerating....i still wonder about it though.

there have been at least 3 reports in the news this last month of people getting shot here in Dallas and Ft. Worth.  people are nutz!  i'm outta there quick and use traffic  to my advantage like jag69 did.  there's no way i'm sticking around to see if they might give me a piece of bullet pie.

[Alias]

I have a road rage problem. I made a tailgating woman spill her coffee oneday.

[cernunos]

Brandiwine, what, now should I flip you off because I suggested something in "jest"...moi'? I'm sorry if I over-reacted, I don't really mean to go out and do the reverse road-rage thing, but as I was reading it I got really hot...and not horny hot by any means. But I have reacted to situations similar to that in my own past with less than pleasant results. Suffice it to say I have learned over the years to try and get AWAY from the problem...else it may boil over into something much much worse. I apologize and retract my recommendation. Still lovin' LeEnfant G, Le Forum and you and all the others :kiss:

C.......