So rude - why?

Peddle Up!

Whenever I'm out for a ride I always acknowledge other cyclists with a nod, or a couple of words, depending on how we are passing. Most respond in kind, but there are always a few (three today :evil: ) who seem to almost stick their noses in the air and refuse to reciprocate. Why? I know there are rude and arrogant b'stards in all walks of life but my experience of cycling is that people are generally friendly and always up for chat.

Rant over.

ShutUpLegs

Maybe they just didn't see you.

MattC59

Perhaps they were mulling over the merits of using WD40 on their chain, wearing a helmet and debating the same point over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.........

woodywmb

Could have been some of this lot. You would think they would have seen their way to at least a nod.http://www.southportgb.co.uk/southport/ ... 767133.htm

jamienorton

MTBing or riding canal ect, ill usually give em a nod. But on the roads im less likely to tbh, combination of lack of road experience, so im focused on the road ahead and the cars around, especially unfamilier roads, and the speed of passes, by the time ive seen the cyclist on the other side of the road we have usually already passed. Narrow country lanes id acknowledge them, but tbh i dont feel upset if i dont get a response. So we both ride bikes in funny clothes doesnt mean were bffs.

Flexisurfer

Not saying that I condone rudness but perhaps you passed 3 people that spend all week saying hello and being polite and as soon as they get into their own little world on the bike they can lose themselves and not have to be polite.

Just a thought.

secretsqizz

God almighty , this is such a Sunday thread.........
OP, just ride ffs

RoadMeridaBen

Does irritate me a bit, but a few weeks ago I was riding my local route and about 5 miles into the ride I caught a group of cyclists (training for ironman :roll: ) obviously as I passed them two of them decide to prove themselves to the group and try to catch me, so for a bit of fun I let them catch me to see if I could drop them or if they could hold the pace.

After about quater of a mile the two of them eventually caught up and there was a brief discussion about the upcoming rugby match, what club we cycled for and what we were training for, this is a reasonably busy road so I wasnt fond of the idea of cycling two abreast and the next thing i know his mate gets in on the action and suddenly we are 3 abreast on the busy A road they obviously didnt think anything of it (I felt we looked like idiots 3 abreast in busy traffic) so I decided to give it some welly and dropped them on the first hill.

This being a sunday ride the idea was to keep my HR low around 138-140 so I slowed down after the hill and took a look back to see them both sprinting to catch up, so the same happened again with neither opting for a turn on the front and again I lost them on the next uphill, this time one of the guys obviously couldnt handle the pace and the fitter of the two was left on my wheel, remaining silent as if he wasnt even there so at this point this guy has been on my wheel for 13 miles at around 20-21mph into a slight headwind without doing a single turn, so I got pee'd off and gave a shake of the elbow for him to take his turn.

There was no response so I pulled out and jumped on his wheel, all of a sudden the speed goes from 20 down to 15 he starts faffing with his water bottle, his jacket and everything else, this being a training ride for me I get annoyed and am straight back on the front within the space of a minute, He's then straight back on my wheel up to speed again for another 6 miles, I knew there was about a mile and a half before my turning so I gave the signal for him to do his turn, again nothing so I pulled out and dropped onto his wheel and again we are down to 15 mph!

So for those wheelsuckers that want a free ride DO YOUR FUCKING TURN! (End of rant) and slightly off topic
Also sorry for writing a book about this :P

Thats rude in my opinion

ShutUpLegs

Wheelsucking is our rite

gog555

I had a great one today. I was going past someone so said morning and his reply was "I think you`ll find it`s afternoon you T**T". Probally only about 12:30 at this point.

zippy483

All very pleasant today even the cheery chap the shouted hello as he blew past me like I was stood still

now that really was rude

RoadMeridaBen

ShutUpLegs wrote:

Wheelsucking is our rite

Not if your unable to do a turn yourself and keep the same pace :P

desweller

Peddle Up! wrote:

Whenever I'm out for a ride I always acknowledge other cyclists with a nod, or a couple of words, depending on how we are passing. Most respond in kind, but there are always a few (three today :evil: ) who seem to almost stick their noses in the air and refuse to reciprocate. Why? I know there are rude and arrogant b'stards in all walks of life but my experience of cycling is that people are generally friendly and always up for chat.

Rant over.

It's cos you're ugly.

Monty Dog

20 years ago, I'd be inclined to agree, but with the growth in cycling there's just so many riders on the road these days it's almost impossible to keep up. However I do exchange 'pleasantries' when passing or being passed.

Secteur

How come this has never been discussed here before?

ShutUpLegs

Secteur wrote:

How come this has never been discussed here before?

