"I was so messed up," Hebenstreit says. "I can't remember a whole lot of what happened. I was on the ground with two guys kicking and stomping me like you see in a gangster movie. They kicked me in the head. They broke my helmet."

Hebenstreit does, however, remember how the nightmare began.

It was Sept. 27 during the evening commute hours. Hebenstreit was riding his bicycle on Campbell Avenue toward the busy San Tomas Expressway intersection when a car with two young men in their late teens to early 20s drove by yelling at him. As the traffic came to a stop, Hebenstreit pedaled up next to the green Chevrolet four door and asked the men if they knew him.

"That's all I said. There was no cussing or other words exchanged," he says. But that brief exchange exploded minutes later into an incident of road rage between car and cyclist.

At the next red light the men opened the passenger door right into Hebenstreit's path as he pedaled by. The Campbell resident had to swerve to get out of the way, but then made a U-turn, got in front of the car and confronted the men, saying, "What the hell are you doing?" The two men jumped out of the car and tackled Hebenstreit to the ground.

"They threw my bike off the road so it wasn't in the way and started beating me," Hebenstreit says. "I wasn't confrontational after they got out of the car. I was just trying to protect my head and face."

His riding partner, who witnessed the incident, called 911, but the men drove off before the police arrived. They are still at large.

Although there is continuous coverage of cyclists' deaths, riders say it's the rash of daily incidents between motorists and bicyclists that needs to be brought to the forefront.

"I think the atmosphere has gotten worse," says Campbell resident Dennis Hopp, the Men's Elite Team captain for the Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club. "I've been competitively riding and racing for 14 years, and the first couple of years there weren't a whole lot of us out here. So we were more of a novelty. Someone would see you on a bike and actually wave. Now that doesn't happen."

Hurried motorists see Hopp as an impediment on the road, someone who belongs on the shoulder and off the streets, he says—or even worse, as "sport" for motorists and passengers, who intentionally open their doors into the path of oncoming cyclists, who are often traveling at up to 30 miles per hour. And there are those jutting hands, as individuals try to push the rider down or smack the cyclist on the back for "fun," Hopp says.

This is what almost happened to Marc Franklin as he was leaving Willow Glen on his bicycle to see his parents.

"I was passed too closely by an old compact sedan, with three guys in their mid-20s. One of them yelled at me," Franklin says. "I said nothing, did nothing. But I caught them at the light and heard them laughing and joking around. I thought they had moved on to another subject. But then we got the green and for just a second I thought they would do something."

That's when his veering to the right and having to clip his foot back into the pedal may have saved him from injury, Franklin says.

"As the car passed, I could see the rear passenger sitting on the window. He was either going to push me or slap me. I'm pretty sure he wanted to do something because he was halfway out of the window when he passed me."

He says this mentality appears to be pervasive among teens and adults who have forgotten that there are legal ramifications to their actions—being charged with assault.

"Push a cyclist down and you may be subjecting him to a few cuts and bruises or broken bones or even worse," Franklin says. "I think it's starting to get to a place where assaulting cyclists is becoming a 'fun' hate crime."

And there have been other incidents.

Cyclist Rupert Brauch says he is often honked at and yelled at by motorists because they don't think he belongs on the road. Several times, the Campbell resident says, cars have pulled up alongside him and forced him to the curb.

"I try not to react to motorists when they play games like that because I don't want the situation to escalate, as it did in Bo's case," he says, "But it's not easy to remain calm when people endanger you like that."

Earlier this summer Brauch was even shot at with a pellet gun from John D. Morgan Park as he was riding on San Tomas Expressway.

Scott Starling is also part of the league of cyclists, who might be considered the Bravehearts of the road, experiencing countless incidents during his 11 years of riding and racing in the Bay Area. One notable encounter was with a woman who had pulled over onto the San Tomas Expressway bike lane to complete her paperwork.

"I rode past her in the lane of traffic because I had no choice and motioned to her with a raised palm, sort of a 'What are you doing taking up the bike lane?' I made no vulgar gesture. She was so enraged by this harmless motion that she started her car and pulled in front of me perpendicular to the bike lane at the next merge lane. She got out of her car, shook her fist and screamed at me, yelling, 'Bikes have no right to be on the road with cars.'"

Hopp says over the years he has learned to tune it out even though he, too, has had his share of vehicle-versus-cyclist run-ins, including being hit three times—the last in 1998 when someone turned in front of him.

"I was scraped up pretty good," he says. "The guy saw me but decided to turn anyway."

Hopp says the driver mentality has gotten so bad that "I'm almost to the point now where if someone doesn't honk at me or cut me off, I haven't completed my day."

A riding partner of Hopp's, Campbell resident Richard Todd, says, "I've really learned you can't be out there flying the flag for all cyclists. You just have to ignore it. You can't take it personally. You can say something to these people, shrug it off and 10 minutes later they can come back and run you off the road. We simply get no respect. They are really willing to murder us just because we are kind of in their way."

Finding Balance

Todd and Hopp say they don't have a roadmap for changing the confrontational situation between motorists and cyclists but that educating motorists on the rights of bicyclists is critical to ameliorating the problem.

Many drivers think the cyclists should ride on the shoulder. They remember being taught as children to ride their bicycles against the traffic and follow a different set of rules than someone driving a car. But that's not correct, says Campbell resident Henry Wadler, a member of the Campbell Bike Advisory Committee that was established in 1994 to provide guidance to the city in the development of bike policies and programs.

