Personally, I am never expecting a car to honk at me. Even if i have already heard them coming up behind me, a honk just serves to startle me. I find it annoying and rude. If you want to wave to an oncoming cyclist, I would accept that. In my mind, most honkers are just trying to startle a cyclist, and sometimes follow up their honks by yelling "hey you effing (insert word of choice) get on the effing sidewalk"

Please don't honk at me.

Don't honk. As fpugsley wrote, it only startles. And don't yell anything either. 99% of horn honks and comments out of the window are negative. I do NOT give drivers the benefit of the doubt that it was a friendly honk or comment. I live in the fourth largest metro area in the US (Dallas/Fort Worth . . . take THAT Philly you dirty Yankees!) and my first reaction to any sound coming from a car is that it is hostile. That attitude comes from experience. fpugsley and I live in the same area and have the same attitude for a reason. Texans are fat and lazy and feel personally inconvenienced and offended by bikes on the road.

Don't honk. Don't hit. That's about it.

Oh, and getting spit on is always a fun one.

Utah is actually pretty cordial, but we get yelled and honked at every so often. I guess I shouldn't expect these morons to know that riding on the sidewalk is ILLEGAL!

I know I should turn the other cheek and everything, but I like to yell back and stuff. As I told ChunkyB the other day, I am just waiting for one of these rednecks to stop. I would like to see them try to justify to their redneck buddies how they got the s*** kicked out of them by a couple of fat guys in brightly colored spandex. They never seem to want to leave the safety of their cars though.

That's happened to me once. I also had a hill billy and his little kid drive by me... The old truck slowed down just long enough for the little kid to scream "Faggot!" at me. I bet daddy was just so proud of his little boy. Gotta love being a lycra clad cyclist in rural Virginia.

Dave

I show that I understand and support them by giving them plenty of room as I pass, and slowing a bit as I go by. I do what I'd like other drivers to do for me when I'm on the bike.

Wow, I feel lucky to live in rural Kansas. I can hop on a county road, ride 30 miles out and back, and only see a half dozen cars the whole time. Of course, I have to ride down a couple miles of dirt to get there.

Don't honk. Just be kind. I know we all want to show cohesion (especially when their are driving 'tards out there who try to run you down), and it's exciting to see someone else out riding hard, but at some point you have to just settle for setting a good example for other motorists.

yeah, i tend to overcompensate on slowing down and distance in order to let the guy driving behind me know there's something else on the road

Personally, I slow down, give room, wave if my window is open. I like it when the cars do the same :)

I've had encouraging "honks", but they generally consisted of people hanging out the windows and very obviously cheering every cyclist they passed. It's actually happened a couple times...