Everyone is training for Sportives

Cool4catz

I try to avoid acknowledging people on mtb's, girls, children under 16, people who don't wear helmets, gits with more expnsive bikes than me, people in lycra who don't have a bike with them, cyclists that go faster than me, those strange people on the other side of the road, sods that go downhill when I'm going up hill, people who wear helmets and old people in motorised four wheel bikes. Other than that I always acknowledge people on bikes (except at weekends and leap years of course).

neeb

I reckon some people who you think are being rude are actually acknowledging you, but doing it with such a minimalist twitch of the finger just at the point you are blinking that you miss it. Conversely, I sometimes acknowledge people with a raised 3 or 4 fingers and a slight nod, and then when they wave dramatically at me 2 seconds later I worry that they've missed my gesture and think I'm being rude by not responding.

RonB

ShutUpLegs wrote:

Secteur wrote:

How come this has never been discussed here before?

Everyone is training for Sportives

Everyone is trying to win Sportives surely

kamil1891

RonB wrote:

ShutUpLegs wrote:

Secteur wrote:

How come this has never been discussed here before?

Everyone is training for Sportives

Everyone is trying to win Sportives surely

I can win the same sportive every week (the signage has still remained from past years... but I don't think that's legal though, so they should ban them all) ...

oldwelshman

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Does irritate me a bit, but a few weeks ago I was riding my local route and about 5 miles into the ride I caught a group of cyclists (training for ironman :roll: ) obviously as I passed them two of them decide to prove themselves to the group and try to catch me, so for a bit of fun I let them catch me to see if I could drop them or if they could hold the pace.

After about quater of a mile the two of them eventually caught up and there was a brief discussion about the upcoming rugby match, what club we cycled for and what we were training for, this is a reasonably busy road so I wasnt fond of the idea of cycling two abreast and the next thing i know his mate gets in on the action and suddenly we are 3 abreast on the busy A road they obviously didnt think anything of it (I felt we looked like idiots 3 abreast in busy traffic) so I decided to give it some welly and dropped them on the first hill.

This being a sunday ride the idea was to keep my HR low around 138-140 so I slowed down after the hill and took a look back to see them both sprinting to catch up, so the same happened again with neither opting for a turn on the front and again I lost them on the next uphill, this time one of the guys obviously couldnt handle the pace and the fitter of the two was left on my wheel, remaining silent as if he wasnt even there so at this point this guy has been on my wheel for 13 miles at around 20-21mph into a slight headwind without doing a single turn, so I got pee'd off and gave a shake of the elbow for him to take his turn.

There was no response so I pulled out and jumped on his wheel, all of a sudden the speed goes from 20 down to 15 he starts faffing with his water bottle, his jacket and everything else, this being a training ride for me I get annoyed and am straight back on the front within the space of a minute, He's then straight back on my wheel up to speed again for another 6 miles, I knew there was about a mile and a half before my turning so I gave the signal for him to do his turn, again nothing so I pulled out and dropped onto his wheel and again we are down to 15 mph!

So for those wheelsuckers that want a free ride DO YOUR ******* TURN! (End of rant) and slightly off topic
Also sorry for writing a book about this :P

Thats rude in my opinion

Wow your such a good rider
Ypu obviously passed them and two of them had to prove to their mates they could catch you? Why make this assumption? How do you know they were not just pootling along and got pissed with you for riding past ?
Oh and you were keeping hr low at 140 whilst riding into a head wind at 20/21mph. Have you woken up out of your dream yet?
I look forward to you winning the iron man your riding
Funny I seem to have ridden with quite a few people training for iron man or triathlons recently and all seem very similar how they train, one pace, no intervals, no rest period and no flat out efforts, then they wonder why they cant keep up when they enter a real bike race
Anyway I always wave and acknowledge riders, young old, on race bikes or shopping bike, even tria atheletes ;-)

CiB

There are few things more irksome than every manjack cyclist wanting to wave and garner some recognition back from me based on nothing more than us sharing an enjoyment of bicycling. I don't mind the odd one or two but when the 250th bloke this morning thinks that I'm somehow keen to do yet another acknowledgement of rider after 3½ hours in the saddle and a few hills too many and I'd actually rather be back home by now but have just ran out of enthusiasm for this cycling malarkey, another cheeery grin & a wave isn't top of my list of things I want to do.

See also INR. You might be missing something.

kamil1891

oldwelshman wrote:

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Does irritate me a bit, but a few weeks ago I was riding my local route and about 5 miles into the ride I caught a group of cyclists (training for ironman :roll: ) obviously as I passed them two of them decide to prove themselves to the group and try to catch me, so for a bit of fun I let them catch me to see if I could drop them or if they could hold the pace.

