Insulting compliments

[lauraelmore1033]

So many of you hit it right on the head with your comments and expressed exactly what I was feeling! Now I do feel better. I will always hear, "nice job, fat lady, but I'm still faster than you", and I should really just learn to take these comments as they were intended. and too, I should remember that when I offer words of encouragement to someone else, it is often something I need to hear myself.
Dh, who is a much faster climber than I am, also found himself exasperated by well meaning words of encouragement on the same ride. He would get way ahead on the climb, and as he was waiting paitiently for me, people descending would say, "you're almost there, don't give up yet!". He told me that he was going to throw a rock at the next person who told him not to give up!

Oh, that health club thing drives me crazy, GLC!

[ny biker]

I am frequently amazed by the clueslessness of people working in health clubs. It's best to ignore them as much as possible.

I'm also pretty sure that there are very few people in this world who intentionally insult strangers on bike rides, or anywhere else for that matter. If someone really does feel the need to point out that they are better than you, it means that deep down they are horribly insecure and probably full of self-loathing, so you should feel sorry for them.

But despite being a rather cynical person I believe in almost every case people are just trying to be friendly. And in general I think that's better than a world where people ignore each other.