turning a blind eye

[Tri Girl]

blind eye turners suck!

I always ask people on the side of the road/trail if they need help with a flat, even if I can see they have the things they need. Just in case.

I once needed help (my CO2 inflator wouldn't work and I couldn't pump my tire). Not one of the dozen or so people who passed me said anything. I eventually walked my bike 5 miles back to my car.

I would most definitely stop if someone had crashed. I stopped once during a tri to help someone who had crashed badly. Screw the race- it's more important to be a human being.

[soprano]

Out in the rural areas, I stop. When I've been on tour by myself and stopped to rest or eat, other cyclists *always* stopped. It's a great way to meet people

I have yet to come across an injured and alone cyclist, thank goodness.

Riding for transportation here in town, I don't always stop when I see someone with mechanical trouble. There are 6 bike shops along my 5 mile commute. We have a good bus system and cab service. Cyclists who can't or don't feel like doing the repair on the spot have multiple options to get where they are going; most of the university students aren't going very far in any case. If the stopped cyclist looks upset, I stop and see if I can help. However, if he or she looks calm and is walking with purpose, I figure that the situation is under control and generally I go on. When I've had flats, I seem to get the same treatment. If I've already got the wheel off and my hands dirty, a few people might stop to see if I've got everything I need. When I got a flat and decided to walk it out to the shop (not wanting to sit down on a muddy curb) tons of people stopped to make sure I was all right.

[channlluv]

I've had two bad crashes. The first, my husband and daughter were with me, so I had immediate assistance - I had blacked out briefly, but DH got me back on my bike pretty quickly and helped me get the wounds cleaned up and handled when we got home. I tried not to bleed all over the car. Serious road rash.

The second crash happened in the parking lot as I was dismounting and trying not to crash into my car while trying to figure out those da*n pedal cage strappy things. Oy-vey. I landed hard and heard two women behind me laughing at me. It was pretty embarrassing. I unhooked my trapped foot and got the bike off me enough to get up, then looked around at them. "Uh, are you okay?" one of them asked when she realized I'd heard her and her girlfriend laughing at me. "Yeah, nothing bruised by my ego."

I lied, of course. When I got home and checked my hip, it looked like I'd sat in purple paint.


As for me stopping, I came up on a young mother with a toddler in a back-of-the-bike seat and a three-year-old who'd crashed her little training wheel bike into a sticker bush/cactus off the paved path. The little girl was screaming, the baby was crying, and the mom was frantically trying to calm them both down. Luckily, I had a first aid kit in my bag and I had a clean water bottle, too, so I had her cleaned up quick, and we used the adhesive tape from the medkit to pull out the stickers, then I put Neosporin on her scrapes. The mom was so grateful. I was just happy to help, and I told her that if my own daughter was ever in trouble like that, I'd hope someone would stop to help her, too.

I can't believe people get so caught up in their own ride they pass without even inquiring if someone needs help.

Roxy

[Catrin]

I always ask when I see someone standing at the side of the road with their bike - especially if they are alone. Even if they are with someone I have asked - and both times it turned out one of them needed to use my air pump as their CO2 cartridge wasn't working for them and the other cyclist had neither cartridge nor pump.

Every time I've been passed by a cyclist when I have been standing at the side of the road with my bike they have asked me if I needed help, which I thought was nice. I do tend to ride in rural areas so I don't know if this makes a difference.

[KnottedYet]

Badger, I am so sorry your experience was like that!

I always stop, or at least ask if someone needs anything. (If they are on the cell I don't bother them. Either they've just stopped to make the call or they are calling back up, whichever, I don't interrupt their phone call.)

I've given out spare tubes, lent my pump, my tire levers, allen wrench, etc. Usually while I'm helping someone several other cyclists will call out "Got everything?" as they go by.

Women have complained to me that men are patronizing and belittling womankind if they offer help while a woman is working on a mechanical; but honestly I think offering help or tools is just the standard around here among all adult cyclists, male or female.

[OakLeaf]

Man, that's awful. I always stop, or at least exchange thumbs up, and I've had people stop for me before. Bici or moto. Unless someone's on the phone and obviously uninjured, then I'll figure they have things under control.

Even on an organized ride, I stopped, offered a tandem couple my chain tool (they declined, they had apparently had who knows how many mechanicals already and were just fed up and ready to take the sag) - and then I rode on to the next support vehicle and made sure that they knew the couple was back there.

Most embarrassing time I was the recipient of the offer of help was when I got a flat on the bike path. I couldn't get my CO2 inflater to work (turns out it wasn't me, it was a wonky head that I eventually threw out), so I was using my mini pump, which takes forever under the best of circumstances; and the first time I hadn't got the tire bead seated properly, so I had to deflate it and do it all over again. I had just started pumping the first time when a guy on a TT bike threw an offer of help over his shoulder. Twenty minutes later, after he'd been to the end of the bike path and back, he came back the other direction and again asked if I needed anything. "Same flat?" he asked incredulously (and I'm sure he thought I really did need help and was just too proud to accept).

[Bike Chick]

That's terrible that no one stopped to help. I always ask if they need help when someone is stopped and have had others do the same--even in a triathlon. Several years ago, I came upon a young woman in a charity ride that had dropped her chain during a tough climb. I stopped at the top of the hill and walked back down to see if she was okay and found her in tears. It was her first ride with her new bike and her husband was way out front with the guys (this I could relate to) and she hadn't a clue what to do. I helped her get her chain on and finished the ride with her. We became friends and rode together at several local rides after that.

Maybe it's because of the rural area I live in but that's just not ever been an issue around here.

[marni]

about the only time this ever came up for debate, and even then it was just joshing back and forth was when I was on the Southern Tier and climbing Emerson pass with another rider. Some crazy driver came down the barely two lane wide extremely winding road above the stream 300 feet below, swung wide on a turn after they had passed us, narrowly missing, barely made the turn we had just completed. We spent the next 1000 feet of climb debating what the moral obligation would be if the car had gone off the edge. Would we have felt morally obligated to ride back down the 1,000 feet, scramble down to the wreck site , and render aidknowing that we would then have to reclimb the 1,000 feet plus the rest of the pass? The general consensus was that we would dial 911 report the accident and hope that someone coming up the hill would stop, and or that we would think twice about rendering aid to said idiot in the spirit of "ok you idiot, out of the gene pool." But it was all in fun and really we were just trying to take our minds off the climb and and the gasping along at 3 mph .

In all other cases I have and always will inquire if everything is ok and will always try to render whatever help I can offer. It's just good Karma, and passing along what others have done for me.