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

[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

[velocilex]

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

Actually, to respond and make it not-so-much of a jack, my Special Cycling Buddy and I ride the Hilly Routes just about every week (especially the Sunday route), and will probably ride the Sunday route on Saturday this year on our own. We did the Hilly proper last year and will never do it again because there were so many people out there who had no idea what they were doing it was frightening (not to mention the fried chicken lunch on Saturday and the "Gosh, we ran out of food" lunch on Sunday). Talk about snobs on bikes. Every weekend for the past month we've been accosted by guys on Litespeeds and Orbeas and Kleins who have come down here to take over the roads while they "practice" for the Hilly Hundred. They're rude and disrespectful and make it difficult for the rest of us to maintain friendly relationships with the locals who live along the route-- people we have to encounter every week as neighbors. But I hope you have a great time, Mary! There's something profoundly rewarding about completing the ride-- and the Sunday ride is beautiful-- well worth getting out of bed for!

[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.

[SadieKate]

Warning, SadieKate is ranting again. A life lesson it’s taken a while to learn but made my rides so much more fun.

I think there are arguments on both sides of the waving issue. I also can get a little miffed over being ignored but I try not to expend anger and energy on it. I’ve realized over the years that everyone has their own agenda out on a ride and your expectations may not match up with the other riders’.

So s/he didn’t wave back? Were they perhaps lost in thought about a personal issue (such as a parent with recurring cancer or a child having problems in school). Are they riding sprint intervals and focused on maintaining a maximum pace? Are they chatting with someone else over a personal issue and listening to the friend’s response? Were they concentrating on a weird sound coming from their bike? From your car, do you wave at each and every driver on the road and expect them to wave back? The only time I see drivers wave at each other is rural farm roads. You do the one or two finger lift off the steering wheel and drive on. In the city (or on a crowded bike path), someone trying to wave at everyone becomes a nuisance and a danger because they aren’t concentrating on the congestion ahead.

My rides are so much more enjoyable since I’ve learned to laugh at people who actually look at you and then turn away but I don’t get angry or upset or call them names; they'd probably do the same thing in an elevator. I do call them names (and a-hole has definitely been the word of choice) if they do something unsafe which generally means they are riding the same direction as I. They pass on the right, pass too close, pass without warning, swerve in front of me, stop without warning, etc., etc., etc. Men and women are equally guilty.

This doesn’t mean you should stop waving but I hope you will become more sensitive to others’ agendas. As far as telling someone they should slow down and enjoy the ride more, why don’t you try a few rides with your legs screaming and your heart in your throat? Both have their place but you’ll find you can’t wave during the latter. You may also not be noticing the subtle finger wiggle from the bars. If you consistently expect more from me, I guess I’m an a-hole also. I fit the greeting or lack thereof to the circumstances of my chosen ride that day.

As far as the slams against men, both Mr. Jobob and Mr SadieKate are wavers par excellence. I’ve also been told by men that they are very careful about offering help to women because of the number of times they’ve been rudely snubbed. It’s a two-way street.

The upshot is, behave courteously but don’t get upset about a response that doesn’t meet your expectations. The other rider’s behavior isn’t necessarily wrong or discourteous but fits within their agenda for the day. Ride your own ride and find the zen of it.

PS - this in no way prevents me from maintaining the right to make sarcastic comments about people who look at you and then away, or wear earphones.

[Eden]

I would cut people some slack as well. I'm not sure about your area, but there are an abundace of cyclists around here. After seeing multiple threads on this and other boards about this same topic I decided to count the number of cyclists that I encountered one night. The ride was about 28 miles, with part of it being on the road and part on a dedicated bike/walk trail. I counted about 200 cyclists coming towards me that night. I didn't even count those that I passed. I did not wave or say hi to each and every one of them and I really don't think that makes me a snobby roadie. I will certainly reciprocate if someone waves and I if I see someone with a mechanical problem I will ask if they need any help, but I honestly don't think that I need to personally greet all 200 or so folks that I see in an hour and a half's ride even if we do share the commonality of riding a bike.

[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]

Actually, to respond and make it not-so-much of a jack, my Special Cycling Buddy and I ride the Hilly Routes just about every week (especially the Sunday route), and will probably ride the Sunday route on Saturday this year on our own. We did the Hilly proper last year and will never do it again because there were so many people out there who had no idea what they were doing it was frightening (not to mention the fried chicken lunch on Saturday and the "Gosh, we ran out of food" lunch on Sunday). Talk about snobs on bikes. Every weekend for the past month we've been accosted by guys on Litespeeds and Orbeas and Kleins who have come down here to take over the roads while they "practice" for the Hilly Hundred. They're rude and disrespectful and make it difficult for the rest of us to maintain friendly relationships with the locals who live along the route-- people we have to encounter every week as neighbors. But I hope you have a great time, Mary! There's something profoundly rewarding about completing the ride-- and the Sunday ride is beautiful-- well worth getting out of bed for!

I worked the Saturday Chicken lunch last year and I was in AWE of the numbers of people participating. If you saw a silly woman dancing behind the chicken line making a fool of herself, that was me. I was having a BLAST. I agree the running out of food on Sunday was awful, that was the day I got to ride and all they had left was as we called them 'GRASS SANDWICHES'. At the same stop, we had to ask where the water was, they were actually taking the tents down when we got there LONG before they were supposed to be closed.
I must agree the Sunday route is absolutely gorgeous! I only did the 40 mile route as it was my first Hilly and I'd only been riding a few months, but I'm really hoping to do much better this year. We don't have hills like those down there in Indy here, but I'm getting better at the larger ones I've encountered here, so I'm hoping to ride more than I walk this year.

