There’s a certain sect of the car world that’s locked in an eternal battle with cyclists. These drivers, for whatever reason, simply can’t accept that they have to share the road with people riding bikes, and hate the fact that cyclists are increasingly being granted bike lanes of their own in major metropolitan areas.
Personally, I can’t understand this attitude. Sure, it might be a tiny bit inconvenient to make room for a cyclist as you drive past them, but when you’re driving through a populated place or down a fun, twisty road, that’s just part of the environment, and there’s nothing you can do about it. What’s wrong with playing nice with one another?
Alas, some people just can’t figure it out. The occupants of a BMW took things a bit too far when they decided to start road-raging against a couple of bikers in California, forcing one off the road and throwing liquid at another, before speeding off. Instead of just ending things there, the driver of the BMW started messaging the biker on Instagram, asking to fistfight. Now, they’ve been arrested.
A Bike Lane Is Called A Bike Lane Because It’s For Bikes
This all started last Saturday when pro biker Luke Fetzer, who goes by the username sendy_mcgee on Instagram, published a video on the social media platform of a BMW M3 driver running up behind him and his friends while they were biking down the marked bike lane on the Pacific Coast Highway in Corona Del Mar, a neighborhood in Newport Beach.
View this post on Instagram
The video shows the BMW driving fully in the bike lane, inching up to the cyclist behind, who eventually has to hop up onto the sidewalk to avoid getting struck. After that, the BMW comes up next to Fetzer before the passenger splashes a drink onto him and chucks the empty cup out the window before speeding off.
The clip immediately went viral, accumulating millions of views in just a couple of days. According to Fetzer, the interaction didn’t begin when the camera started rolling, but a few minutes before that. He published a follow-up video explaining the entire encounter, before and after the camera started rolling:
We’re riding single file, and we move right in towards the bike lane. At this intersection, the driver honked at us, swerves at us, and then the passenger rolls down his window, yells, slurs it at us, and then they get stopped at the following stoplight.
I was angry, adrenaline was pumping. These guys had just tried to kill us by swerving their car into us, and in the heat of the moment, I grabbed my water bottle and I squirted onto his car while he was stopped at the red light. When I did that, I had no idea that they were going to try to run us off the road. I pulled out my phone because I knew that there was gonna be some angry drivers, and I was filming for my own safety.
It’s at that moment you can see what the BMW driver and their passenger do in the video above. While Fetzer isn’t totally, 100-percent innocent in instigating the situation, I’d say the BMW driver took things a bit too far, especially when you hear what happened next.
View this post on Instagram
According to Fetzer, the BMW didn’t just speed off into the distance, never to be seen again. He and his friends actually stopped down the road to blockade the bikers and harass them further.
A few miles down the road, him and four buddies all stop on the side, waiting in line at the Shake Shack, a local burger joint. Cars will usually park and wait in the line at Shake Shack, blocking cyclists, which is fine. We move to the left, and we go around. But this time, these four individuals got out of their cars, ran into traffic, pushed into the two right lanes, blocked us, told us that they were going to kill us, and tried tackling us.
Well, that’s no fun. And Fetzer says it wasn’t just his crew that got stopped, either. Two other bikers who were totally uninvolved until this point were caught up in this:
It didn’t only do it to us. There were two other cyclists that weren’t involved with us at all who were also put in harm’s way by these guys. In shock, I stopped with these two two cyclists who were clearly already on the phone with the police, trying to get an officer to the scene.
Eventually, everyone went their separate ways, but the story doesn’t end there. In fact, it gets even weirder.
The Aftermath
After the video blew up on social media, Fetzer was interviewed by CBS News Los Angeles, where he shared messages he claims were sent from the BMW driver over Instagram DMs. If you don’t feel like or can’t watch the video embedded above, I’ve reprinted the messages here:
haha you’re a [redacted] dork, pro cyclist making 20$ an hour thinks it’s ok to spray gatorade at a $100k car, hope you enjoyed the soaking wet bike ride back home peasant ????
Hey bro let’s both sign waivers and meetup for a consensual Full MMA sparring session, let’s settle this like Men
if you have the [redacted]
Something tells me that the fight might have to wait. Yesterday, the Newport Beach Police Department released a statement saying it served a warrant in the nearby city of Corona and arrested an individual identified as Samir Weiss, charging them with assault with a deadly weapon. The police say they also seized a blue BMW M3 from the residence where the warrant was served, as evidence.
The investigation is ongoing, but Fetzer told The Canyon Carver in a Thursday interview that he’s happy with the outcome so far. “It’s good to know that he’s in Johnny Law’s hands now, and they’re going to throw the book at him, and we’ll just see where it goes from here,” he said.
If there’s any lesson to be gleaned from this, it’s to simply mind your own business and give people space to enjoy themselves, whether they’re on a bike, a motorcycle, a car, or a three-wheeled contraption that falls somewhere in between those. At best, you’re ruining someone’s day, and at worst, you end up in jail. Just share the road, people.
