As a cyclist, I desperately need the drivers who try to intimidate me to step out of their big white vans.
Please commit to your words and actions. Commit to the fucking turn you were going to make right in front of me, before stamping on the brakes at the last second. Commit to a fight after challenging me on not risking my life around your shitty driving.
Do I "want to fucking go"? You have no idea how much I want to fucking go. I have to cycle around idiots like you all day, if you step out of your armoured wankmobile i am going to sink my teeth into your flesh and not let go. I will bite your flabby fucking tits off. I will beat you with my fists and helmet and entire fucking bike until a kind samaritan pulls over to drag me away from your limp body.
Anyway, if I ever mysteriously stop posting you should be able to dox me by googling "cyclist eats driver UK".
Tangent. I bicycle and additionally I have an e-bike I use to get around town and buy groceries. For whatever reason, drivers I swear are trying to kill me when I'm on my e-bike. It's like the fact I can go 25mph sets off some sort of deep combustible engine hate.
Mine does 30 mph and I take the "lane" on 25 mph residential streets, I still occasionally have drivers pass me. It doesn't matter that I'm riding over the speed limit, people see a bicycle and it triggers some primal instinct that they absolutely must get in front of you.
I suspect the only reason no one has challenged me to a duel yet is that I'm a somewhat fit 190 lb man instead of a woman or someone's grandpa. Still ride with pepper spray just in case someone decides they want to play a game of "Jail or Hospital".
Am I the only person who just respects cyclists in the lane as if they were any other vehicle? Sometimes car-brains are going 15 in a 40 and I'm not trying to run them off the road, why would I do any different for the unarmored squish-vehicle? 90% of the time they just move into an empty parking line to let cars by, anyway. I cannot fathom the mind of the average driver.
As a Dutch guy, I just can't relate. Not that I needed extra reasons not to emigrate to TERF island, but this would definitely be one of them if I did.
I still fondly think back on the one time 12 years ago I cycled in Utrecht. Literally every single part of the experience was better in every way than any cycling I've done in Britain.
I've had other drivers try to fight me before. Shit happens all the time here. My area isn't as dangerous as a lot of the crackers nearby will tell ya, but its not exactly safe either, so I stay strapped.
I understand what you're getting at - material conditions make it difficult for women to cycle, especially in North America - but as a woman who is literally a professional bike courier and spends most of my waking hours on the road cycling, I can't help but take a little tiny bit of umbrage at your statement. Not only is "women don't ride bikes" a factually inaccurate statement, it denies the actual courage and strength and bravery that existing women cyclists have to possess in a world that is actively hostile to us and our safety.
There are many women who ride bikes in spite of how dangerous conditions are, and not a statistically insignificant number of them - they account for about 25% of all cyclists in the United States. I see hundreds of them every day. It takes courage from them. It's the equivalent of reading "Well now you know why there are no women in video games" or "This is why there are no women in STEM" - again, I truly understand what you're getting at, that there are material conditions that make these environments more hostile to women specifically. However, I'm sure you can understand why your phrasing feels a little insulting - as if these women, most of whom probably had to fight extra hard fit in, simply don't exist. Their accomplishments, their names, mean nothing because "there are just no women who do that, sigh, what a shame - no women's history here to celebrate". An alternative and more accurate way of phrasing it would be "there aren't as many women who ride bikes". Sincerely hope I'm not being annoying or sounding like a scold or anything, but like, yeah dude, I'm a woman and ride bikes for a living, lol, there are women who ride bikes, idk what else to tell ya. also this isn't even anything new, here's some context on the long-standing and well-established historical strategic partnership between women and bicycles
edit:
In bike-unfriendly cities, only men with thick skin ride bikes
look man, I know broad strokes paint a picture quicker, but come on, lol, that's such a blanket statement
I have 3 years of fencing and 5 years of HEMA and I have a short sword I have in my bike about 40% of the time. The question is, Do You Feel Lucky, Punk!?
I got punched in the face once after I flipped off a guy in a muscle car for almost hitting me in a construction zone where there was no shoulder. he pulled over in front of me, blocked me in got out and punched me in the face
So much this. I try not to let close calls bother me these days because if I do, those few seconds ruin my entire ride. But I've been known to fold in a mirror on the occasion that a driver does something particularly egregious.