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@dancing james
As a fencer and in general in life I tend to use counter attack as defence. If someone has violated me, or my personal space I will respond in a likewise but stronger fashion.
Hence why a lot of the time I am one of the happiest fuckers on a bike and love giving way to people, saying thanks, chatting with drivers as i go past etc etc.
What has been interesting to me is the last couple of incidents I have been involved in I have not been the first person to start swearing/shouting. Though of course the moment someone starts threatening me or swearing I will up the ante, tell me to fuck myself and I will threaten to rape your entire family. So yes I will antagonise but if someone does things which put my life in danger then my adrenal response will kick in, though generally I go into fight mode rather than flight.
Having said that even when I last went into flight mode the psycho driver chased me for a few miles.
I have actually been in touch re cycle training as I would be interested to get feedback on what I do. To be honest I think a great deal of the time the difficulty is drivers do not appreciate my defending my position on the road and that I am not going to be intimidated by them beeping or swerving at me.
This year I have had 2 people get out of cars and swing at me and a few more try to drive into me. I have never rammed a car, kicked a lambo or tried to hit a driver or pedestrian. I have on occasion tapped a window/panel/wing mirror to make drivers aware of my presence - if I have got that close they ought to have noticed me already.