Top graphic images: sendy_mcgee on Instagram
Yeah, it was wrong(ish) to squirt his water at the douche in th BMW but I get his anger. My wife and I are cyclists and have pretty much stopped road riding because of well… distracted drivers on the road and road ragers.
In my years of road riding, I had jackasses yell and try to run me off the road more than once and even had a beer bottle thrown at me. It barely missed my head. Car drivers kill cyclists too often and almost never get punished commensurate with their crime. That said, as a recovering roadie, I can say that road riders are usually the douchiest of cyclists but that can’t excuse these dangerous drivers.
A bit off-topic, but it’s nice to see that so many Autopians also enjoy cycling. Lots of very good insight in the comments from people who find themselves on both sides of the cars vs. bicycles “debate” and have a measured, rational approach to it.
Let’s talk bicyles! What are you guys riding? I’m a vintage road bike guy, so I ride a 1978 Gitane Nation (wearing either early 80s Renault-Gitane or late 70s Bic spandex).
Nice! I’m on a modern Cervelo Aspero (2023) but I do lust after the well-kept vintage road bikes. Do you find sourcing replacement parts difficult?
Ohh, nice! I’m lucky that my Gitane was fully restored when I bought it so I haven’t had any mechanical failures yet. However, there seems to be a healthy supply of both new-old stock and more expensive high-end stuff – this side of the pond at least. Lots of stuf on ebay, but you can find real bargains in bike shops. The only thing that’s become a slight concern is the scarcity of boyau-type tires (tubulars). Vittoria Strada used to be an excellent budget choice (about €25 apiece) but they seem to have been discontinued, as they’re nowhere to be found online or in retailers like Decatlhon, which used to stock them. The slightly more expensive Vittoria Rally (€35-€40) are in stock online, but I also haven’t found them in stores for months now. I’ve been considering fitting modern wheels and switching to tubeless.
When I got back into cycling a few years ago, I was shocked at how much has changed, and how high-tech all the modern stuff is. But I didn’t have too much trouble getting what I needed to restore my 40yo bike. Mostly eBay. But I never had tubular tires, LOL. I did run latex tubes back in the day, but those are too much of a PITA for just knock around riding, lovely though they make the ride. I went with relatively “fat” tires this time around, 23C Michelins rather than the 18 or 19s I always rode on back in the day. I am a tad more delicate than when I was 16, so a bit more grip seemed like a good idea. 🙂
The more cutting edge stuff is too high tech for my taste (and my wallet also doesn’t love it), so I don’t want it for myself, but I do admit a lot of it is very impressive.
For my bike, I’d like to keep it as stock as possible, and that’s why I’ve been resisting putting modern wheels on it. I love the look of the vintage Mavic wheels.
Waaay too rich for my blood for sure (though I would sure love to take a full-zoot modern racing bike for a spin just to try it out). For the amount of doddering around on two wheels I do, my vintage gear is just fine.
Not that the Roberts was cheap – the frame alone cost $550 in 1984! The rest of it is a mottly collection of bits as only a broke bike racing obsessed high school kid could scrounge up via lawn mowing, babysitting, and Christmas and birthday money, LOL. But it’s all quality if eclectic stuff. The coolest bits on it are a set of Modolo carbon fiber shift levers that were a Christmas gift from my great grandparents. They weigh nothing at all – about as high tech as it got in 1984!
I actually started with a red used Roberts frame that I bought for $200 – then a friend of mine hopped on it, coasted out of his driveway looking back over his shoulder at me, right into a parked car. And bent the frame. Thankfully without bending himself much… His parent’s homeowner’s insurance bought me the blue one. The local bike shop had the blue one in stock in my size.
Well that’s a fun story – glad your friend was ok. Always love to hear tales of insurance paying for stuff. A $550 frame in 1984 was no doubt impressive stuff; adjusted for inflation that’s close to $1800 today, which should fetch you a quite decent modern bike; prices were likely not as out of control back then as they are these days, so that bike was likely more high-end back then than anythig you can get for $1800 nowadays.
It’s a really lovely hand-built mixed Columbus SLX/SPX frame with hand filed lugs, etc. Nothing really high-tech, just a lot of craftsmanship. Chas Roberts didn’t make a lot of “inventory” bikes in those days, he only made about 100 frames a year, most bespoke to order. I’m not sure if mine was an order that was never picked up or was actually an inventory frame. But it’s the right size for me.
The Road frame has slightly relaxed angles suitable for both racing and “sport touring”, though mine doesn’t have rack eyelets. It’s not twitchy (good thing too, given my current form).
