What dumb stuff have men said to YOU since taking up cycling???

[bikerchick68]

I guess there's ALWAYS a bright side... while this is somewhat appalling it's also pretty darned funny...I keep going between being annoyed and amused.

So, Friday night I'm out on a first date with another guy from the online sight I joined... he's spent most of the evening talking about himself... but finally asks about my interests and specifically about my ride the week before (Lighthouse Century)... so I describe the beautiful day, the scenery and all the amazing wildlife we saw, including the whale....

I finish and he says, "Yeah, I can tell you ride a lot..." I said, "Oh?" and he says...... "Your legs are like tree trunks. You look really good!"

uhhhhh.... HOW do you respond to that. I just sat there with my mouth open while Mr. Oblivious continued the conversation, obviously believing he'd just given me a wonderful compliment.

TREE TRUNKS???? There are SO many other adjectives.... well sculpted, nicely toned, muscular quads... the best thing he could come up with was "tree trunks"... sheesh. Now I feel like an abnormality. Look, I KNOW I'm not skinny... but I think my legs, despite being large, look pretty rock solid thank you.

yeah, annoyed and amused all at once is a weird feeling.

So, what DUMB stuff have men said to YOU since taking up cycling???

[SalsaMTB]

Tree Trunks...that's great! I love guys compliments, sometimes guys just don't think. Mine isn't really cycling related, but my husband on multiple occasions has complimented my chest my comparing it to golf balls, tennis balls, or small handfuls (obviously I wasn't blessed with a large chest). He means well and I just take it like that!!

I'm sure he meant well with the tree trunks comment (rather off the wall though), so just try to be flattered by it!

[Grog]

The guy I had been living with for the past two years and who introduced me to cycling (actually it's more like his family did but he likes to take the credit for it) left me at the end of June. The breakup is not cycling related, but I was quite sure it annoyed him that I had gotten quite passionate about it, and possibily more knowledgeable than he was on the topic.

In August he announced to me that he was going out with some other girl. I know her, she's not really sporty so I made some smarty comment about taking her camping. He replied that maybe he'd convince her (or something like that), but then added: "I will not let her buy a bike though."

Now, to borrow from a recent tread, "that's a guy who's not very safe about his masculinity!"

[Trek420]

bikerchick68 "So, what DUMB stuff have men said to YOU since taking up cycling???"

bikerchick....unfortunately.....it's.....not...just...guys what is it about this sport that some folks have such a hard time with? While some may express it better ahem but what I'm hearing is "love the legs, can't understand why you do this".

Sorry folks, legs like this don't grow on trees (pun intended) they take maintenance

[profàvélo]

I went for a nice ride with my girlfriends one Saturday recently, one of our usual routes. On our way home, there's a gentle but sort of long climb that I really love if I'm feeling good. So I was feeling good and moving right along...and up ahead were two men. (Personally, there's nothing more motivating on a climb than seeing a man I think I can pass.) So I cruise past them, saying hello as I go. The first guy says, "That's not fair," and I respond, "What do you mean?" No further response. The other guy just says hello.

So my girlfriends and I regroup, and we drop one off at a popular starting point for the ride we'd just done, and the two guys I had dropped show up. The one who whined "not fair" said, with no provocation whatsoever, that he was not having a good day because he had just given and pint and a half of blood on Thursday.

Right. Last I checked, most blood banks take only a pint. Now, I realize that giving blood does, in fact, affect your body for several days. But it's such a male thing (I think) to have to justify being passed or dropped. The women I ride with tend to compliment the strong riding of others, not give excuses for why they are being dropped.

Anybody else notice this difference?

[Irulan]

he first guy says, "That's not fair," and I respond, "What do you mean?" No further response.

LOL, you "chicked" him and he couldn't handle it.

[Pedal Wench]

My guy did something similar. We were on a trip, sitting on the airplane with a stranger next to us. My BF said something along the lines that I could power up the hills with my 'thunder thighs'. I could see the guy next to us just squirming, then start laughing and he wondered out loud something about seeing how my guy was gonna get out of this one!

On the flip side, I was doing a century a few weeks ago, and one of the SAG guys said something like I didn't look like a century rider. What the heck does that mean? I had no comeback, but my BF said that neither did the SAG guy! He recovered by saying that I was looking all fresh and happy. Yeah, whatever.

