Hostility resume

[Mono]

I am generally riding at moderate speed, I keep respectful distance to pedestrians and I do not wear (possibly alienating) protection gear. Like this, I find the overwhelming response to riding an EUC very positive (riding in France, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium). Of course, I don't expect (all) car drivers to be mindful of other road users, but this is not specific to EUCs. From probably many thousands of mostly visual encounters with pedestrian, cyclists, car drivers, etc. over the past four+ years, these were the few that did suck:

 

• A passenger screamed at me from a passing car, trying to frighten me (off the wheel?). This happened maybe 2 or 3 times.
• A pedestrian verbally chased me off the sidewalk (claiming that these are illegal, which she couldn't possibly know). I was riding at low speed, maybe 7km/h. Disappointing, but no big deal.
• Weekend night at around 3am, a car approached me head on driving on the wrong side of the road with high speed (estimated about 80km/h) and only gave way at the very last moment. There were enough street lights that the driver must have seen me way in advance and I concluded that this was done on purpose. This happened twice in two consecutive nights in Belgium (could even have been the very same driver). Scare factor 9/10, though I could keep my cool in these very moments.
• A dog owner refused to take his dog on the leash to stop the dog chasing me through a park. He argued I was not allowed in the park. Funnily in this park, officials regularly ask dog owners to leash their dog while they never ask me to step down.
• A drunk guy, when I refused to let him try riding, tried to forcibly take the EUC out of my hands. I believe he was reined in by his companions, at least he didn't succeed. Before, I had almost a dozen people try the wheel the very same night without any issues.
• A young guy on a bicycle waiting at a cross section slapped my arm when I passed. I could see it coming and first though he wanted to give me a high five.

 

It seems that EUCs can sometimes (though rarely) bring out the worse of human nature.

 

A few other times I was asked to step down when riding in a park (where it was apparently not allowed) or inside a building or a station or a walking tunnel. These I don't mind, even when I feel I could be allowed to ride without harm in those environments. Once I made an old lady angry by choosing a line too close to her on the sidewalk. That one was totally my fault.

 

Overall, the ratio of neutral or positive to negative reactions is rather above 1000 to 1.

 

I can't say the same for dogs though, in particular those who are not yet used to seeing EUCs.

 

Related threads:

https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/6675-agression-attempt-while-riding 
https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/15693-how-do-you-charge-your-wheels-bro

Edited October 9, 2019 by Mono

[LanghamP]

2 hours ago, Mono said:

dog owner refused to take his dog on the leash to stop the dog chasing me through a park. He argued I was not allowed in the park. Funnily in this park, officials regularly ask dog owners to leash their dog while they never ask me to step down.

This can be entirely solved by leading the dog on a multi-mile chase, far far away, beyond the city, past stroads, and well into the suburbs. Every time the dog slows down or want to give up, simply stop and encourage the dog to continue chasing you.

I was chased several times by these two pitbulls. I finally did the above. I never saw those two dogs again.

Dog owners have no obligation to leash their pets. You have no obligation to make dogs stop chasing you.

[2 Drinks Behind]

I've had more problems with dogs than people.  Mostly I've had dogs growl and lunge at me who were on a leash, but not very well under the owner's control.  The little 120 lbs. college girl taking her poorly trained 160 lbs. mastiff out for a walk is not really going to stop him if he decides he wants to chase me, so it can be a real problem.  At the other end of the scale is the little toy dog that decides he wants to go after me by running at the front of my wheel.  I'm more worried about hurting the dog (and the likely lawsuit which will follow) than him hurting me.  

Apart from that, I've mostly just had problems with rude people on multi-use paths who are completely oblivious to the fact that there are wheeled vehicles moving at speed on the same path.

Neither one of those problems is specific to EUCs however.  I have the same issues when I'm riding a bike.  Although it does seem like dogs are more likely to go after me on the EUC, so maybe there's something to that.

In terms of reactions to the EUC, I get some "wows!" from kids and a few adults, some dirty looks from others, a very few random passing comments that indicate they would rather I not exist (again, probably not specific to the EUC and the feeling is mutual), but mostly the vast majority of people in this area just don't seem to care about me at all, which is exactly the way I prefer it since I'm a grumpy old curmudgeon.

[Mono]

2 hours ago, LanghamP said:

This can be entirely solved by leading the dog on a multi-mile chase, far far away, beyond the city, past stroads, and well into the suburbs. Every time the dog slows down or want to give up, simply stop and encourage the dog to continue chasing you.

Funny that you write this, because that is what I did in this particular case (up to a point). My caveat though is that I never go faster than 25km/h, so I have to carefully judge the dog for its short time speed abilities. I won't risk my health by faceplanting for an unnecessary dog chase.

Quote

I was chased several times by these two pitbulls. I finally did the above. I never saw those two dogs again.

Dog owners have no obligation to leash their pets. You have no obligation to make dogs stop chasing you.

On this side of the ocean they do do have these obligations, at least in some cases.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Mono

[AtlasP]

I get mostly positive comments/questions, and I mostly ignore the rare negative ones, although I do have a retort I've used a couple times specifically in response to those who have a particularly obnoxious tone while making it out to be a fitness issue and say something like "that's cheating"/anything about "why don't you walk/bicycle" or "this is why America is fat", etc (usually from middle-aged people who are quite a bit bigger than I). To these people I have a few times slowed down to match their speed and say: "I didn't know this was a competition, although I'm almost 40, under 150 pounds, and a <insert my very physically active career>, so if we are competing then it looks like I'm winning--you better keep walking/pedaling" and then I speed off.

Edited September 19, 2019 by AtlasP

[Bob Eisenman]

A cop stopped me last night after I transitioned from the sidewalk to the bike lane. Two people were engaged in conversation and blocked the sidewalk. The cop, travelling in the opposite direction, turned on his blue flashing lights, stopped me and asked 'why I was fighting' with the couple. I responded that I'd just passed them and didn't know them. Then the cop and I went separate ways.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Bob Eisenman