Nice! I restored my early ’80s vintage Chas Roberts Road that was my ride in my high school racing days last year. I haven’t ridden as much as I’d hoped this year, still mostly riding my almost as ancient ’94 vintage Bianchi Ocelot mountain bike. But it’s nice to get the old Roberts out and fly like the wind on a bike that weighs not much over 21lbs. Not terribly comfy for an aging git though!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/J3rpftySLpFbmnQG7
Looks pretty good for 40+ years old and having knocked around sundry garages for decades. Had to replace the brakes, cables, tires, and a good cleaning and regreasing of all the bearings – thankfully kept my bike tools all these years too. Really should have the wheels trued and tensioned too. It had goofy Shimano 600AX centerpulls with unobtanium brake pads, replaced with Campagnolo (that I couldn’t afford in high school, lol). Got a new split saddle too. The old Avocet gel saddle wasn’t gelling anymore.
Wow that Roberts looks great!! The colour is almost the same as my Gitane 🙂 Nice mods too.
You should post a pic of yours too – I’d love to see it!
I was struggling to remember where I may have had pics of it online, and I remembered I have a couple on instagram 🙂 Not as high end as your Roberts, but it’s a very nice bike to ride, and has been quite reliable, considering the weight is has to carry around.
Very nice – and you are right, almost the same color as mine! Nice Renault as well!
I ride a Trek Madone 5.1, previously rode a 1985 Fiori Modena (Norco Bike) from 2001-2012 which I really liked, and a Maruishi TA18 touring bike which I bought new in 85 still have it, near mint but no longer ride as it feels awkward after the Trek.
Time Scylon with Campagnolo Ekar group set. I still have the Peugeot CFX-10 that I bought in the early 1980’s. And a few Ritcheys and a few Lynskeys and…
Came here to point out that city of Corona and city of Corona Del Mar are not the same. Corona has an auto mall and CDM has an excellent shore break and entitled douchebags up the wazoo
I’m shocked, shocked, that this happened near Newport Beach.
Well, not that shocked.
It’s sad some things haven’t changed. I grew up nearby in the late Sixties and Seventies(Westminster on the Huntington Beach border), and we had the same entitled spoiled brats running around back then too.
I bike as a choice rather than driving. I ride safely and assertively, and rarely have problems (just like when driving). If someone truly tries to assault me with a car, however, I will get clear then defend myself with a U-lock. It isn’t a cyclist/driver thing, it’s just assholes. Problem is cars wielded by assholes win.
I died laughing at some of the comments on that text screen cap on r/BicyclingCirclejerk this morning.
People just don’t get that you cannot drive in bike lanes. Those are for parking when you can’t walk an extra few metres to get your latte.
I knew I was using them right. All those cyclists screaming at me to move my car are the ones who are wrong
Road raging BMW drivers and entitled spandex clad bicyclists are pretty much stereotypical of Orange County.
How is riding a bike…in a bike lane… entitled? As for your comment about “spandex clad cyclists”, I challenge you to ride your bike 50 miles in Levi’s with a seam on your taint. Then report back.
The search for the next DHS secretary is over.
That BMW driver is like the perfect fit, personality wise. If he were less impulsive but every bit as sociopathic, maybe Director of the CIA.
On my way home from work yesterday, I encountered a cyclist driving head on at me in a roundabout.
I shouted an inquiry about his mental abilities and he loudly advised me to get intimate with myself.
Delightful fellow. He will make a lovely hood ornament someday.
This kind of comment to an article like this has strong “not all men” vibes
It literally happened.
On my way home from work on Friday.
Ruined pizza night.
I live on a very popular cycle route. On a nice Saturday if I time it right I may have to wait five minutes to pull out of my driveway if a cycling group is going by.
This guy was more of a ‘My license is suspended’ cyclist.
We call them DeeWee (for DWI). Pink girls 10 speed, plaid flannel, timberlands, jeans, rippin’ a butt, plastic bag with a 40-dog of asking Cobra hanging off the handle bars.
Where I live they have transitioned to janky bikes with chinese motor kits, or those 20’’ wheeled chinese ebikes that have throttles (ahem, it’s a moped…)
Makes folks like myself who repair and ride bikes annoyed that they ruin the reputation of many people who enjoy bikes.
King Cobra. Stupid phone
That makes things much clearer.
Boston speak for a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor, kid.
At the bike shop, we used to call them “DUI-Guy” bikes. They always wanted their flat tire fixed on the spot, and also got mad that we charged labor.
What’s the difference between a porcupine and a BMW?
The pricks are inside?
Porcupines signal?
Come on Samir, don’t do illegal things when you are on camera. Tsk tsk
It’s amazing what the people will do for the attention, I mean, clicks
Samir, you are going to break the car! Samir!!
Samir….You’re breaking the car!!!
Wonder what is happened with manners? I mean if something bothers, one can politely point out if there’s an issue. Vs going full on asshat mode and harassing and being aggressive.
Is it lack of courage? one has to get full on aggrivated before they’ve go guts to make any comments?
Engagement-based metrics.
