Silly Commuter Bromance/Womance

mrc1

So building on the Romance thread, how many people have made a proper friend on their commute (not including friends through the forum that happen to have the same route as you)?

When I lived in Battersea and commuted to Holborn there was one bloke I used to see pretty regularly and had a sort of unspoken battle with every time we say each other. It was a pretty competitive thing so we never spoke beyond the odd raised eyebrows or nod until one day I saw him get a puncture and stopped to offer to help him. That broke the ice and we ended up chatting every time we saw each other but we never met other than on the commute so i don't think he really classes as a friend.

When I lived in Highgate I did make a proper friend though. Started off by sharing a hatred of Holloway Road at the traffic lights after one too many awkward silences or shared headshakes at motorists etc. That ended up with us chatting most of the length of the stop start section of Holloway Road whenever we saw each other and turned out to be really useful as he was one of the first people on the scene when Laura got knocked off her bike one night. After that we arranged a few non commute rides and he became a proper friend (ie saw him and his GF in a non cycling context) rather than just a fellow commuter.

I blame London and people's tendency to be hostile to strangers, as other than those two I never really got beyond a couple of exchanged words about traffic/cold/rain which in hindsight seems a shame!

rick_chasey

I met CJCP on the road before I met him on here.

DonDaddyD

I encounter a number of people on here and not on here at least a few times a month when on the commute. Get's to the point where we discuss "the new bike" and things. Tis nice.

CiB

Not cycling but I used to commute by train and bumped into the same bloke at both ends 'most every day. He was a proper gent too; we used to sort the world out once we'd done the initial 'ahh err hello again...' manly thing (i.e. stand-offish, long silences). Lovely bloke. I changed jobs and never saw him again, and had completely forgotten he existed until 2 minutes ago.

Never see other cyclists on any kind of regular basis on the bike commute now.

iPete

Spoke to one guy quite a bit not off the forum but unfortunately I've switched route!

mrc1

iPete wrote:

Spoke to one guy quite a bit not off the forum but unfortunately I've switched route!

He's probably wondering what he did to offend you...

jonny_trousers

I tend to commute in the opposite direction to normal people and so rarely get to see anyone regularly. There are a couple of people I see going by in the opposite direction (hi Mr Pearson, if you're reading), but i don't think any commuter bromance will coming my way any day soon. Oh, and there's a chap of about 18 stone I whizz by fairly regularly at around 10:45pm and every time that I do I mentally go, good on you mate, keep up the good work.

I do want you lot to get your SCR jerseys made up so I can recognise who I'm scalping, though

EKE_38BPM

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I do want you lot to get your SCR jerseys made up so I can recognise who has just scalped me, though

FTFY

clarkey cat

there's a guy I see on commute pretty often, we usually have a bit of a natter.

haven't invited him back for tea though. Not yet.

jds_1981

mrc1 wrote:

When I lived in Highgate I did make a proper friend though. Started off by sharing a hatred of Holloway Road at the traffic lights after one too many awkward silences or shared headshakes at motorists etc.

Not got any strava times on there eh?

http://app.strava.com/segments/1055805

jonny_trousers

For some reason I can't stop thinking of The Inbetweeners when I see this thread.

mudcow007

Aye, there is a group of three of us who ride in most mornings

if i ride on my own i seem to be way slower, i likes riding in a pack