Coincidence?

[ianrauk]

Just analysing the data ....
Most roadies are miserable cnuts too ... as are most pedestrians, most motorists, most people in fact... no wait, Gospel singers ... Gospel singers are nearly always happy and wave a lot, and so do the Royals for that matter.

You forgot Jehovah Witnesses.

 

[Fab Foodie]

You forgot Jehovah Witnesses.

True, but not when they're running away from my front door!

 

[Pauluk]

Part of my commute takes me along a nice stretch of canal tow path. Whenever I ping the peds they always move over and as I pass I acknowledge them with a "thanks buddy" or just "thank you" and most of the time they respond with something like "your welcome" or "that's ok".

However, when I stop to allow an oncoming cyclist to squeeze through a narrow gap or other such obstacle I get nothing. No "thank you" or "cheers mate". Don't understand this. Can only assume they are miserable gits or just so sh*t scared they may end up in the drink at any moment.

 

[roadrash]

 

[edindave]

I don't get any more or less nods/waves/hellos/abuse on the hybrid or the road bike.

The other day I had happened to glance down to look at my back wheel when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a cyclist on the other side had given me a nod that I unfortunately failed to reciprocate, due to me being too selfishly engrossed in whether I had an unscheduled deflation occurring.
No doubt this puts me in with the miserable <unts in the opinion of said cyclist.

 

[Crankarm]

I too detect some intra-communal snobbery in the cycling world and find it as unhealthy as it is unhelpful.

I abhor any form of discrimination, so this sort of thing is bound to get to me.

The worst snobbery comes from the new-to-cycling, team-lycra, carbo-fantastic brigade. They should appreciate that if there were a scale of cycling merit, they'd be at or near the bottom of the pond. Maybe even in the silt on the pond bed.

I feel slightly sorry, on the other hand, for commuters on folders. They are somehow excluded from any community feeling by their fellow riders. This is quite wrong and I disapprove thoroughly. Even though they are the worst possible type of so-called cyclist.

Then there are the mid-20s, baggy-shorted, tousled-hair MTB mob.... They are as bad as all the rest, if not worse. Probably as bad as each other and at the same time significantly worse. Certainly no better than they ought to be.

Some are close to them in moral and social delinquency. Others might even outstrip them. It is all very, very sad.

So... Accepting (as I now quite suddenly do) that there is a place for snobbery in cycling and that it is just and right and proper, I place all the above below plankton and only slightly above fixter-hipsters on their brakeless, skip-find, death traps with chains in primary colours.

I write the above to inform and elucidate, not to provoke a reaction.

I do not include myself (on roadbike, MTB or fixie) in any of the groups on whom I pour justified scorn.

A snob is always some one else .........................

 

[Crankarm]

Perhaps the miserable git found his / her much loved pet rabbit dead in it's hutch that very morning and went out on the bike to get away from everything and zone out. Contemplating the sad demise of Mr floppy (ears), might not make them particularly receptive to the complete stranger who was waving at them....

Just a thought

Maybe you have a pet rabbit if you are 6 years old but not 36 or 46 ......................

 

[Crankarm]

I have noticed that my fellow cyclists fall into 2 broad categories - there are the ones who acknowledge my greeting or respond to a friendly wave and then there are the, err, miserable gits.

Now, when I'm out on a 'proper' bike with dropped bars, wearing a cycling top and a helmet the other riders I meet tend to fall into the former category and are all smiles and waves. But - here's the thing - when I go for a bimble in to town on my ratty old MTB wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap most of the cyclists I meet are of the miserable git persuasion.

Is there a fair bit of bicycle snobbery out there?

If you are so anxious about not getting responses from your greetings to fellow cyclists then you have too much time on your hands. Ride faster.

 

[caimg]

When I was out earlier, it started to pelt it down with rain. Hit a red light and heard a cyclist pull up beside and slightly behind me, so I turned around and said 'that's what I get for taking the mudguards off'. He totally ignored me, cos he couldn't hear me over his iPhone headphones :/

 

[400bhp]

We're English - we're an insular lot.

 

[al-fresco]

If you are so anxious about not getting responses from your greetings to fellow cyclists then you have too much time on your hands. Ride faster.

Anxious? No, I found it amusing. In 52 years of riding bikes it never occurred to me that some people weren't greeting or acknowledging a fellow cyclist, merely waving at someone who looked similar to them and that by riding a down-market bike and changing my clothes I effectively put myself outside the sub-group. That's OK though, I've never felt very comfortable being part of the mainstream.

 

[4F]

Anxious? No, I found it amusing. In 52 years of riding bikes it never occurred to me that some people weren't greeting or acknowledging a fellow cyclist, merely waving at someone who looked similar to them and that by riding a down-market bike and changing my clothes I effectively put myself outside the sub-group. That's OK though, I've never felt very comfortable being part of the mainstream.

52 years of riding bikes and a wearing a baseball cap = Local nutter.

 

[al-fresco]

52 years of riding bikes and a wearing a baseball cap = Local nutter.

Be fair Tony - they didn't have baseball caps when I was younger!
(And I hadn't had skin cancer in those days.)

PS See you on the Dynamo this year?

 

[4F]

Be fair Tony - they didn't have baseball caps when I was younger!
(And I hadn't had skin cancer in those days.)

PS See you on the Dynamo this year?

Yes mate I shall be there again, are you parking up locally and getting the train down again from Ipswich ?

 

[al-fresco]

Yes mate I shall be there again, are you parking up locally and getting the train down again from Ipswich ?

This year I was in time to get the return coach tickets so I can leave the car at home and travel down by train. See you outside the pub. (And I promise not to wear a baseball cap )