Obviously, shit got way out of hand there but I have a question and a bit of a rebuttal to your first take. Firstly, were they in the bike lane or not, rather than moving “towards” it) Secondly, I am surprised more cyclists don’t get their asses kicked. I have ridden more miles in my life than I can count but I don’t recall ever yelling and confronting people for their driving and I am definitely not afraid to step up if needed. I can’t even count how many cyclists I’ve had yell at me or someone else for doing something completely benign. It’s as if a bunch of tightly wound anal retentive engineers, surgeons, and accountants get together and become some kind of entitled cycle gang. I once had some asshat yell at me from half a block away because I was getting my toddler daughter out of the back of my Tahoe while unavoidably encroaching on his bike lane. He’s lucky I didn’t clothesline him as he passed us because he scared the crap out of my little girl. I completely respect cyclists right to the road and count myself among them but there are limits, like two dudes riding side by side on a one lane road while making everyone else wait to pass them- including a lights. It’s the road, not a damn tearoom!
My advice to these delusional amped up cyclists is that just because you have your spandex posse with you, doesn’t give you the right to own the road and certainly won’t keep you from getting your ass whooped. It’s great that you suddenly feel empowered and a sense of comrodary but don’t be entitled, overly aggressive, and lose sight of the risk you run when you do dumb shit like throw water on someone. Yes, they may have deserved it but your gang isn’t going to stop some wingnut from laying waste to you. I say this as person that had a wonderful middle-aged friend killed because him and his brother followed a reckless driver and pulled up to tell him to slow down because of kids in the neighborhood. The driver just happened to have an assault rifle sitting on his seat and decided to use it. I’m really sorry about what happened the guys in the story and understand why they were upset but they’re lucky that it didn’t end up being much worse. Think about it, wouldn’t it be exponentially more likely for someone that has already almost run you off the road to do something worse if you confront them, especially barehanded in a onesie. Be safe out there and don’t lose your head or you might lose your life!
To avoid any misunderstandings or people getting out the pitchforks for me. I am 100% for cycling, cycling rights, and certainly don’t have an issue with proper cycling attire. My point was to be careful how you respond to some douchebag that doesn’t respect your right to the road and give drivers the same courtesy that you expect from them.
Now, “release the lions!” because I standing hear ready.:-)
There is a good point that something like 0.001% of assholes will ever stop when confronted and realize they were wrong and back off. 99.999% will escalate. It’s sort of in the definition of asshole.
Counterpoint: Sometimes cyclists need to respond in kind.
In California and I imagine in many other places cyclists are permitted to ride on sidewalks by state law unless expressly forbidden to do so by city ordinance. This includes park walkways. Only a few cities forbid sidewalk use.
For clarification I ride an old pedal power only, all terrain bike, not an e-bike and I do try to be as courteous to foot traffic as I can including leaving the pavement to pass as needed. I also play music not only for entertainment but to avoid startling people and animals.
Anyway, last year while I was riding through a park I passed a guy walking three small dogs. As I passed he hissed “GET OFF THE SIDEWALK!” at me.
I ignored it.
Just to be sure though when I got home I reality checked that I was indeed allowed to ride in the park. I even checked the rules physically posted in the park. There was nothing about bikes at all. There was however a notice about keeping dogs on leash and under control at all times.
A few days later I was passing through the same park. The same guy was there, walking his three dogs. Rather than deal with him I went around him on the grass. Again as I passed he hissed: “GET OFF THE SIDEWALK!” This time I turned and responded with some choice words of my own but kept going. I may have made a gesture too.
A couple weeks later it happened again. His dogs were splayed out in all directions, leashes completely blocking the pathway. Again I turned onto the grass to give him and his dogs a wide berth but he again demanded I “GET OFF THE SIDEWALK!”
This time I had enough. This would not stand.
I stopped next to him and in my full spandex jersey, bib shorts, fingerless glove, helmet and smoked visor glory told him to go fuck himself and to shut his goddamned fucking mouth.
As I did that I could see him crumble inside. He had not expected that. He was my age but shorter and slighter than I. His dogs looked confused. He mumbled something about it not being right. I stared at him and his demeanor shifted to fear. I continued to stare. He pulled away almost whimpering, like a little yappy dog being threatened with a rolled up newspaper. I coldly but as politely as I could manage informed him of my right under law to use whatever sidewalk or pathway I pleased, to never, EVER speak to me like that again and to keep his dogs under control. Then I rode away.
I have seen him several times since then and each time he pulls his dogs back with fear in his eyes. I ignore him. I do not relish his fear but his multiple attempts to bully me demanded the response he got.
Good for you, I would’ve been inclined to do the same thing. From a tactical standpoint, someone on foot doesn’t have the advantage that someone in a vehicle has. When the offender is in a car and you are not, they may have a weapon in their car(not necessarily a gun) and have the option of just running over you. You just never know!
