[Closed] God bless the right to moan

Some roadies are strange.

Well, from your story, one roady is strange. I ride road bikes and I'm strange but not in that way.

I’m a strange roadie because my skinny tyre bike has straight bars and is SS, but I have swept up a lot of the council’s clippings.
One more shitty comment and I’ll be out there with the drawing pins, a deckchair and a GoPro. 😁

I was on a sportive once a few years ago and one of the local farmers had thought it a good idea to cut about half a mile of blackthorn hedge on the day, leaving clippings, thorns and bits of wood all over the road. Very nice of him.

Some roadies cyclists are strange

Yup. That’s my commute route summed up twice a year. I have a collection of huge blackthorns pulled from tyres. Don’t know why not like I can make jam from them.

Some roadies are way beyond strange

Some roadies cyclists

people

are strange

 

I think we all agree. 👌

people
are strange

When you're a stranger.

Jim Morrison, is that you?

Better then metal shards...use marathon pluses and had a broken bit of Stanley blade got in it..then helped it dump enough pressure to blow out on a pothole..not fun...inevitable ruined a 4 week old tyre(hit on the edge and stripped the bead profile..)..

S̶o̶m̶e̶ r̶o̶a̶d̶i̶e̶s̶ cyclists are strange

Roadies are strange miserable.

My first commute on bike to work for months and saw 3 X roadies at different stages going the other way.
Lovely sunny day quiet country roads, I looks across each time and nod the head.
Nowt, nothing. Miserable gets.

They'll start nodding back when they've seen you a few times.

Roadies are miserable.

I’d say about 90% are. You occasionally get a jovial one and it throws you a bit.

A woman dressed for road cycling was coming down the hill on a pair of those faux cross country skis with wheels on.. is strange 😂 🏄🏻‍♀️

Roadies are strange miserable.

My first commute on bike to work for months and saw 3 X roadies at different stages going the other way.
Lovely sunny day quiet country roads, I looks across each time and nod the head.
Nowt, nothing. Miserable gets.

When I'm out in the car, I wave at other drivers but hardly anyone waves back.

Couldn't see you through your tinted windows.

Couldn’t see you through your tinted windows.

But you were already waving, right? I'd hate to think that you were a miserable get.

All roadies = 1 type - Lance A therefore = ASSHOLES

I’m a roadie, Cx racer and XC racer who also does real mountain biking a bit, it’s an equal mix of miserable gits. The amount of fat mountain bikers who don’t like me overtaking them on a climb is quite amusing. I say a cheery hello to each of them, but they seem to have their face full of donuts as they never answer back......I’m always waiting to be passed on the way down but there must be another cake shop they stop at as I never see them again.
I also get ignored by fellow roadies, I either wear my team gear or a clothing by a hated manufacturer so I can never win. It’s only the CX guys who are happy souls, they’ll even stop for a chat.
None of the above is true, apart from CX guys being cool and stopping for a chat during a training ride.

ransos, not sure what you're getting at tbh.

I looks across each time and nod the head

Is that not good enough for you?

Have a super weekend.

roadies rarely nod when they see you on an mtb on a road route riding for pleasure.

Trumpton, probably because according to this forum the cycling gods on here are speeding past roadies uphill on their mountain bikes, while carrying the laundry, weekly shopping and whilst doing a wheelie for 250metres, one handed. Us roadies feel intimidated by the skillz on display.
As an aside, I always nod, wave etc if I can, as do most of the people I ride with. If I’m doing a hard training ride I may not do anything more than a nod, which may or may not be noticeable.
So strange how people there their is a divide, that a roadie can’t be a mountain biker or a mountain biker a roadie.

In Dorset two weeks ago, a roadie smiled and said “hello”. This is the first time I have experienced either of these from a roadie. Even Mini who is seven said “aren’t road bikers always grumpy?” Then he mentioned a neighbour by name who is a keen road cyclist and never smiles or says hello when on his bike (when off it he is very talkative and smiley).

I honestly think bikers that do ride mtb,gravel and road etc genuinely seem to be a little less "communicative" when on a road bike?

When I rode the SDW a few weeks back I met a lot of bikers and apart from a couple, all the gravel/MTB types all acknowledged my admittedly over zealous "hellos."

Road riders? Some did but a notable amount really just seem to be in a different place and were either oblivious or feigned it.

Nothing against roadies, that's plain daft as many of them ride mtb anyway.... and even if they don't, they still ride bikes. It's all good.👍

I think it's just a road bike cultural thing? I dunno.