[SadieKate]

I have never decided whether this was a stupid action or not, but last year while I was riding a very narrow singletrack I pulled over for a couple of guys to pass me. When I'm on a narrow ledge I hate having someone behind me so I had called back to them that I'd pull over as soon as I could.

As they passed, the last one said "Thanks, sweetheart!" Normally, I would bristle at an absolute stranger, a male, calling me sweetheart especially in a athletic activity. For some reason, the way he said it just made me laugh. Both guys were quite a bit younger than I so I just reasoned that from the rear I don't look as old as I think I do.

I told my group about the story and they spent the rest of the day calling me sweetheart. It was pretty silly.

[WarriorPrncs]

[QUOTE=bikerchick68]I finish and he says, "Yeah, I can tell you ride a lot..." I said, "Oh?" and he says...... "Your legs are like tree trunks. You look really good!"

I've never had anyone say that to me or about me, but some guys who were painting our house said that about my husband's legs. He came back from a mountain bike ride and they where talking to him about riding, etc. and then turned to me and said "man he has legs like tree trunks"! He has really buffed legs so I think you can take that as a compliment.

MEN, they have no clue when it comes to complimenting!

[Kimred]

Not a guy but one of my Best Girl Friends actually made a comment to someone that I wore black "spandex" cycling shorts because I thought I looked hot in them. She's clueless to the sport and does not know that they actually serve all kinds of purpose to the sport! Ughhh female friends who do not cycle can be so annoying of our "obsession" as most of my friends like to tell me.

Tree Trunks are strong and solid I would rather be given that comp than alot of other things legs could look like~Jello? Men, they are good for laugh are'nt they?

Kim

[Nanci]

My aunt once told me that "piano legs" run in the family...

Nanci

[texas_emily]

I've never had a "tree trunk legs"-like comment, but my personal favorite happened on the Houston to Austin MS150. I had just come down a hill and was cruising along a flat when I passed a heavy set middle aged man. He turned to me and said, "I just don't understand how a little girl on a *seafoam green* Bi-AN-chi could be passing me."

While I wanted to tell him that it was celeste, thank you, and it might have something to do with riding on a regular basis, I just said, "Well, it's a pretty fast bike," and then I left him in the dust.

[KSH]

"Your legs are like tree trunks. You look really good!"

You needed to tell that stupid man that calling a women's legs "tree trunks" is NOT a compliment. Gesh. Men can be so dense sometimes. No offense... but if he's about the age of 25... I would wonder about his social skills.

This is not cycling related... but I had a man on the street (in New Orlens) tell me, "Uuummm girl, you got some meat on your bones".

Now mind you, at the time, I was at my heaviest, 5'4" and 128 pounds. So, I stopped and politely explained to him that telling me that... was NOT a compliment. I was cool about it... and we had a good laugh... but he needed to be set straight.


Cycling related... I saw my sister after a year... and in that year I have taken up triathlons, and cycling. When she saw me changing... she says, "Your legs are huge!". I didn't really comment... but dang...

[latelatebloomer]

I've heard a lot of dumb, dumb, DUMB!! stuff, because most people think "thin = in shape, large = couch potato." Sometimes, after a week that included 3 days of weightlifting, 2 or 3 days of spinning, riding on the road and a tough yoga class, a male friend has suggested I try "Curves." Or a neighbor asks if I ever considered walking a couple times a weel as a way to begin to lose weight. I hear less of it now (maybe because the muscle layer is beginning to win out?), but when it happens it burns me up or devastates me for a few breaths. Then I contemplate how far I've come, and what I know to be true. Way too many people assume that if you're large, you're sedentary, and if you're doing the right things, you will become thin. Some of us will never be thin no matter how hard we work out and how careful we are about our eating habits. As I understand it, we are called "Athena's!"

[runnergirl]

Men can be really dense.

"You're fast for a girl" or "Hey, you're still with us" when I pull through after a hill-it's not really a compliment, I know they mean well, but it seriously gets old. I'm not that fast, there just aren't any other women here.

The dirty old men in the club regularly comment on my *** (or the riding behind it part), but the racing team guys are gentlemen enough to not say anything. No one has ever made a comment that could be negatively construed, maybe they know if they did I would go seriously apes**t.