Whelp, I was nearly assaulted for **ringing my bell** on the river pathway today. I wish I was joking.
I was on the Memorial Covid Closure riding west and a group of six bikers was taking up the whole lane. I gave them a ring of the bell to let them know I was passing on the left (there was also an oncoming biker to avoid) and they guffawed and shouted about how I dare ring my bell when we have the whole road to pass.
Thinking nothing of it and already having completed the pass, I gave them the finger and rode on. Probably shouldn't have done that but knowing myself, I'd absolutely do it again... is what it is. Well, I should have paid more attention to their reaction because one of the knuckle draggers hopped on his pedals and chased me down on the river pathway.
He attempted to spit on me (I think his momentum probably carried him into his own wad of spit lolz), then tried to run me off the pathway / kick at me, and finally circled back and got all up in my face (no mask, of course) about how I dare give him the finger. I could have sworn a punch was coming but I kept backing up and shouting "walk away man, walk away" with the hope someone else might intervene or at least take notice. When I pulled out my phone and he realized I was calling the police he ran away with his buddies. There were six of them in total so the whole time I was waiting for the first punch, imagining his buddies jumping in and kicking the #### out of me before anyone could stop them, and thinking "what a stupid way to end up in the hospital" -- it was quite the helpless feeling.
Good thing he left too. The 911 operator had to ask what city I was in (thanks UCP), and then didn't know where "Memorial Drive between 10 street and the Peace Bridge" was. She said "let me look that up... that's in the northwest, right?" Wow.
I was pretty hyped up on adrenaline and genuinely worried that they would change their mind and come back so the operator was actually pretty dismissive now that I play it back.
What really gets me though is the other folks on the river pathway, walking by doing everything in their power not to make eye contact while this kid is all up in my face threatening me in broad daylight. After he left, I even asked one couple "did you see that?" and they didn't even acknowledge me, just kept walking. All those people and not a single person acknowledged what had happened or said a word to me. Nice. Real nice.
Thankfully it all worked out OK -- the spit backfired and he didn't get so close for so long that I'd worry about COVID but it sure makes you realize how tenuous some folks grip on reality is that they would flip out like that over a ####ing bike bell (and a rude hand-gesture).