After about quater of a mile the two of them eventually caught up and there was a brief discussion about the upcoming rugby match, what club we cycled for and what we were training for, this is a reasonably busy road so I wasnt fond of the idea of cycling two abreast and the next thing i know his mate gets in on the action and suddenly we are 3 abreast on the busy A road they obviously didnt think anything of it (I felt we looked like idiots 3 abreast in busy traffic) so I decided to give it some welly and dropped them on the first hill.

This being a sunday ride the idea was to keep my HR low around 138-140 so I slowed down after the hill and took a look back to see them both sprinting to catch up, so the same happened again with neither opting for a turn on the front and again I lost them on the next uphill, this time one of the guys obviously couldnt handle the pace and the fitter of the two was left on my wheel, remaining silent as if he wasnt even there so at this point this guy has been on my wheel for 13 miles at around 20-21mph into a slight headwind without doing a single turn, so I got pee'd off and gave a shake of the elbow for him to take his turn.

There was no response so I pulled out and jumped on his wheel, all of a sudden the speed goes from 20 down to 15 he starts faffing with his water bottle, his jacket and everything else, this being a training ride for me I get annoyed and am straight back on the front within the space of a minute, He's then straight back on my wheel up to speed again for another 6 miles, I knew there was about a mile and a half before my turning so I gave the signal for him to do his turn, again nothing so I pulled out and dropped onto his wheel and again we are down to 15 mph!

So for those wheelsuckers that want a free ride DO YOUR ******* TURN! (End of rant) and slightly off topic
Also sorry for writing a book about this :P

Thats rude in my opinion

Wow your such a good rider
Ypu obviously passed them and two of them had to prove to their mates they could catch you? Why make this assumption? How do you know they were not just pootling along and got pissed with you for riding past ?
Oh and you were keeping hr low at 140 whilst riding into a head wind at 20/21mph. Have you woken up out of your dream yet?
I look forward to you winning the iron man your riding
Funny I seem to have ridden with quite a few people training for iron man or triathlons recently and all seem very similar how they train, one pace, no intervals, no rest period and no flat out efforts, then they wonder why they cant keep up when they enter a real bike race
Anyway I always wave and acknowledge riders, young old, on race bikes or shopping bike, even tria atheletes ;-)

Road Beginners you know..

Peddle Up!

It seems I've inadvertently become a troll poster! Better stop now before someone demonstrates Goodwin's Law.

Lossie Loon

It's always nice to give a smile or other acknowledgement to others who share your hobby when you meet them. It just makes the world seem a friendlier place - I don't care if you've met just one other cyclist or have encountered 250 that day. I don't overly care if someone doesn't appear to acknowledge you back, but it is nice when someone does.

It's hardly a thing confined to cycling either - I enjoy walking in the country or up in the hills, and will always say hello to others I encounter. Most at least say hello back. As for the others, they aren't worth worrying about.

Basically, just carry on being nice. The majority of people are nice.

CiB

The relative speeds involved in walking either past or towards another walker are such that it's impossible not to say hello, and a good thing it is too. On a bike though? Head down, going for it, and OP is getting a bit uppity because his mates won't wave at him? I think it's a bit much to expect it all the time. I've no problem doing it, and usually do first, but it's not the end of my world of I don't get a response and that's what OP has posted for - that he considers it rude not to have a reciprocal wave. Wave at sheep instead. Sheep always look pleased to be waved at. Try it.

markyone

Wave and smile at cyclist or a good morning if i pass them.
Some ignore me but so what,at least i made the effort.

rick_chasey

OP has clearly not ridden round Richmond park on a sunny weekend around 12 o'clock.

springtide9

I will generally try and acknowledge people.

I occasionally wear a Camelpak - which obviously limits who will respond to a wave. Also ride an MTB, and on my way to the off-road sections, I will always make a point of acknowledging Roadies, some do respond, others just look horrified!

As previous posts, I think people generally acknowledge other cyclists either on the way out, or when they have got back.... which is unsurprising, since when you are swearing at yourself to push a bit harder mid way through that big hill, a wave from a fellow cyclist is not always welcomed.

But similarly, I try not to take it personally if a wave isn't acknowledged.

Rigga

Were they riding orange fives? Blame wiggle etc etc...

ptr_

secretsqizz wrote:

God almighty , this is such a Sunday thread.........
OP, just ride ffs

This.

I nod to other roadies when I'm out in the middle of no where and don't expect to see another cyclist, other than that I can't be ars*d.

OP, I bet you're one of those people that would nod whilst doing laps of Richmond Park on a Saturday morning.