"Motorists look at the cyclist on the road and feel he's taking up space that belongs to them. They haven't heard of the 'share the road' method," Wadler says. "There is a lack of education, and some motorists simply become irritated because the cyclist is slowing them down."

Wadler says cyclists have the same rights as motorists. They are governed by the same laws—required to stop at red lights and stop signs and indicate when they are turning.

In fact, Wadler says, last year cyclists tried to get a new law passed that would give riders a little more road room, but the California Highway Patrol opposed it.

"We wanted to clarify some issues," Wadler says, "and get bikes out of the bike lane and give them a little more room. Bike lanes can be dangerous because motorists think that's the only place they should be."

A bicyclist having to keep all the way to the right is also a common misconception among motorists and can be dangerous for a rider, Brauch adds. It's not uncommon for someone in a parked car to unknowingly open a door into a cyclist's path while he pedals by in the bike lane.

Another problem with staying to the far right, Brauch says, are motorists pulling out of driveways or side streets into bike lanes without checking for riders.

It's better for the cyclists to stay more visible by riding slightly to the left of the bike lane, which makes them more discernible to turning motorists.

And Hopp adds, a cyclist can be in any lane as long as the lane is clear and the rider is going the same speed as the traffic.

"If we want to go into the turn lane, we have the full right to do that, but cars don't understand," he says.

But the riders acknowledge that it's a two-way street. Cyclists also have to do their part and act responsibly on the roads.

Part of the problem is that regular cyclists—those who commute daily—and know the rules of the road are lumped in with the ones who don't, the men say.

These are individuals who run the stop signs and get "crazy" in traffic. They give us a bad reputation because of their poor judgment and behavior, says Todd, who's been riding and racing for 20 years. These riders don't wear the proper gear—no helmets or lights when riding in the dark—and they aren't courteous to motorists on the road. It adds up to motorists stereotyping all cyclists as being inconsiderate.

Mark Rodamaker, former president of the Alto Velo Bicycling Racing Club, the same club Bob Hebenstreit belongs to, agrees with Hopp.

"Poor behavior on a bicycle seldom endangers those not on bikes," he says. "It does create a poor opinion of cyclists, so drivers may take it out on the next cycling group they encounter."

Hopp says, "If you make nice to cars, if you give them a wave, hand signal that says, 'Hey I'm here,' you get a great reaction. People smile."

But it takes more than a wave, Wadler says. Law enforcement needs to be more sympathetic toward the rider.

Limited Support

To Wadler, the CHP's opposition to giving the bicyclists more road space is another part of the education problem. "They don't feel we belong on the road," he says.

This lack of support from police agencies is common sentiment among bicyclists no matter where they ride on the peninsula. Hopp says he was in a group ride when a car "buzzed" the bicyclists. Several of the riders made some hand gestures and the driver became angry and started to run the group off the road. The riders called the police and when they arrived, the authorities didn't take the side of the cyclists, Hopp says.

"We are not out there to cause trouble," Todd adds. "The one thing we really need on our side are these police agencies to back up the cyclists. A lot of the time they think the cyclists instigated something. I tell you sometimes that happens, but a lot of times nothing happens like that. It's a general animosity toward cyclists that is causing the problem."

Bryan Buck is quite familiar with limited support. While he was on a ride in South San Jose, a 70-year-old woman made a left turn right in front of Buck as he entered the intersection at about 30 miles per hour. She didn't have her turn signal on and stopped the car in the intersection, completely blocking it.

"A lot happened in the half-second I had to respond," Buck says, "but I ended up hitting the car, flying over the trunk about 20­25 feet in the air in a tuck. I hit the asphalt, rolled and came up on my feet."

The woman's husband screamed at Buck that he was "a crazy bicycle rider, out of control" and threatened to call the police, which Buck insisted he do. When the CHP arrived, no one asked Buck if he was OK or offered any assistance. He eventually settled the case with the driver's insurance company.

In Campbell, the authorities have an active bike patrol, and Campbell Police Capt. David Dehaan says many of the officers are bicyclists and understand the risks and difficulties of sharing the roadway with motorists.

"We do educate motorists that it is their responsibility to give way to bicyclists who are lawfully riding on the roadway. We encourage motorists and bicyclists to extend courtesy to each other."

That right of way still is a long way in the making, Todd says. And he wonders when those who are commuting in vehicles that don't pollute the air or clog the freeways will get the respect he believes they deserve.

"I wonder how many times Lance will have to win the Tour de France to get more respect out there?" Todd says.

But hope might be on the horizon. At least that's what Brad Harris discovered during a solo ride when a small car darted in front of him and cut a right turn just inches from his front wheel.

He says he never swore at the driver, but let out a loud, "Hey!"

A few minutes later the car returned, causing Harris' heart to beat a little faster.

"You can understand my surprise and instantaneous anxiety when the same car drives up next to me, matching my speed, with the windows rolled down," he says. "My panic quickly abated, however, when I realized the poor woman was sincerely trying to apologize to me. I was completely taken back. In all the years I've ridden and commuted, the hundreds of times I've had cars cut in front of me, even been hit on a couple of occasions, no one has ever apologized until this moment."

"It was in that instant that I realized that was all I really wanted," he says, "some minor acknowledgement that I exist and that you are not actually intending to kill me."

The Campbell police are offering a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the two men who assaulted Bo Hebenstreit. Contact Campbell police detective Joe Cefalu at 408.866.2179.