Again, my original comment was not meant to make fun of people wearing full cycling attire. It does mean you are more exposed and unarmed- not to mention that clip-on shoes don’t always have the best traction in a scrap. Yes, these things matter but people don’t consider them and assume that the offender will just acquiesce to their aggressive behavior. I recently had a misguided individual road-rage on me(including threatening to kill me) after hitting MY mirror with his car. I’m a linebacker, strudy 250, a heavy lifter, and carry but he didn’t know about the last part. Things could’ve gone much more awry but my lovely GF intervened. BTW, if he had been an angry cyclist brandishing his tire pump(I’ve seen this done), I could’ve legally shot him. My point is people out there are cray cray and reason or fault don’t matter to them.
I wear regular street shoes while cycling. I’ve tried clips and clipless pedals but I never got past the unease of having my feet fixed to the pedals.
The vast majority of people I encounter while cycling are fine if not downright courteous. I see many of the same folks every day and exchange waves and pleasantries. Most drivers are great too. For my part I always use formal hand gestures to indicate my intent, and try to stay out of their way.
Only occasionally do I encounter someone who feels the sidewalk is their own domain. I agree, most of those people have problems well beyond a lousy understanding of cycling law. They’re looking for an endorphin rush, hoping to get it by bullying their way into an easy victory. It’s usually easy to deny them that victory which is exactly what pisses them off the most.
I love wearing a black hooded cloak when cycling. Alternatively, a hoodie, plague doctor mask, and leather gloves. In both cases, it keeps me from getting sunburnt, keeps the mosquitoes off, and when random strangers pull their phones out to film me I have my face covered.
https://i.imgur.com/yeS6eGM.jpg
Nice!
You can see and breathe well enough to ride in a plague doctor mask?! I couldn’t manage walking around much less riding in either of mine. Which is too bad as I have an absolutely EPIC hull shaped hat I made myself and a black vintage ladies Dutch bike that would be perfect with the coat.
Fine choice for cycling.
I used to live in South Texas during summers without air conditioning. It got so hot inside my apartment that the bed bugs it came with all died. And I sometimes ride a Milan SL with the full hood installed and visor down when it’s 100 degrees outside, making it a literal oven. I’m very heat-acclimated.
I’m in Canada, so it doesn’t work so well, but south of the border, I would just wear a vest that had ICE printed on it.
Love seeing that kind of thing out in the world: slightly foreboding whimsy.
(Internal) : Absolutely no GAF
(Audible): Excellent mask, my man! Party on, dude!
I started wearing it in public during the plague year of 2020. I figured it fitting. I’d walk down the street at night cloaked up with the mask on, carrying an old school style oil lantern, ringing a little bell. The mere sight of me in a grocery store made a little kid cry. Good times.
Very well said!
Don’t own spandex or wear toe clips and I have owned a BMW. I’ve been driving for 52 years and cycling for at least a decade longer. There is NEVER a reason to act out in public, abuse or devolve into a spoiled toddler having a moment. If the opposite number is breaking the law or endangering you, leave, record, behave like a mature adult and keep your patience.
Too many times I have been threatened, nearly run off my he road by raging operators of cars, trucks and bicycles.
Operating any of these is a privilege not a right, and you do NOT own the road.
“If the opposite number is breaking the law or endangering you, leave, record, behave like a mature adult and keep your patience.”
That assumes the system actually works though. What to do when those in authority ignore the problem or ARE the problem? What is there to do when leaving, recording, behaving like a mature adult and keeping your patience gets you nothing but more abuse?
Water off a ducks back. I still walk away. You never know how nuts the other guy is. I’ve had guns, knives, baseball bats and tire irons waved in my face by testosterone amped Neanderthals. Not my fight. IDC if the system doesn’t work. I’ve done my civic duty. In my experience, in most cases it has and does work. I guess we have real policing here.
I’m thinking of old school K-12 when bullying was far more common. “Policing”consisted of ignoring the problem, dismissing it as kids stuff or even victim shaming.
I think the real reason bullying is taken seriously now is because the bullied started shooting back rather than waiting for benign intervention that never came.
As one of the bullied, that thought certainly crossed my mind to a very serious degree when my age was still in the single digits. And well before Columbine, at that. I was unusually small for my age, and one of the bullies was heavier then than I am today as an adult. I’m 5’10” and 140 lbs today, and this fat fuck of a bully easily had back then another 30-50 lbs extra on me today, and he was 5 grade levels ahead of me. He even tried to drown me in a pool.
I actually explore this subject in an RPG I am working on titled “Echoes of the Forsaken Planet”. Your main character is a 12 year old boy, and the intro of the game involves him shooting up his middle school set in the town of Podunk, USA, in the year 1999, with the player controlling him as he massacres kids and teachers alike with a gun stolen from his daddy’s cabinet. This is the tutorial to the battle system that the game has. That’s just the intro, to give the player a taste of what this game is about, as the game gets so much more dark, grotesque, disturbing, and ultra-violent from there.