[silver]

Hi there! I'm riding the Hilly this year! Let's try to meet!!! I was out there riding last Thursday and didn't meet another "roadie" at until I rode back into Bloomington.

And to tie in with the thread he was in full Bacardi kit and I followed him for a few blocks and he never acknowledged me. And I was in "real" cycling clothes and on a Trek bike (admittedly an entry level 1000)

[slinkedog]

Warning, SadieKate is ranting again. A life lesson it’s taken a while to learn but made my rides so much more fun.

I think there are arguments on both sides of the waving issue. I also can get a little miffed over being ignored but I try not to expend anger and energy on it. I’ve realized over the years that everyone has their own agenda out on a ride and your expectations may not match up with the other riders’.

So s/he didn’t wave back? Were they perhaps lost in thought about a personal issue (such as a parent with recurring cancer or a child having problems in school). Are they riding sprint intervals and focused on maintaining a maximum pace? Are they chatting with someone else over a personal issue and listening to the friend’s response? Were they concentrating on a weird sound coming from their bike? From your car, do you wave at each and every driver on the road and expect them to wave back? The only time I see drivers wave at each other is rural farm roads. You do the one or two finger lift off the steering wheel and drive on. In the city (or on a crowded bike path), someone trying to wave at everyone becomes a nuisance and a danger because they aren’t concentrating on the congestion ahead.

My rides are so much more enjoyable since I’ve learned to laugh at people who actually look at you and then turn away but I don’t get angry or upset or call them names; they'd probably do the same thing in an elevator. I do call them names (and a-hole has definitely been the word of choice) if they do something unsafe which generally means they are riding the same direction as I. They pass on the right, pass too close, pass without warning, swerve in front of me, stop without warning, etc., etc., etc. Men and women are equally guilty.

This doesn’t mean you should stop waving but I hope you will become more sensitive to others’ agendas. As far as telling someone they should slow down and enjoy the ride more, why don’t you try a few rides with your legs screaming and your heart in your throat? Both have their place but you’ll find you can’t wave during the latter. You may also not be noticing the subtle finger wiggle from the bars. If you consistently expect more from me, I guess I’m an a-hole also. I fit the greeting or lack thereof to the circumstances of my chosen ride that day.

As far as the slams against men, both Mr. Jobob and Mr SadieKate are wavers par excellence. I’ve also been told by men that they are very careful about offering help to women because of the number of times they’ve been rudely snubbed. It’s a two-way street.

The upshot is, behave courteously but don’t get upset about a response that doesn’t meet your expectations. The other rider’s behavior isn’t necessarily wrong or discourteous but fits within their agenda for the day. Ride your own ride and find the zen of it.

PS - this in no way prevents me from maintaining the right to make sarcastic comments about people who look at you and then away, or wear earphones.

SK, I love you.

[sarahannecycle]

I know when I first was on the road, I'd wave and say hi to everyone. That was part of my focus, seeing others out riding, and being thrilled to be a part of it. I'm in no way an expert rider now, but I am more focused, and sometimes I just forget until the person's already past me. I agree with pp that being startled by someone speeding by is the worst part, and I really try to make some noise (you know, say hello or on your right or whatever) when I'm coming up on people because that's scary for me. Now I'll nod at someone if I catch their eye, but I do wonder if they notice b/c our bodies do jiggle on bumps or whatever- maybe it's too subtle, but usually it's what I've got in me.

I think now, for me, it's a little more about belonging to a subgroup which is spandex clad on road bikes, and faster and identifying with what those people are doing. I ride a scooter too, and when I'm putting along with my little helmet I am much more likely to smile or nod at people who have scooters like mine, esp if they are also wearing a helmet. I almost am never acknowledged by a harley, crotch rocket or big motorcycle rider ESP if they aren't wearing a helmet. I'm just not "serious" to them. I am certain that I noticed this a lot more when I started riding that too, and now, if I catch the person's eye, I'll nod but I'm usually thinking about how great it is to be out solo and free!

I think people just like to see other people doing what they're doing-- it's connection (and of course there are plenty of snobby people out there too).

If I'm friendly or smile to a woman with a baby and I don't have my baby with me, it's just a different kind of reception. The list goes on.

If I see a group of women riding, usually what I'm thinking is "How did you find each other!!!???? and can I come with??" I also usually have a **** eating grin on my face, because they are out there too. Guys on bikes are just a given, so I pay less attention to them.

[SalsaMTB]

DH and I have sort of experienced the opposite when it comes to roadie vs. mountain biker. Waving, I would say about half wave back, half don't. I don't always wave though, sometimes I just want to focus and ride. I'll see someone on the other side of the street in the corner of my eye, but I don't focus on them, I focus on my path.

When I say though I've experienced the opposite I mean more in times of need. I was on a road ride w/ dh and others on my mountain bike and got a flat. I stopped to fix it as they went ahead. Every single roadie who passed slowed down to ask and I was OK and/or needed help. Every single one. Then, DH was on his way back and saw I was still working on it so he took over and I continued on his bike. Every single roadie that passed him also asked if he was OK. We were both talking about how nice all the roadies were when we were trying to fix the flat on our mountain bike.

On the other hand, DH crashed hard on one of the trails. Only one of many riders asked if he was OK, and it was more of a "you better say yes because I'm not slowing down" are you OK. Dh was sitting on the side of the trail, sans shoe, arms and legs bleeding, and his bike was on the other side of the trail. No one stopped to check on him. The one guy who did ask, didn't slow down and proceeded to tell him he better move his sunglasses because they're in the middle of the trail and might get run over. As Dh limped back to the trailhead with his bike, going the wrong way, still no one asked.

So, based on those experiences, I sort of think the roadies are nicer when it's needed. Sure they might not wave every time, but if you're stopped on the side of the road, they'll check up on ya. Can't say the same for the mountain bikers...