Acknowledging fellow cyclists?

[mudsticks]

If I had a penny for every time this subject was raised, I'd be a millionaire. It's the sound of another penny going into the jar.

Wow that's a lot of pennies..
Two questions..

Just how old are you exactly??

And what proportion of those years have you spent hanging out in cycling forums waiting for this topic to come up, so as you can add to your virtual stash..

 

[Dogtrousers]

Wow that's a lot of pennies..
Two questions..

Just how old are you exactly??

And what proportion of those years have you spent hanging out in cycling forums waiting for this topic to come up, so as you can add to your virtual stash..

Well, naturally I'm using good old British common sense and refuse to recognise this foreign metric money, so to earn my £million I have seen the topic arise 240 million times. Monitoring all cycling forums 24 hours a day I have noticed that it is mentioned once per second. It took me 7.61 years - (240,000,000/(60*60*24*365) )

 

[mudsticks]

Well, naturally I'm using good old British common sense and refuse to recognise this foreign metric money, so to earn my £million I have seen the topic arise 240 million times. Monitoring all cycling forums 24 hours a day I have noticed that it is mentioned once per second. It took me 7.61 years - (240,000,000/(60*60*24*365) )

Well that's not a bad return for seven years work, but surely you can't be doing the monitoring more than eight hours a day??

That would drive a person nuts.

So even assuming eight hours a day every day that's 21 years..

A day off a week (seems reasonable) is going to push it closer to twenty five.

Hmmn, its not looking so, amazing now, I think property development would give a better return..

Oh, and one last thing.. These other forums where it comes up sooooo very often?

Name n@mes, would you... There's a good chap, so we can avoid being bored, more than half to death.

Remember, not everyone has your level of tolerance for tedium

 

[lazybloke]

I called out "do you have everything you need?" and he huffed a very teenager-like "I'm fine" while simultaneously looking at me like I'd urinated on his children.

I use similar phrasing.
Not that there's much difference, but "Do you have everything you need?" has slightly less implication of mechanical ineptitude than "Do you need help?".
Anyone who reacts poorly to a well-meaning offer of assistance needs a different kind of help; they clearly have a seriously odd ego or unhealthy sense of self.


If I see someone staring mournfully at their broken bike or flat tyre, I will always be the good samaritan, and I always appreciate the thought if the situation is reversed, even if I don't need help.
A kind thought helps to (slightly) restore faith in humanity.


Conversely it's always interesting to see the miserable gits who don't offer assistance.

 

[byegad]

I want to put a slight twist on this topic by asking, would you always offer assistance to a cyclist in distress or only certain ones

I always slow and ask if they need help. 99% of the time they don't, but it's only decent to ask.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Well that's not a bad return for seven years work, but surely you can't be doing the monitoring more than eight hours a day??

No, that would be silly. I do sleep occasionally. I then have to catch up on my backlog of forum checking during my waking hours. I also have a sideline in how many times "what chain lube" crops up.

For the avoidance of doubt - I have no objection at all to popular topics recurring. This is a forum not a reference library, and the popularity of popular topics is witness to their ... er ... popularity.

I may be back riding on the roads in a week or so, and I'm sure I'll break a few sensitive hearts with my failure to play the waving game

 

[Drago]

Just taking this photo of the Sustrans route seen from my lounge. View attachment 522156

What idiot left a table and chairs on the sustrans route, never mind the Barnes Wallace bouncing bomb int he foreground?

 

[carlosfandangus]

Well, I've had a few very flat "no" replies to my cheery enquiry as to whether someone would like help. Just last week I was riding along a track and there was a man with obvious tyre issues, tube partly out, him staring at it... I called out "do you have everything you need?" and he huffed a very teenager-like "I'm fine" while simultaneously looking at me like I'd urinated on his children.

So I don't know now... I suspect a few riders might take an offer as an affront to their bike mechanic ninja abilities!

I had the same 2 days ago, I always stop and ask if anything is needed, some have done the same for me when I have suffered a puncture, the person I stopped for was quite rude in his response, I was in return

 

[screenman]

What idiot left a table and chairs on the sustrans route, never mind the Barnes Wallace bouncing bomb int he foreground?

It is considered amongst those that know me that I am the wrost photographer in the world, not just the household.

 

[Poacher]

They always come into my garage, often will have a cuppa and a bit of cake whilst I change the tube, the last one a guy from 10 miles away even got a new spare as well to take with him. I now expect not to get a return but it certainly will not put me off helping when I can. I have most size tubes in stock at all times from 20inch to 29. I am a cyclist through and through and I will never see another one in difficulty without offering help.

Because he's in Bardney, @screenman 's door is always open!*




*"Do you come from Bardney?"