The core of the game itself is set in the year 2598, 599 years into the future, on another planet(Kepler 186F) inside of a climate/atmosphere controlled domed megacity named New Babylon. The dome is 21 miles wide, 3 miles tall, with artificial lighting and the illusion of open sky within it, concealing the inhospitable environment outside of the dome. There are 500 million people crammed within it. The planet used to have 11 billion inhabitants. The surface outside is uninhabitable after a failed terraforming effort, the temperature outside is 250F with the air choked in radioactive ash clouds. Absolutely nothing lives on the surface, but the ruins of megacities surrounding the dome saturate the landscape.
New Babylon is a highly technologically-advanced theocracy and surveillance hellscape ruled by warring Jewish, Christian, and Islamic factions. 0.1% of the population lives in ArcoBABEL, a multi-layered support pillar in the center of the dome that contains lots of suburbs with McMansions, farmland, and a living standard comparable to what the upper middle class had in the early 21st century. It has a very “rural Americana” feel to it. Everyone else inside the dome is blocked off from access to this area. About 10% of the population lives in what is referred to as the “upper ring”, where it is about at crowded as modern Shibuya in Tokyo, Japan, and almost everyone eats synthetic food. Another 15% live in “the middle ring”, where 5-10 people are typically housed to a one-room apartment styled like a prison cell with an open shower and toilet. The remaining 75% live in the slums below, off of the trash produced by the upper layers of the dome, in worse-than medieval conditions with very limited access to technology, the vast majority entirely illiterate and barely able to speak.
Consider what would happen if you shut off all of the electricity, food, water, medicine, life support systems, then fast forward one month, and there’s only one shuttle back to Earth with 20,000 seats on it, forever.
Most of your main characters including your lead character are small children, and the only adult willing to help them survive such a horrific environment is a serial killer/pedophile clown from the 20th century, who doesn’t know why or how he got there. He ends up being one of the only “good” characters in the story, to keep the player grounded to the degree of the depravity, violence, suffering and horror present in this setting. And this particular clown is still a highly disturbing character.
Everywhere you go, everyone is trying to eat you. Inspirations for this idea include but are not limited to films such as Hellraiser, Soylent Green, Blade Runner, Alien, Gummo, Pandorum, and Event Horizon, video games such as Chrono Trigger and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and stories such as Sheep Look Up by John Brunner, everything HP Lovecraft, and Border in Black by Larry Niven. It is highly occult/biblical themed and is going for a cyberpunk meets dark fantasy aesthetic.
There are even cars in the game. Their design takes inspiration from cars and concepts such as the Citroen Karin, Brubaker Box, Mazda RX500, Tesla Cybertruck, Lancia Stratos HF Zero, Hyundai Pony, Honda Type 0 Saloon, Jaguar Type 00, among others to give the aesthetic a supremely dystopian flavor. Only about 3% of the population in the game’s world has vehicle access.
Here’s an image of what it looks like outside of the dome, on the surface of planet Kepler 186F.
https://i.imgur.com/FIuxfiQ.png
Going to make the grimmest, bleakest, darkest, most Satanic and ultra-violent sci-fi story ever.
Lets hope this remains a dystopian fantasy.
There’s giant bed bugs the size of cats. In RPGs, the player typically recovers their characters by resting. In this game, the “bled blugs” sometimes feed when the player rests the characters, and you have to wake up to fight them, never restored to full health if you’ve been fed upon. And if they’ve fed, they pop with a very satisfying blood splatter when you hit them.
I also came up with a creature called “Mighty Mites”, which are humanoid scabies mites. The juveniles are the size of a quarter and feed upon larger creatures, one of them being a giant rat the size of a schoolbus. The rat is a miniboss named “Vermin Supreme”(a reference to the satirist who once ran for US president in 2012), and is covered in open sores. It chases you, and if you lure it into an engine oil room and torch it instead of directly fighting it, it writhes around on fire, and all the little juvenile mites drop off of it and skitter around on fire. If you kill it without torching it in that manner, you then have to fight the mites because you killed their host.
Just a taste of the grotesqueness present. I want this to be as ugly, repulsive, and disturbing of a game/story/setting as possible. The above screenshot should give you a taste of how dark it is. I still have to complete the radioactive ash clouds blowing about the ruins outside the dome. That is the background used for the scene where the shuttle is landing on the planet, soon after the school shooting intro is completed.
Making hellscapes is so much fun.
“the “bled blugs” sometimes feed when the player rests the characters”
If they’re the size of cats they’d be easy to keep off the bed by just sleeping in a chainlink bed cage.
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Rusty, piss soaked chainlink beds I think would match the zeitgeist of your game as an extra cost option at the flop house.
Of course those don’t have to be the only worry. The swarms of aggressively carnivorous armoured roaches infesting Las Vegas in Damnation Alley come to mind. Those damn things gave me nightmares.
