Author Topic: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?  (Read 15995 times)

Nienke

Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« on: 17 July, 2008, 02:51:45 pm »
1. A few years back, someone threw an egg at me from an upstairs window in a not-so-bad bit of Hackney. They missed.

2. Last week, some woman on the passenger seat of a humongous ugly gleaming black beast of a car kept throwing stuff at me that felt like bits of crumpled paper, when we were all waiting for the traffic light in shoreditch where Kingsland Road meets Hackney Road. She giggled.

3. Last night, something whiteish the size of a tennisball smashed to pieces on the tarmac about three inches away from my front wheel. I didn’t stop to look what it was. Must have come out of an upstairs window as well. This was somewhere in Islington.

Isn't London a lovely place.  ::-)

This was all when cycling home after a night out, so it was dark and quiet (except in shoreditch, where it was dark and busy). I can think of no way in which I stand out as a target for these things except by being a cyclist, although the idea of people throwing stuff specifically at cyclists seems absolutely ridiculous as well.

Hence the question: has anyone else had stuff thrown at them? Is this a growing trend, or have I just been unlucky?

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #1 on: 17 July, 2008, 02:57:17 pm »
It's crap, isn't it?  When someone chucks something at you from a car, it's simply bullying, as there's no way you can retaliate.

I once had a golf ball thrown at me from a moving car - it caught me on the back of my arm, and stung like a bitch.  The little gits chose the bottom of a big bank to do it, so I had no chance of catching them up.

On the plus side, when I was in Stockton a few years ago, someone in a pickup hoyed an empty can out of the passenger window.  I caught it and threw it into the back of his truck :)

Basil

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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #2 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:00:39 pm »
Bag of chips.  >:(

I picked up the paper bit (the chips had dispersed all over the road) and chased after the car with the intention of smearing greasy chip fat all over the windowscreen.
Never caught him.

Probably just as well.  Aging stick insects should try to avoid confrontational situations, really.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Charlotte

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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #3 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:01:01 pm »
Stuffs that I have had lobbed at me whilst en velo:

A hot cup of tea
Lit cigarette
Coke can
Assorted detritus

I've also been slapped on the backside by the passenger of a moving vehicle.  Thanks to some top work by the likes of Wowbagger, he got cautioned by the police.

An oik threw an egg at Liz from a moving car one evening not so long ago.  It made me wonder - was he on the way home from the shops with some eggs? In which case, did the recipe only call for five?  Or did he keep eggs in the car "just in case"?
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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #4 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:01:09 pm »
Just an old tennis ball, great throw from a young lad, about 25 yards bounced once and hit my bottom bracket, I was duly impressed and hoped he plays cricket. If it had actually hit me I might have returned it though.

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #5 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:08:06 pm »
Yes.  Many years ago, a bag of rubbish was hurled at me as I cycled down a quiet street in Brixton.  A bit startling but no harm done.  I've had conkers and fireworks miss me.

Then on Wednesday night a bunch of kids at the front of a block of flats on the Old Kent Road were launching water bombs at passing cyclists and they managed to hit the side of my face.  Blimmin' painful, a slightly cut and swollen lip and quite a shock, but I managed to stay upright.  I stayed cross for about 3 hours but fortunately didn't give in to the temptation to go back and try and kill them.

spindrift

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #6 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:08:49 pm »
A bottle, on the regents Canal.

A fag and gum from an Ideal Scaffolding lorry on Hackney Road, the owner hung up when I called him. They're based in Woolwich.


Chris S

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #7 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:10:33 pm »
Plenty of dirty looks.

Also:

A soiled nappy was lobbed out of a car that was passing me - but I don't think they were aiming at me (if they were - they were a laughable shot) but it was disgusting nevertheless. What kind of waste-of-skin scum changes their brat in the car and then throws the dirty nappy out of the car?

Some people are just hateful  :-\

On the other hand:

A really lovely looking gurl blew me a kiss once  :thumbsup:

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #8 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:13:21 pm »
Lots of lit cigarettes (not all at once though)  :P
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #9 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:13:33 pm »
An apple whilst going down Danebury Avenue on my way to Richmond Park. Missed my front wheel by inches.

I left the little turd in a crumpled winded heap with the threat that if I saw him bother anyone else again I'd be back to snap part of him.

I've seen him a few times again as I've cycled past. One time his mates pointed at me, then pointed at him and burst out laughing whilst he looked very sheepish.

Not big or clever I grant you...
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #10 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:16:17 pm »
Usual stuff.  Eggs, balled paper, and probably worst of all a bottle.