 

[Dogtrousers]

They always come into my garage, often will have a cuppa and a bit of cake whilst I change the tube, the last one a guy from 10 miles away even got a new spare as well to take with him. I now expect not to get a return but it certainly will not put me off helping when I can. I have most size tubes in stock at all times from 20inch to 29. I am a cyclist through and through and I will never see another one in difficulty without offering help.

That's very generous of you. I remember me and one other pulled into a pub car park to fix a puncture (on a nice day) and the landlord brought us cups of tea and a track pump, which was a really nice thing to do. On a later ride we returned specially and had lunch there. Unfortunately our efforts to help their trade failed, as I think it's now shut. (The Snail near Ivy Hatch in Kent)

But also I remember changing a tube in a different pub car park in the hammering rain and seeing a line of faces watching me from the warmth. No doubt criticising my tyre fitting technique.

And by the by, I have never taken any offence or reacted to anyone's tone when people have declined my offer of mechanical help. I have just carried along on my way. Maybe I'm just thick skinned.

My advice to wavers is, if someone doesn't respond, rather than seething for the rest of your ride, and then coming on to Cyclechat and complaining about their kit, and the way they were riding their bike, or the type of bike they were riding, perhaps just move on. Get over it and enjoy your ride.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

But also I remember changing a tube in a different pub car park in the hammering rain and seeing a line of faces watching me from the warmth. No doubt criticising my tyre fitting technique.

I think I'd have taken the wheel inside, bought a pint, and let them be critical of me in comfort!

My advice to wavers is, if someone doesn't respond, rather than seething for the rest of your ride, and then coming on to Cyclechat and complaining about their kit, and the way they were riding their bike, or the type of bike they were riding, perhaps just move on. Get over it and enjoy your ride.

Amen. I'm a jolly waver, I don't get close to 100 percent back, but that's okay. 😊

 

[mudsticks]

No, that would be silly. I do sleep occasionally. I then have to catch up on my backlog of forum checking during my waking hours. I also have a sideline in how many times "what chain lube" crops up.

For the avoidance of doubt - I have no objection at all to popular topics recurring. This is a forum not a reference library, and the popularity of popular topics is witness to their ... er ... popularity.

I may be back riding on the roads in a week or so, and I'm sure I'll break a few sensitive hearts with my failure to play the waving game

Well for the avoidance of doubt also - most of us cheery greeters really don't mind if you acknowledge us back or not.

The hailing is freely given, and we'd much prefer it was received, or rebuffed in that fashion - rather than it being seen as some kind of onerous transactional obligation.

I usually just say Hi, or Hello, rather than wave, or will perhaps remark on our luck with the weather ( the sun always shines on me ) perhaps comment on the steepness of the hill ( I live in Devon, or tour in hilly places, so if we're not going up, then we're almost inevitably going back down again)

But its all fine - Us annoyingly cheery types get to be cheery all the time - at no extra cost to ourselves - and sometimes will get same returned - miserable gits have exactly the same privileges - its all perfectly fair as far as i can see

That's very generous of you. I remember me and one other pulled into a pub car park to fix a puncture (on a nice day) and the landlord brought us cups of tea and a track pump, which was a really nice thing to do. On a later ride we returned specially and had lunch there. Unfortunately our efforts to help their trade failed, as I think it's now shut. (The Snail near Ivy Hatch in Kent)

But also I remember changing a tube in a different pub car park in the hammering rain and seeing a line of faces watching me from the warmth. No doubt criticising my tyre fitting technique.

And by the by, I have never taken any offence or reacted to anyone's tone when people have declined my offer of mechanical help. I have just carried along on my way. Maybe I'm just thick skinned.

My advice to wavers is, if someone doesn't respond, rather than seething for the rest of your ride, and then coming on to Cyclechat and complaining about their kit, and the way they were riding their bike, or the type of bike they were riding, perhaps just move on. Get over it and enjoy your ride.

I've had some lovely help and donations from other cyclists and road users when in difficulty - and have tried to return same in kind when others have been in need - without expectation of immediate return.

- it all works out in the end - unless you're the penny pinching ungrateful sort who keeps a 'you owe me' kind of tally with the universe - in which case you'll probs feel endlessly short changed - ah well ...

Mind you - i did pass this really snooty guy in some rather tight red bibs the other day - overstuffed sausage or what

 

[Rocky]

.....

Mind you - i did pass this really snooty guy in some rather tight red bibs the other day - overstuffed sausage or what

It was me

 

[mudsticks]

It was me

It can't have been - you're waving at me -
- and you're supposed to stay in Oxfordshire like a Good Boy - not come gallivanting down to Devonshireland with your foreign germs..

I think we should be building an exclusionary wall along the border really, and be making Somerset and Dorset pay for it ..