Thems Roger Zelazny’s giant Mormon cockroaches. At least that’s what I called them when I saw them in the film. I read the book before seeing the film, and there was very little correlation between the two.
Man. I’m just a 67yo dude that enjoys pedaling his bicycle around town like he did 60 years ago. I’m trying to stay out of everybody’s way and know that I am unprotected. I ride motorcycles, too and believe me, avoiding cars and trucks is like my secret superpower.
If you even notice me, know that I wish you hadn’t and that my passage through your space was utterly invisible. I just want to ride around, feel the sun and wind, hear some birds and get a good slow look at the world around me.
I’ve done the endurance riding thing, too and I am as annoyed as anyone else by the assholes riding in pelotons that don’t understand even the basics of good cycling etiquette.
I’m annoyed because all the comments on this article consider me just like those disrespectful assholes simply because I’m out pedaling around enjoying my day.
If you wear street clothes you’ll be assumed to either be a destitute deadbeat dad or a.drunk who lost their licence on the last DUI.
You can’t win.
.
There are a group of social/competitive riders who frequent our rural neighborhood on their rides. I have no problem with them except when they ride six abreast down our road and other roads in the area and I have to wait for them to realize that they are holding up traffic. Sounding the horn sometimes does not work unless I hold it down for 30 seconds or more.
I can feel the dark side rising on these occasions, but manage to maintain civility.
I use their language and scream “CAR BACK” at them. It drives it home: I’m a cyclist and you in the peloton are idiots with the cycling etiquette of a 5 yo.
I was out in West Marin County one morning and a bunch of guys come rolling in all amped up to feed at the bakery. They’re all young guys, the kind my wife and I call “hammerheads”. They’re in there clopping around in their shoes and two guys come rolling by on their bicycles and call them out: “Hey Team Caballo! You’re riding etiquette is SHIT!”
They smirk. An older couple pipes up with “it would have been nice if you guys would have let us by instead of hogging the road like assholes.” And then another couple responds to the first couple with “We were behind you and they did the same shit to us.”
It was fun watching them get back on their bikes and leave with their pastries half eaten and coffee half drunk, hastily cramming the pastries in their jersey pockets.
Good. I’ve encountered them before and there you are just chugging along and they go by on both sides, 6 inches from your shoulder and they can’t even say hello.
Crap etiquette. As a cyclist, they’re embarrassing and a big part of why I’m moving to MTBs. People hate us all because of jerks like them.
“I can’t even count how many cyclists I’ve had yell at me or someone else for doing something completely benign.”
I’ll be that guy: if you’re getting yelled at constantly by cyclists, perhaps you’re part of the problem. Saying that as someone who’s been driving for 25ish years (including in a town that calls itself the “bike capital of the world”) and can’t recall getting yelled at once.
Perhaps you should re-read the quote. This time, note the words “someone else”. If you lived in Amsterdam, there isn’t even a comparison to be made here. If not, I’m inclined to think that your town’s infrastructure is designed to avoid the co-mingling of differing forms of transportation or the local drivers have already been browbeat into submission by the dreaded, maraudering, and ever ubiquois local cycling gangs:) If not, bless your heart and you are a lucky driver because I could build a huge Reddit sub just with stories of militant cyclist yelling at people for less than logical reasons. That said, I try to be self-aware and have certainly experienced plenty of fuckery by troglodytes during my own rides. As a reminder, just because something doesn’t happen to you, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Have a nice day!
Honestly, the BMW got what he deserved. However I have the opposite problem. Since I drive an 80000 lb murder machine I try to be very respectful of bikes. But all I get is flipped off and told I shouldn’t be on these roads. Um, only reason I get on small roads is cause im delivering crap you want. I dont wanna be here. Im giving you space, im trying to safeguard your safety. Im sorry im an inconvenience. If you dont want me here, stop buying stuff.
80,000lbs, do you drive a WW2 tank. Maybe that’s why they flip you off. Joking of course. Thanks for keeping the economy going.
Im bigger than a Sherman tank, dimensional and weight. 40 tons is what a standard 18 wheeler grosses out at. Puts things in perspective when ya see people do the three lane dive for an exit in front of a big rig.
*bump*
“What was that?”
“A Mazda.”
I know what you are talking about and previously made similar points above.
80,000 lb murder machine? Metal as fuck! Sounds like a MURDER TRAIN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AThV8W1MJUU
Just keep thinking how unhinged you have to be to think a professional cyclist is out riding his bike for a living because that’s how he’s going to maximize his earning potential.
I’m sure the M3 is a great ride (gaping maw aside), but I can’t imagine driving a nice car solely to remind myself I have money.
Driver bought an M3 to be rich, not because he wanted an M3
He bought wrong, then. You buy an M3 to become poor, unless you plan to only keep it for a little while before selling it off when the maintenance costs get too high.
