Cycling snobbery!

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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hondated
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by hondated »

cheesypeeps wrote:It's nice to be nice!

Spot on
Kent79
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by Kent79 »

No matter the sport, the environment, the kit, the bike some people are rude. They aren't likely to change so I don't worry about it!
iandriver
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by iandriver »

I'm usually in my own world on NCN51 on the way to work. I can only apologise to the people who I fail to wave back to until they've passed. :oops:
Supporter of the A10 corridor cycling campaign serving Royston to Cambridge http://a10corridorcycle.com. Never knew gardening secateurs were an essential part of the on bike tool kit until I took up campaigning.....
Stradageek
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by Stradageek »

I blame sensory deprivation. I waved to a number of approaching cyclists on a glorious ride today, with little response. I was enjoying the sights sounds and smells of an early summer day but everyone else seemed to be determined to shut all this out. They were all wearing dark sunglasses and sporting earphones, even a young couple who were clearly out riding together side by side!
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661-Pete
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by 661-Pete »

AndyBSG wrote:Basically, unless I see someone on exactly the same bike as me with the same gear as me cycling at the same speed and in the same manner as me then they're clearly idiots and should be treated with disgust and scorn!

Fit a mirror to your bike. :lol:
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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661-Pete
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by 661-Pete »

Quite by accident, we happened to intercept the Great Haywards Heath Bike Ride today - we didn't even know it was on. Going the opposite direction to us, with lots of family groups with small children taking part. Quite a lot exchanged greetings, but after too many "Good Morning"s repeated in rapid-fire, one does tend to get a bit hoarse...
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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661-Pete
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by 661-Pete »

Seriously - before we examine the conundrum 'are all cyclists nice to each other' one needs to think about one's own prejudices. I have several: one is against teens with very low saddles - so low a toddler could straddle their bike. I know part of this is the BMX style, but these kids are not doing BMX - simply riding around the streets (or pavement). So I'm sorry to say, it's a stony stare.

Another is roadies in all the kit - especially in a peloton. But that's really a reciprocal thing, because naturally they don't have the time to nod at me :evil: . I should explain that I cycle in ordinary clothes (shoes excepted). I dislike shorts and rarely wear them. It's trousers-in-socks for me.

Thirdly - city commuters. But I don't commute in a city any more - on the occasional foray into a busy town centre, it's obvious one has to look to one's own safety before acknowledging other cyclists. Anyway - as others have pointed out - in some cities there are simply too many of them.

So - should I be addressing my own snobbish attitudes before complaining about others? :?
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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jezer
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by jezer »

I always wave at other riders, many of them don't respond but that's their problem. The exception is cyclists on pavements, and those I totally ignore. During our club ride today I chatted to a rider from Bristol South CC who joined us for a short stretch. We reminisced about a couple of people from the old days, who I was pleased to discover were still riding regularly. You can keep your sportives and strava segments, club riding is still the core of our sport :D
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Mistik-ka
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by Mistik-ka »

661-Pete wrote:
So - should I be addressing my own snobbish attitudes before complaining about others? :?


Yes. :wink:
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jezer
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by jezer »

Mistik-ka wrote:
661-Pete wrote:
So - should I be addressing my own snobbish attitudes before complaining about others? :?


Yes. :wink:

Agreed :wink:
Power to the pedals
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661-Pete
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by 661-Pete »

jezer wrote:
Mistik-ka wrote:
661-Pete wrote:
So - should I be addressing my own snobbish attitudes before complaining about others? :?


Yes. :wink:

Agreed :wink:
It was a rhetorical question. :oops:
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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661-Pete
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by 661-Pete »

I have to admit - there have been times when cycling has become a profoundly negative experience for me. This goes against all the received wisdom, which says that going for a ride is the best way to ease the 'black dog' off one's shoulders: to get the endorphins circulating once more.

I don't want to say too much - simply that, some years ago, the behaviour of a group of other so-called cyclists upset me considerably. And it came about that getting in the saddle caused these unpleasant thoughts to well up again into my consciousness. And cycling along - especially solo on a quiet country lane which doesn't need so much concentration - my thoughts are very much at liberty to wander - to go back to memories which I would rather not have.

But I digress. Sorry about that.

I just wanted to make the point that, although I would expect most people on this forum won't get fazed by the occasional bit of rudeness from another road user - even a cyclist, it does happen. If it really does get to you - it got to me so it might well get to others - then don't feel you have to keep cycling to make the point that it hasn't affected you. Take a break from cycling. A few months - even a year or two. It's not a disaster if you do. You almost always gets back into it when you feel you're ready again. I didn't quite drop the cycling - I kept up the commute and shopping, but I dropped all the leisure cycling. But I'm doing it again, and none the worse (apart from being rather fatter :( ).

This advice I actually got from someone else - himself a cyclist - as it happens.
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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tykeboy2003
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by tykeboy2003 »

In my experience (as a rider of a touring bike and non-lycra wearer) 90% of cyclists return my wave or verbal greeting and the 10% who don't are almost entirely lycra-clad types on state-of-the-art racing bikes.
mrjemm
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by mrjemm »

For me, it's the observation that I get wildly different reactions to my greeting dependent on what I am riding. Try and explain that away as 'being in the zone' or whatever all you like, but it just doesn't wash. Had a pair pass me last week, the lead smiled and even waved, his friend (I assume) managed a sneer.

A lot of groups out lately, and it's all very well not acknowledging somebody, but it seems that groups of roadies/lycroids are also the BMW drivers of the pedalling world- signals? What signals? Why should we signal that we're turning off when it's only a tourer/commuter/leisure rider waiting at the junction? What do you mean thank (or even acknowledge) the non-roadie who stopped, gestured 'pass away' , and waited as you passed the peds on the SUP onto his ROW?
teebee1986
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Re: Cycling snobbery!

Post by teebee1986 »

Men forget about it,

I'm in my mid 20's, done the carbon bike thing, local team kit the works. Hated the feel of carbon, didn't like the reception of the club and the design of the kit anymore.

Went to a lovely steel frame and all plain black kit, don't really go out with the guys much now as feel uncomfortable. The last time I did (and probably the last time) the welcoming was not great, the look of horror when the carbon had disappeared and I was sporting the steeley was uncanny.

Snobbery was maximum, 1/4 the way through a club run, I snook to the back and took a sneeky left turn and enjoyed the rest of my ride and rides there after. The moral of the story is even your comrades can turn on you due to a bike type...
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