Anyway.... I always day hi but I don't take it personally if I don't get acknowledged. life's too short.😁

ransos, not sure what you’re getting at tbh.

If you feel aggrieved that fellow commuters don't acknowledge you then I am not at all sure they're the problem. It's not something you'd expect when taking the bus, train, walking or driving to work, so why do you think cycling has special rules?

It’s rare for me not to be acknowledged by fellow roadies, prob 99 out of 100 nods, waves or hellos are acknowledged.
Sometimes though it’s a small nod, a minor lift up of the hand/thumb.
As I mentioned earlier, if on a training ride and putting in an effort I may just nod or lift a thumb and it may be too small to be noticed.
I also don’t know one miserable roadie. We love riding our bikes as much as mountain bikers, and the majority of us in my team and group of friends all ride mountain bike, some also to a fairly high standard. There are some rides around the Chilterns where I’ll see hundreds of roadies and I may not wave to everyone. The last ride where I wasn’t acknowledged was on a mtb ride, but that was by a gold medal winning athlete who was absolutely flying and very focused on his ride. (Apologies if that sounds crap but the guys local to me will know who I mean and he is actually very friendly and does normally say hi as he flys past)
My Sunday group rides tend to have 8 to 12 friends, all racers or ex racers, all wave, chat to other riders we encounter and pretty much everyone chats back to us.

To be honest, I may well not have noticed the more subtle acknowledgments you mention.

Im very much a "dogs head out of car window, tongue waving around" type of"hello-ist" as I ride so I suppose I expect everyone to be the same.lol

The main thing is we all ride 2 wheels (some of the time anyway) and we "get it". Flip sides of the same coin, but the same coin.

Poopscoop, I think we are similar. I’m 47, every time I ride
My bike, road, XC, trail or even just the wife’s shopping bike, I’m still like my 8 year old self on my old bmx, huge smile, loving being out in the countryside or where ever I may be.
I even think I fall off as much as you!! Embarrassingly I’m on holiday, did a “mtb ride” on old beaten up specialised rock hoppers, out of the group of 8 I was the only one to crash! Damn brakes being flipped to the other side!! Other the bars in front of some very novice riders! And none of them believed me that the front and back brakes are flipped in the UK!

I’d say about 90% are. You occasionally get a jovial one and it throws you a bit.

I must be an oddity then, my experience is the inverse.

I'm generally quite jovial on and off the bike; nods, smiles and mornings for just about anyone who passes me in either direction, I'd say most reciprocate too and those that don't don't upset me.

I mean in day to day life do you acknowledge everyone else you see using the same mode of transport?
Some people just aren't that comfortable with random familiarity so just let it slide IMO.

Maybe it's the location and/or timing as much as the types of bikes/riders?

Out in rural Hampshire/Berkshire this morning, sun shining on quiet little B-roads while most of the lairy drivers slept off their second bank holiday hangover, there was lots of Roadie love going down, one guy offered me a hug*.

*(may not be entirely true)...

What is a "roadie", exactly?

What is a “roadie”, exactly?

Lycra clad, helmet, curly barred bike

I find most look grim and very few acknowledge our presence. I think its 'cos they are suffering for their ride whereas we are helmet free and grinning not gurning

Got it, so this guy's not a roadie:

But this guy is, right?

If you feel aggrieved that fellow commuters don’t acknowledge you then I am not at all sure they’re the problem.

They were all cyclists,all miserable too. I know not if they were commuting.
I always acknowledge fellow cyclists of all types when out and about and mostly it's reciprocated.

Anyhow ransos I'm sure you'll have another theory on this but I'm done with this now.

They were all cyclists,all miserable too.

They must've been if they didn't prostrate themselves at the feet of the needy commuter.

I was out cycling with the kids yesterday. Only two people conspicuously ignored their enthusiastic greetings. Both were riding MTBs.

Yesterday was my first ride in ages (possibly since Easter). I picked the best morning to get going again. Said hello to everyone and got replies back even from the two lads on mtb's who helpfully moved over to let me past.

There were some 'secret handshake' type roadie waves (barely perceptible nod, couple of fingers raised from the bar sort of things). Shame I had to work as it was a morning to go long.

They’ll start nodding back when they’ve seen you a few times.

Yep commuterings different beast.

Don’t forget a road bike can be pretty grim/unforgiving to ride on small tyres way less forgiving than big wide mtb tyres requiring more concentration and commuters can be on semi-autopilot.

