I am heading into work on Saterday morning, finally a hint of cool weather and no traffic heading into the city. As I approach the toll plaza for the Holland Tunnel a cab cuts me off trying to enter the ez-pass lane, he misses me by about 2 feet, he has the nerve to throw his hands up like I did something to him. Now I am pissed I get along side him and give his car a good kick, this goofball tries to throw his coffee at me, at this point I go to defcon 4, he takes off and i am on his tail, i dig through my rupsac and grab my roll of pennies ( I keep them handy for these special occasions ). Just as I'm getting into a good position to issue a 1 window penalty, my bike starts pulling hard to the right and I hear a horrible noise, once I get to the sidewalk I notice my chain has no tension on it. When i get the bike to my job I was able to pull the shocks and covers off, I'll be dammed the chain tension bolt on the right side snapped allowing the chain to twist the tire in the swigarm, If this had happened on the highway the game would have been over. Has this happened to any of u guys of gals?.

 

Not with a Taxi - it`s the bus drivers I hate

 

I almost get into **** all the time and it's never my fault. You just gotta pick your battles. The 90 y/o who can't see over the steering wheel will leave you feeling guilty. Young people texting leave you feeling good about yourself. Ever hear of critical mass? Hundreds of self-righteous hyper-liberal activists on bicycles who's sole purpose is to tie up traffic on friday's during the evening commute. Look it up and tell me if you'd like to take a ride through SF with me sometime. The only ones I get satisfaction out of these encounters with are cyclists. A guy I teach with told me to pick up some heavy ball bearings and carry them in my jacket pocket where they're easily accessible.

 

I hate the soccer moms with 4 screaming kids, on the cell phone, no clue of the world outside of her van, and always in a rush. Seems like they pull out in front of me the most.

 

I guess it's all demographics. There are more dogs than kids in SF, therefore not as many soccer moms. I like dogs more than kids, but being a teacher I suppose I need them.

 

Not for nothing, but as you said, he missed you by 2 feet. So I don't see how this was the cab's fault for your chain tension bolt to break. Unless it happened because you added stress by making the bike off balance when you kicked the cab? Maybe you hit a pothole? I dunno. Doesn't add up, to me. Seems like an odd coincidence. Or maybe if you just gave him the finger and went about your day, your bike would be fine. I guarantee he's forgotten about you by now. Not defending cabbies, they're usuallly scum, just saying the math ain't right.

 

And how far did this whole process go on? Past the toll? Seems like a lot of activity in a short space. Enough for you dig through a bag to find a roll of pennies and "take off" after being "on his tail". If he cut you off to get into the EZpass lane, then he'd be going through the toll fairly quickly and I'd assume you followed in the same lane.

So if you did, where exactly is this sidewalk before the opening to the Holland Tunnel? You can't walk through the tunnel. Curb, maybe. There's some sidewalk kinda on the 12th street side, but you said your bike pulled hard right and that's on the left. A while back before the toll by the motel and the BK there's sort of sidewalk you'd pull to the right to, maybe. But after the toll, it's just concrete wall. At best, there's sidewalk on the right after the toll, but that'd put you on Newport Parkway and you'd be directly across from a police booth. You'd never make it to the tunnel from there without being stopped. There's tunnel cops almost always parked right after the toll booths and one in the police booth before the tunnel. I wouldn't pull any shady **** right there. They're just looking for an excuse to bust someone for anything suspicious.

If the tire was heading into the swingarm and your chain had no tension because the bolt was broke, how was it still ridable? Did you push it through the tunnel and then to your job in Manhattan?



Something ain't adding up.

 

If you're not a detective, you should be.

 

Sounds to me like the chain saved ur azz. Had it been me in the cage, right or wrong I was trying to go about my buisness and you came after me or kicked my car. Your azz would have been laying in the middle of the road. No bike can take on a 3000 lb cage. Just who in NYC is going to call the police for you? and what will they tell them? It was a yellow cab? next time just mark it up as another ashat or follow him to a red light before you do something. Road rage will only get you killed

 

This guy cut me off before the toll Manhattan bound, he was to far ahead of me thru the tunnel, we met at the light just after the toll, I lost the chain tensioner around 34th and the west side, I still think you may have a future as a detective. I can assure u that a cager will think twice about cutting off a bike once they have a mirror kicked off or a window blown out, it may seem like road rage to you, to me it may save someones life one day.