That said, I wouldn’t mind owning an M3 for a while. They do seem like nice cars to drive.
Clout idiots don’t think about things like TCO, only purchase price and brand image
MMA, a sport that promptly makes me abandon any bar or restaurant that has it on their TVs. Reaffirming my loathing of it, it’s now the official magat sport with a planned fight scheduled on the White House grounds in July. A nation enthralled by a bloodsport where people beat each other until someone literally craps themselves is not a healthy people.
Not surprised that the BMWeasel is a fan.
I’m someone who enjoys cars AND bikes and it’s refreshing to see in the comments that this is a community that respects all road users.
As a late friend of mine would say, “You are loved.”
This kind of aggression is a core symptom of micro-penis, an emotionally debilitating disorder that often afflicts BMW drivers.
So many vehicles these days have synthetic engine audio piped into the cabin. I’ve been thinking a better option for many drivers might be to instead play subliminals to soothe the driver’s ego, affirming that they are more than sufficient physically and that they have nothing to prove on the roads.
I know personally know several drivers that could use such an audio system, although most of them drive mid/full-size pickups (and one drives an Altima).
I will say, as someone who has been paid to partake in bicycle racing. 20 dollars an hour would be generous for a domestic calendar salary. I’m sure Luke is making more with the crit natty jersey, probably barely. I guess you got us lycra-clad carbon jockeys there! However, you may want to consult a lawyer before trying to arrange a consensual MMA with strangers.
Luke is U23 national crit champ racing for a club team (albeit a very very good one) so he’s probably racing for a free bike and gel packets, maybe some sponsorship cash. He’s a “pro” in the sense that he’s probably not doing anything but racing his bike, but he’s also 20 and likely lives with parents. Trying to shame American pro cyclists for being broke is, uhh, not the most effective attack, anyone doing that to get rich short of like Tom Pidcock is a bit misguided.
At least this dude got arrested. I live just 30 minutes from Waller,TX where you can roll coal and then straight up runover several cyclists and the cops just let you go.
https://archive.ph/3tLtL
Damn. That’s some FUS right there!
I wonder about that kid’s takeaway: genuine remorse, or Teflon Scion?
“Am I going to jail?”
There’s your answer.
“Hey bro let’s both sign waivers and meetup for a consensual Full MMA sparring session, let’s settle this like Men”
What a fucking tool. May he live out his dystopian MMA fantasy in prison.
He has a strange understanding of legality.
Vehicular assault is okay, but he wanted a waiver against liability for using his fist?
It’s all about intimidation.
Just no common sense on the BMW driver. Now I believe combining cars and bicycles in the same place that weren’t originally designed to be shared is like putting a goat in a pen with a Tyrannosaurus Rex and telling them to play nice. However I am also smart enough to realize anyone that can pedal any bike for dozens of miles up and down hills is in way better shape than I am and it’s smarter to play nice.
This is just disgusting. The absolute ignorance on display by the BMW driver.
Everyone knows you meet up in Temecula to settle these things.
always hilarious when drivers think they’re more tough or manly because they drive a truck/car. which involves sitting on a comfy chair and pushing some buttons with their feet. compared to someone who cycles who is literally using the pure “man power” of their legs and core to propel themselves, sometimes for 100+ miles at a time as im sure this pro cyclist does regularly
Exactly real tough guys, like boxers get in a ring wearing shorts and fight over a purse
Nothing will give you good curb-stomping legs like pedaling a heavy electric velomobile up a 20% gradient with the electric motor(s) disabled. Even in the granny gear, each crank rotation is almost like squatting a barbell. Now do it hundreds of times to get up that hill at a minimum 60 rpm cadence to avoid knee damage.
It’s a shame Chuck Norris is dead. I’d have loved to have gotten a chance to introduce him to these machines so that he could have added even more unholy power to that roundhouse kick.
“pedaling a heavy electric velomobile up a 20% gradient with the electric motor(s) disabled.”
Why in the name of Christ would you want to do THAT?
Strength training.
Does your velomobile have regenerative braking? Could you lift it’s wheels off the ground and charge stationary?
Both velomobiles have regen. The Milan SL has regen in the rear wheel.
The custom build doesn’t have the new body on it yet but now has 4 wheels and AWD via 3 motors, with regen in the front wheels and the pedal drive and rear motor both sending input through a posi-traction differential in the rear.
Both of them can be recharged with human power in various ways. The custom build is going to have solar panels all over its next body.
I got the front motors to spin to 119 mph unloaded with the vehicle on jack stands.
https://i.imgur.com/T22KlXe.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IYs7wIm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Qzkcp84.jpg
The new body is going to look like a miniature cross between an Auto Union Type C streamliner and a Stangeullini Colibri. My goal is to hold 100 mph on flat ground using only 6 horsepower, but the vehicle is going to have about 25 horsepower peak in it. Finished weight ready to ride, minus the rider, is expected to be around 120 lbs.