Being yelled at when cycling

[Turtletunes]

I'm not sure if this is just daily modern life, but today really ground my gears 😡

Normally, I cycle off road to avoid people in general and I try to dress androgynously to avoid unwanted attention, but that only goes so far I guess. Today I cycled about ten miles, mostly on road and some off, and in that one hour and twenty minutes, I had some men in their thirties shouting something incomprehensible out of their car window at me. I think maybe they were trying to make me jump but as I'm a woman in my fifties now, I'm well used to creepy weirdos yelling at me in the street and didn't turn a hair.
Further on, I was on a village lane and overtook a mixed group of walkers in their 60s I would guess and one of the men shouted "Well it is an e-bike" as I went past. Why???? Does he think I didn't know that when I bought it??!!
AIBU to be tired of continuing everyday sexism? My husband doesn't have people yelling at him when he goes out on his bike, and when we're out together, people don't yell at us.
What can I do about this, except stay indoors? I'm so tired of men thinking heckling women in the street is acceptable/amusing.
I don't know what I want from this post really, except room to vent about how tired I am of experiencing decades of entitled mediocre men thinking its OK to behave as arseholes to women.

One of those instances is just demonstrating the weird dislike of ebikes, as if they are cheating somehow, rather than still actually requiring effort and exertion. I have relatives who also comment on ebikes as they whoosh past, like they wouldn't have overtaken us walkers if only they hadn't had recourse to a small battery to assist with hills. I suspect it's a manifestation of insecurity and/or jealousy.

🙄 yes, of course it is dear. I’ll go let the men folk know you’re waiting for your head pats.

well you'll have to because the road is not only for cars.

I've had stuff shouted at me over the years, not so much now but still happens on occasion when I'm just walking along or going for a run.

My friend got something thrown at her whilst she was out running, like wtf?! Why does anybody feel the need to shout obscenities or physically assault someone for exercising??

It's always people in cars/vans too, usually middle aged fat men.

Just leave us alone to get on with our day, don't be rude and don't make stupid comments.

The funny thing is, where I go, it's rarely even true. What usually has cars stuck behind me isn't me, but all the vehicles coming the other way. They are allowed to cross the dotted line separating the lanes to overtake. They do this when it's not rush hour, funnily enough

Or maybe the problem is the shape of the road, making it dangerous at certain points, again that isn't my bike but the design of the road, and they have to wait until its safe to use the space available.

Frankly, too, there's the question of good time management. If it's so important to get in front of me they probably should have started the journey earlier. Many many unforeseen events can affect expected journey times being longer than anticipated .. everyone, including me on my bike, has to plan for this. Pedestrians can cause delays for me, and its no use getting angry and blaming them, even if I'm going uphill 😅

I have both an ebike and non e-bikes. I took the ebike out today and cycled for just over two hours and my Apple Watch which monitors my HR said I’d burnt 900 calories. So while probably not as many calories as if I’d been riding a normal bike it’s still a workout.

Maybe allthemiddechidren is talking baloney

For men that hate women and bikes, a women on a bike is gonna press all their numbskull toxic male buttons, unfortunately

Cycling alone, men shouting.
Cycling with DH, no comments at all.

this a gazillion times.
Let’s be fair it’s also -
cycling alone, women shouting,
cycling with DH no women shouting.

I get this when running. I used to yell back ‘fuck off’ or stick one finger up at them whilst carrying on not bothering to look around. On two occasions I did stop, turn round and confront them. It completely terrified them. I was safe in the knowledge I could run a lot faster.

It wasn’t good for my stress levels though so I tend to ignore them now. Some people can’t control their dimwitted comments and that is something they are saddled with in life.

Motorists are massive arseholes

I got an e-bike partly because I’m disabled and would be physically incapable of dealing with hills but yes also because I don’t want to look like a drowned stinking rat every time I bike somewhere.

iv not been able to verify it but I’m hoping it has some truth, i did a bit of research before getting a bike and came across a man who had had a heart attack and wanted to find away to carry on riding his bike but wanted to still know he was exercising and getting benefits from riding.

so he bought an e-bike and did several journeys both on the e-bike and his original bike while monitoring his vitals calories burned etc and he was surprised to find that using an e-bike you only lose 20% of the health benefits than if you were riding a classic bicycle.

A cyclist knocked my 91yo Gma over on the pavement then did a loop to further verbally abuse and berate her as she lay in the gutter. She has fractured her elbow and needed an ambulance.
Some PEOPLE are massive assholes. Some cycle, some have a car.

I've occasionally had men wind their windows down and yell swear words at me when I've been cycling on the road - not often, fortunately, but not an isolated occurrence.

It won't work. It will make them think you are honking appreciatively at their hilarious/ sexual comment, or apologetically if the comment was critical.

If somebody drives alongside you and their passenger leans out of their window to shout stuff at you, it’s hardly arrogant to think it is aimed at you, the person in whose face they are shouting

It’s not just men. A couple of weeks ago I was in slow moving traffic on a way street when the car behind me sounded its horn. At first I thought it was someone signaling to a pedestrian they knew, but it happened twice more. By then we had stopped for the traffic lights and I was turning round to see what the problem was. The woman driving got out of the car to shout at me that I should be using the bike lane. I pointed out that the bike lane was for bikes going in the other direction (the street is one way for cars but two way for bikes). What I could also have pointed out was that she was sounding her horn illegally, giving instructions to other road users illegally and instructing the other road user to move into a lane where she would be driving against the flow of traffic. What was the advantage to her - to get one woman in her late 50s (dressed for cycling into town to shop ie not even flaunting Lycra) who was legitimately using the adopted highway out of her way so she could move up one car’s length in the queue for traffic lights at the road works.
For reference, not that it should be relevant - I drive a car; pay income and council taxes so contribute to the cost of repair and maintenance of the road infrastructure; wear a helmet; do not cycle through red lights, only cycle on the pavement when it’s a shared cycle path/pavement; sound my bell when approaching pedestrians from behind and tell them which side I’m coming; and have public liability insurance.

Reminds me of this:

She gets her revenge.

Not suggesting you go round doing this OP

I love that video

So true! My favourite was being blamed for holding up the school run traffic (me on bike, other parents in cars) making several kids late for school one day.

Nothing to do with the fact we were ALL stopped at the level crossing for 15 minutes as there was a signalling error?

One dad got very cross when I showed him his maths didn't work - if I only cycle on road for 1km (level crossing to school) on a 30mph road, with 3 sets of traffic lights, I'd have to be crawling down the middle of the road to make his kids 15 minutes late for school.

She's in fine form thank you :) still out and about at 96!

I think bells should be compulsary on bikes.
I think bells should be compulsory on dickheads.
But then the noise would be deafening.

Some of it is racial abuse but I get verbal abuse from young Asian males too. I've cycled in lots of different countries but only ever get shouted at in the UK.