Wow, roadies are a-holes...who knew?

[xeney]

Hmm. I am trying to think how to phrase this so that I don't insult every cyclist everywhere ... I think in general, cyclists can be cliquish. (Maybe it would be better to say that people are cliquish, and cyclists are people?) When my husband and I are out together on our road bikes, the roadies are generally friendly enough. If I am out by myself on my road bike, male roadies are VERY friendly to me, not in an especially creepy way but just friendly. When I'm refilling my water bottle I get a lot of, "Wow, I wish I could get MY wife to ride" chit-chat, and if I'm stopped I get asked if I need a pump, I get hellos and nods and smiles, just general friendliness. But nobody else on the bike trail waves or says hello. The people on cruisers and mountain bikes, the people on old beaters, they just kind of ignore us.

If we are riding our old single-speed conversions, however, the roadies don't talk to us. They don't nod, they don't say hello, I doubt any of them would stop to help me fix a flat in those circumstances. Other people talk to us then, though. A lot of people around here ride bikes, but not everyone rides the same way. If I am riding my mixte around, the guys on fixies behave exactly the way the roadie guys do when I'm on my road bike. But I am pretty sure the fixie guys would not give me the time of day if I were wearing lycra and riding my road bike.

I noticed this a while ago and I try to make it a point to say hi to anyone with whom I make eye contact regardless of what they are riding. A couple of weeks ago when my husband and I were out on our road bikes, I noticed a guy on an old beater bike with a flat, and I offered him my pump, and he seemed completely floored that I had done that.

Exceptions to all generalizations: when I was first riding on my hybrid, trying to keep up with my husband on his road bike, and I was really dumb about trail etiquette, some of the older male roadies we ran into were incredibly nice and encouraging. In general I think the older guys are pretty nice.

[Cassandra_Cain]

GLC - Regina....you two are soooo very correct on this.

I was having a conversation of a similar nature recently. My overriding impression of guys who ride is much like what has been stated....elite, arrogant, pompous, wanna-be's who have absolutely no manners and would never be mistaken for having an ounce of courtesy.

It is really really off-putting because cycling can and should be an activity with a lot of social interaction. I mean here we are riding in a very car-driven society and yet your fellow riders, these guys, will thumb their noses at most everyone else. How very enlightened, not!

How discouraging to people starting out or even those of us like me, who actually enjoy a more moderate ride with conversation from time to time. I can totally see how a newer person would be disgusted with the sport and never even bother - I don't blame them.

I have yet to meet one single exception to this. The only ones who so much as even wave back, say hello, or show any semblance of being friendly are women. Though that isn't always the case.

So the only person I trust to ride with in this city who has class and is genuinely nice is Corsair.

[DDH]

Well I say hi to everyone and if they don't want to wave or say hi back "I just ignore it". It's rude, but hey sometimes people don't hear with wind blowing in their ears or they have their gaze fixed, concentrating and don't see you wave. Who knows.
I think my bike is a road bike with straight bars so if people snub me oh well, "their loss" as far as I am concerned.

Around here though, I don't run into many other riders, but when I do they have been generally friendly back. Maybe not over enthusiasticly so, but friendly none the less.
I'm not a racer or a rider that gets so fixated on my riding that I don't notice others, I am out there to have fun riding my bike and get in shape and hopefully lose some weight. I can understand though others that are training and not wanting their concentration interrupted.
Then there is just the fact that people now a days "a lot of them but not all" are just rude!! I don't like to generalize although I have been known to get frustrated and do it. LOL
Ecspecially with the man thing.

[velocilex]

I've encountered the same phenomenon as GLC1968: roadie guys will wave to me if I'm out on my road bike, but if I'm on the Kona, I may as well not exist. Never mind I may have just ridden a metric century on it. Never mind that they may have bothered to lift a finger off their handlebars the week before. Now, the guys who do this are mainly college guys-- this is the home of the Little 500 and those boys are Very Important. /sarcasm. On this past Sunday a group of three of us older types (with very nice road bikes, I might add) passed a bunch of Little Five roadies setting up for a time trial on a country road. All three of us said "Hi" or "Good Morning" to the nine young men as we rolled by. Not one answered, so I said over my shoulder, "You can say hello. We won't tell." Little brats. I've not encountered snotty women roadies around here mainly because I seldom see women roadies.