It is very seldom though.  Serious stuff, one egg and one bottle in 40 years.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #11 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:16:34 pm »
A half-brick.
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Wascally Weasel

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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #12 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:21:10 pm »
Only admiring glances.*


*Statement may contain lies.

Tiger

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #13 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:29:13 pm »
Recumbents attract this so much that I reckon to get something chucked my way most times I am out on a long ride that includes any 'rough' areas.  So far I have not been injured but it has certainly come close.
The worst was a full can of Stella launched from an oncoming white van at speed - burst just at the side of me and would have been very nasty if had hit. No end of fruit, fags, rolled up bits of paper, and a could of paper cups of coffee/tea. Got tomatoed in Sheperds Bush last month en route to FNRttc.
The most dangerous thing of all is night audax through provincial towns where there are drunks with bottlesand one is not in a bunch. I won't do the Kent invicta rides again because of that. Maidstone is a sump.

spindrift

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #14 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:32:36 pm »
I've also had vans who have changed their windscreen sprays to shoot out sideways.

Andrij

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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #15 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:35:01 pm »
On the other hand:

A really lovely looking gurl blew me a kiss once  :thumbsup:

Resisting temptation to edit above statement...
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

spindrift

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #16 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:36:59 pm »
The most random encounter was on CM, a man outside a pub bellowed:

You don't stop at red lights!

At me.

As I sat.

Waiting.

On a red light.


Gattopardo

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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #17 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:41:19 pm »
general ditritus out of vehicle windows - fag buts, drinks can and bottles but doubt any were aimed.  Just people being inconsiderate.

ian

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #18 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:43:30 pm »
Cigarette butts seem the most popular - though to be fair, I don't think they're aimed, it's just the usual casual, thoughtless disposal via window. Bits of food and wrappers also seem to take the same route. Evidently it's common to confuse the open side window with a bin. Ah, if I had a grenade, I'd be more than happy to reverse the process.

I suspect I've been lucky, the only thing purposely thrown is abuse. It's open window season. And not just cyclist-specific, shouting abuse at random pedestrians seems popular. I got called 'speccy' the other week, for which I suspect there is no comeback, as I was in fact wearing glasses. I say it loud and I say it proud, but I do suffer from myopia and I don't care who knows. A very astute observation from a Saxo driver. Someone also complemented my wife's breasts as we walked home the other evening. Or it may have been expressing the fact that he was "driving like a tit". I'm not sure of the attraction of shouting random abuse out of a car window, but then I have a mental age in double digits.

Schoolkids stepping in front of me is ever popular too.

Probably the most stupid incident I saw was someone throwing a full coke can out of a car window. It went straight into the windscreen of the car behind, cracking it severely and nearly causing them to lose control. The can also exploded fairly spectacularly. Some people are so stupid as to defy rational belief.

spindrift

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #19 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:45:17 pm »
I posted a Starbucks cup back through a black cabbie's window on London Wall, and that's not racist.

TheLurker

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Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #20 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:46:43 pm »
Only the once.  In Swindon (Stratton St. Margaret) 7 or 8 years ago. Got a face full of fizzy drink.  I think the idiot had seen a fragment of TdF mountain stage at some point in his sad little life. 

Of course I've now alerted the missile goblins to my presence I'll probably get flour bombed on the way home tonight.  :)
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ian

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #21 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:52:59 pm »
The most random encounter was on CM, a man outside a pub bellowed:

You don't stop at red lights!

At me.

As I sat.

Waiting.

On a red light.



Exactly the same thing happened to me the other day. Voice by my side rants about cyclists not stopping at red lights. As I sat waiting at a red light. This was Peckham (the Dodge City of south London) and he was desperately clutching a can of Special Brew (which isn't renowned as an aid to keen judgement).

As an aside, but another glimpse of Peckham's fauna - someone once also fell right over my back wheel while I waited at the lights. Obviously distressed by this turn of events he proceeded to start a fight with the bodywork of the car next to me. I confess I may have then taken the opportunity to RLJ at that point. Lager, the fuel for rationality.

spindrift

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #22 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:54:09 pm »
Obviously distressed by this turn of events he proceeded to start a fight with the bodywork of the car next to me.


Guffaw.



spindrift

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #23 on: 17 July, 2008, 03:57:52 pm »
City Road, queueing for the ATM, standing next to my bike, chap behind pipes up:

"You shouldn't cycle on the pavement"!


I gave him a laser death stare.

Re: Ever had stuff thrown at you (whilst cycling)?
« Reply #24 on: 17 July, 2008, 04:06:16 pm »
I had a full can of coke lobbed at me once. It bruised my leg and broke a spoke. And then a security guard shouted at me for crying next to his 'luxury development'.  >:(