Unruly drivers....

We've all experienced drivers that maybe steered their vehicles a bit too close for comfort, or others who provided fingers, gestures and kind words of wisdom as they whizzed by with only their concern in mind.

Then there are others who take it a step further.....

Last Saturday's training ride was going along at a nice clip up a short hill when all of a sudden guys started hitting the deck. This was due to someone dropping their chain, and when you're going up hill there's nothing you can do but clip out or fall down. This set off a small "chain" reaction for everyone behind. My guess is 5 or 6 people hit the pavement, but since it was slightly uphill there wasn't any serious injuries or bike damage.

We began yelling up towards the front to slow down and wait up while tangled bikes were cleared from the middle of the road. Everyone ahead began dispersing all across the road and blocking any traffic coming through. Traffic behind the crash became a bit stalled until bikes were cleared.

I pulled to the right side of the road unclipped and waited as I looked back watching everyone make their way back up the hill. At this time a Jeep Cherokee had waited long enough and floored it up the hill accelerating rapidly. Seeing bikers all across the road ahead I motioned my hand downward to suggest slowing down while also moving my lips signifying "slow down." In a polite and concerned way a couple of others did the same as me. We all realized this Jeep driver could potentially hit someone.

I'll be the first to say that quite a few cyclists were wrong to be all over both lanes of the road without regard to traffic. At that exact moment it was a total free for all, dumb actually. The driver legitimately had something to be frustrated about, but it shouldn't have been towards a few of us suggesting to slow down.

After our hand signals this guy decides to hit the brakes, stop, and get out yelling for us to not tell him to slow down. Again, cyclists nicely explained there was an accident and we're trying to get the road cleared but to be careful and patient. It was diffused as best as possible.

Here comes the scary part.

The driver had a gun lodged and highly visible in his back where his t-shirt and jeans came together. Myself and another person saw this from behind as he was getting back into his truck. He didn't brandish the weapon, he didn't put it there as he got out, but rather it was on his backside area before he decided to stop and mouth his peace. Fortunately he got back into his Jeep and sped off without incident.

We never know what might happen out on the road. Remember rule #1? Answer, every one of us gets home safely. Goal accomplished. However, as I stated to everyone at the top of the hill we as cyclists helped create that situation.

In the future we must keep the road clear for traffic to pass through. This means either continuing to ride farther down the road out of harms way, or to stop and pull off on the right hand side of the road. What it doesn't mean is to ride around in circles in the middle of the road or wander over into the other lane. That's inexcusable regardless of how remote the road may be.

Let's not give drivers any reason to get so angry they stop and yell out their frustrations. One, you never know when a particular cyclist may react and escalate the tension. Two, you never know when you'll be trumped by someone with a gun.

In a world of rock, paper, scissors a gun will always beat a bicycle.