But I have to wonder if this attitude is a North American thing. I cycled France for seven weeks earlier this summer on my Kona hybrid that I had modified a little for touring. I never came across a roadie who didn't wave and say "Bonjour"-- often, they waved first. One day, I encountered a group of four roadies with nice kits and gorgeous bikes going in the opposite direction as I was rolling down a country road. All of them enthusiastically waved and hollered "Salut!" (which I thought was great-- Salut is informal, you say it to a buddy or kindred spirit). One of them even said "Hi"-- must have been my helmet that gave me away! The friendliness of the French roadies made it even harder to come back here and deal with the snobbery. However, I still say hello to everyone. If they don't want to acknowledge me that's fine. Maybe I won't acknowledge them when they need help on the side of the road some time.

[Red Haired Girl]

Hmmmm, I must be riding in the wrong part of the country....or world! I've yet to even MEET another rider (okay, there were the two 10 year olds walking their bikes out the gate of their house, and they waved, btw), let alone be able to say hi. Now, granted, I've only ridden three times in the past 10 years (last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) for a total of 38 miles - but I suspect there aren't a whole lot of bikers (of the quadriceps variety vice the Harley type) in these here parts.

BUT, should I meet another biker one the road (yep, I ride a road bike) you can be sure I'll wave and say hello!

Lara The Red (or, LTR - as if I had one!)

[GLC1968]

LTR - where in NC are you? I'm in GSO and I kind of consider that 'central NC'...are you close? Maybe we could get together for a ride sometime!!

I see TONS of riders in and around town, but when we head out into some of the more rural areas for our long rides, we see no one.

[Red Haired Girl]

GLC, ya beat me to it! I was just noticing that we shared the same state (although how they can sing a song about the "Old North State" with, oh, almost 40 others further north is beyond me... ). Anyway, I'm also in the center of the state, little town called Aberdeen (it staddles US1, about 60 miles south of Raleigh). The residents/denizens of Aberdeen rather like our little town...the rich folks right next door in Pinehurst probably consider Aberdeen to be 'the slums'. Fie on them!

Anyway, I live in LA (as in Lower Aberdeen), the historic part of town.

I'd love to ride with somebody else (with the understanding I'm relatively new to biking). At a guess I'd say we're a couple of hours apart. Is that too far?

Oh, there's a photo of me in my new bike gear on another thread...Red's First Ride in 10 Friggen Years.

Take care,
Lara

[NJBikeGal]

I must say that on the RARE occasion, you can find a guy who is actually nice and curteous! I was out on a ride with a local club known for dropping people off the back and not stopping for mechanicals. Less than 1/4 mile into a B+ level ride, I blew a flat. I stop on the side of the road and look up to see the entire pack speeding away up the road. I turn back to fixing my flat and two guys show up next to me to help. They proceeded to be my riding buddies for the next 36 miles. They were great guys who actually cared to stop and help and then ride with me! Funny note: later on, we caught up to and passed the group that had dropped us. They were fixing a flat!

[jobob]

I don't really expect people to wave or call out hello all the time. More often than not I'll just smile and nod to someone I encounter on a bike, and if they say hi or wave I'll do so in return. If I pass then I'll call out, and say a cheery good morning and maybe a "howya doing" if it's an older person or someone who appears to be new.

What I consider rude behavior is more along the lines of zooming by very close with no warning, particularly on a narrow road with oncoming traffic, or zipping around me at a stopsign or a stoplight.

[KSH]

He started counting the roadies that went by and how many returned waves to his beatiful, cute little girl who was so excited to see others on bikes like her. 65 roadies passed them - not one single wave.

Yea, roadies have a bad rep of not waving and saying hello.

I know for me, when I can, I try to wave out to kids and cheer them on if they are riding. I want to be "one of the good ones".

But if I don't... it's only because I'm trying to keep my hands on my bike/brakes... or I'm very tired or focused on what I'm doing. Sometimes, if I've had a hard ride, I am zoned out and not really thinking about anything else but pedaling.

And out on the open road, when I see other cyclists across the road... I might nod my head, but I usually don't wave. Then again, I see a lot on the road sometimes... and it gets old having to wave that much.

What I really hate is when a pack of fast cyclists come out of no where to pass our group, and never call anything out. We aren't expecting it, and BAM! there they are. They could at lease say something.