Roadies are also likely to be more focussed and in their own world.

Course some people are just ignorant whatever they are doing.

Don’t forget a road bike can be pretty grim/unforgiving to ride on small tyres way less forgiving than big wide mtb tyres requiring more concentration...

There's something very wrong if a road bike is "grim" or "unforgiving" and requires "more concentration" than an MTB! I'd say spinning along the tarmac with the sun on your face and the wind at your back can be almost a meditative experience.

Anyway, I'm still wondering about this "roadie" definition. It doesn't seem to make sense, because the rider in the first photo I posted above is a multiple World Road Champ, and the rider in the second photo is a multi-National and World Off-road Champ.

KCR - its just my experience. When I see road riders in full uniform they hardly ever acknowledge me and usually look really grim. I suspect its because I do not look like one of the "brotherhood" as I am not in lyrca and helmet and they are "suffering for their sport"

@tjagain they're probably just scared of getting into an argument with you 🙂

w00dster

Subscriber
Poopscoop, I think we are similar. I’m 47, every time I ride
My bike, road, XC, trail or even just the wife’s shopping bike, I’m still like my 8 year old self on my old bmx, huge smile, loving being out in the countryside or where ever I may be.
I even think I fall off as much as you!! Embarrassingly I’m on holiday, did a “mtb ride” on old beaten up specialised rock hoppers, out of the group of 8 I was the only one to crash! Damn brakes being flipped to the other side!! Other the bars in front of some very novice riders! And none of them believed me that the front and back brakes are flipped in the UK!

Yeah, something wonderfully childish about riding a bike. To me anyway and I mean that in a positive way! Lol

Jeez.... No way would I even attempt riding a euro set up bike. I know a lot of people can adapt fast but I just know I wouldn't be one of them.😆

When I see road riders in full uniform

I'm wondering how you can tell they are "roadies" and not mountainbikers on a road bike?

Nice sunny bank holiday ride today, exchanged a good number of nods, hellos and acknowledgements with people on a variety of bikes, and wasn't snubbed by any grumpy riders. Just a normal day...

I think TJ should come and ride with some of us southerners around the Chilterns. He will get bored by waving and saying hello by the amount of happy cheery folk he will encounter. Most will be in full “uniform”, me included. I’d even promise not to gurn and keep smiling the entire ride.

Look guys - its just my observation. I guess its because lots of serious roadies use east lothian where I sometimes use bits of road but its very noticeable. Try riding without a helmet and in ordinary clothes and see how you get blanked.

You definitely get a different reaction when you don't have a silly plastic hat on

That's true ..

But...

WHO CARES!!!!

They ride like that ..but I ride in unpadded shorts normal shirts mtb shoes and enduro helmet in cx on the road with 35mm tyres on 9 speed with frame packs and seatpack...I have fun regardless.. and I honestly DONT CARE if people judge me for that..

Just ride fun and dont constrain yourself to 'one of them'if that not your style..cycling is for everyone..just in there own style..

There’s something very wrong if a road bike is “grim” or “unforgiving” and requires “more concentration” than an MTB! I’d say spinning along the tarmac with the sun on your face and the wind at your back can be almost a meditative experience

Genuine LOL at this one, clearly you've never been on the roads up here. Just about one step from unmetalled in places.

Also, more like rain in your face and wind at your, um, face.

You definitely get a different reaction when you don’t have a silly plastic hat on

Is it cos I is helmetless?

So they're not miserable as such, they're being "non-helmet-ist"... The bigots!
I'm sure you can provide evidence of this being the basis for their slighting of you...

...clearly you’ve never been on the roads up here...

Fair enough. I've only cycled as far north as Caithness in recent years. I guess you're talking about further north than that?

Cool, want a prize?

I was talking about SW Scotland FWIW, I just made the crazy assumption that like the majority of the population you resided south of that area.

Guess we found the miserable git at any rate.

I've got no idea who most of the people are on here, so I try not to make assumptions about where they are riding.

As I said above, I haven't experienced the "miserable road cyclist" syndrome, and the argument that road cycling is so grim and demanding that riders are blind to everything else is just daft. Five hours on Scottish roads yesterday, lots of people out cycling with smiles on their faces, friendly acknowledgements all round, snubbed by no one.

I grew up cycling in SW Scotland. The roads have certainly deteriorated since then, but there are still miles of great tarmac there.