Thus, if our group comes up on slower cyclists enjoying a social ride around their neighborhood, I always try to say hi or something to them.

I just think it's OK to cut people slack if they don't wave or say Hello to me. Maybe they saw 10 cyclists before me... maybe they are too tired to lift a hand... maybe they are having a really bad ride and feeling like crap... or just breathing too hard to even think about someone waving at them.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Strange... everyone I pass always exchanges greetings or smiles or nods with me, roadie, non-roadie, man, women, kid, whatever they are. I live in a fairly rural area, with lots of bikers. Is it a city/rural thing maybe?

About half the time I ring my bell, ching-ching, just before I say Hi or smile, and I always seem to get a friendly response. But I get friendly responses when I don't ching too.
Maybe some people are not getting enough time to see a big smile or hear a big hello and respond to it before the opportunity is past?

[Cassandra_Cain]

My impression is this thread has become more focused on whether people 'wave back' or say 'hi'.

Well I think it is only fair that this isn't always possible or a big deal - waving back/saying hi I mean. Oftentimes there is a median or divider along the road and I am definitely not even bothering to look at a rider on the other side, 50 feet away! Sometimes, as has been mentioned you can be totally zeroed in on your ride (or too busy sucking wind!) to be waving at people.

What irks me about roadies is, among other things:

A) Unsafe passing - you know, they go by you like you are standing still and give you all of maybe 3 inches with absolutely no warning, nothing. So much as slight move by me in one direction or another, maybe to avoid glass or something on the road, and crash thanks to this type nonsense by others.

B) Not helpful at all - you have a mechanical or whatever and dozens of riders go by w/o so much as even glancing at you, much less asking if you need help. So much for a sense of community.

C) Bike clubs and group rides - Despite having lived in several states, countries and places, I've yet to see a bike club make any real effort to encourage newer riders. All they do is parrot the same old tunes....you'll get dropped, dropped, dropped, if you can't go 728 mph, ride a roadbike, and keep up.

I have far less of a problem with people not waving or whatever, than the 3 things above which to me are a much bigger deal.

So my conclusion is that roadies are, as a group, not much better than car drivers and motorists. It is all me, me, me.

Indivdually there are some great people, on this board for example, but on the road I don't expect it.

[CR400]

I try not to let it bother me if somebody doesn't wave. Another thing I thought of was most of the time I recognize people by their bikes not by face. So it could be they don't always recognize you because it is a different bike.
I have also been known to ride my road bike in a regular pair of shorts and a tee shirt even on training rides, so other roadies I see don't see it coming when I blow past them. You know all that she can't be a serious cyclist she isn't in spandex thing.

[mary9761]

I've actually experienced this in different degrees depending on what I was wearing etc. When I first started riding my Navigator, I didn't have the cycling clothes, I wore shorts and tanks/t's whatever I could find that fit. Very few would make eye contact with me.
After I made my own bike gear, the first time I was on a ride, I got a different reaction from riders. Many would smile or at least return a wave or eye contact. When I have stopped to HELP people in street clothes on "beaters" in my full gear, I get GLARES from road bikes and others just because I've stopped to help someone who wasn't dressed "right" or on the "right" kind of bike etc. This has happened more than once so I know it was/is a trend.
I've had minor problems and pulled over and few would even ask if I was ok, most of the time it was walkers etc.
Fast forward to me taking a Trek Pilot 1.2 onto the MONON for a test ride on the MONON, nearly EVERY rider that I waved to/spoke to etc reciprocated. I kicked the chain off while trying to shift gears and the chain was in a strange position, since it wasn't my bike, I was trying to be VERY careful not to scratch it. Several riders did pass me, but I did have a guy on a road bike stop to help me put the chain back on correctly.
I know from experience that partly due to the fact road bikes are MUCH faster than I am, I'm going to be riding solo. Some are at least friendly on club rides (now that I've been coming for a year regardless of my NOT being on a road bike) but there are still some that have laughed in my face for not being on a road bike.
I treat people the way I'd like to be treated or have someone in my family treated if they were on the trails/roads etc. I have no control over how others were raised or choose to behave.

[mary9761]

short thread hijack
velocilex, are you planning to ride the Hilly in a couple weeks? I'm planning on being there myself. This will be my second and I hope to ride both days this year.
End Hijack