General Cycling Discussion - Praise / Scorn

How many experience both in regards to your cycling?

I thought about this the other day as I received some serious praise for my commuting just 1 day after getting some serious scorn on the road when I was following all the rules of the road.

I sure like the praise. It's worth at least 10 times the scorn I receive.

:thumbup:

what i hate is when other bicyclists scorn me. the other day i was riding down an extremely quiet residential street, at a leisurely pace. i had to turn left at the large roundabout. there were no cars even remotely close to the roundabout in any direction, so instead of going all the way around the roundabout i turned left. the only other person around was this lady on a bike pulling her baby in a trailer. she started yelling at me that i'm going the wrong way, in a very condescending tone.
i realize we as bikers need to follow traffic laws to gain more respect and stay safe, but this was a street where cars don't even drive. more like a park setting. i went through the roundabout at a brisk walking pace.
anyways, her yelling at me for a petty traffic offense made me upset, but about 5 minutes later i was riding up the hill, and 4 other cyclists ended up merging up with me. everyone had this big smile on their face. one rider yelled "bike brigade!!" another one yelled "commuter power!!" there was a pedestrian walking her dog who gave us the thumbs up.
that definately made up for the lady with the bad attitude.

This is a touchy subject for cyclists. You want to help others but how do you do it?

An once of honey goes further than a ton of poop! (IMHO)

I once had the unhappy experience of a considerably faster member of the oppostie sex disagree with my stopping and then proceeding through a redlight when there was no traffic. Not only did she scorn me for not following the law, she stayed with me the next 40 miles and questioned everything I did. "Was I going to stop for the stop sign?" "Was I going to signal my left turn?" I threatened to punch her, but was during my fat phase and could not have caught her even if I tried. Actually became quite funny once I got over the initial being PO'd. Don't you just hate it when others are correct? Shame on me. But I do enjoy the words of support when people are kind enough to offer them for pursuing a healthy, non-polluting form of exercise and transportation.

I like it when I get respect from cars on the road. For the most part, I obey the traffic laws, except for a few times when the light's red, but no cars are coming.... and that's only sometimes. I get leery of trying to fight traffic, so I pretty much obey the laws. It really enrages me when cars are honking at me just because I'm on the road and they voice their displeasure by honking at me, or yelling at me as they drive past in their cars. I just want to flip them the bird and mace 'em if you ever get the chance.

Every so often, I get cool motorists who are cool. Today, I was negotiating myself onto the bike path- there's an idiotic way of entering the path where you have to ride on the sidewalk for about 15 yards, and just before the start of the path, you have to pass a drive through McDonalds. Cars can't see if you're coming or going as they're leaving the McDonald's, and there was a minivan pulling out as I was barrelling up the path. I saw her about 2 sec before she saw me, so I braked just in time, and she braked, then rolled out her window and said something funny (can't remember), then I told her something along the lines that I hoped it woke her up as quickly as that coffee she got- and we both laughed and I jumped on the path. I thought she was cool. Most drivers would have stopped, yelled at me or cursed me out or something, and I would have been equally confrontational. Mostly though, I get scorn from drivers, and not too much praise.

I sometimes get a sense of comraderie from other cyclists, but that doesn't happen very often. Most of them just say hi on the path and keep on rolling... I've stopped to talk to people in need and had some good conversations though. I pretty much obey the right-of-way laws on the bike lanes, so I haven't had any confrontational problems with them. I stay to the right and let them pass me. I say good morning or good afternoon or whatever and keep on rolling.

K

On a ride today an SUV full of teenagers passed me, slowed down, and the boys on the passenger side put their arms out the windows and pumped their fists the way kids at a heavy metal concert do; I took the gestures to be encouragement. Kind of funny; brought a smile to my face.

Scorn

A chain-smoking co-worker (who has been in 6 car accidents) telling me I'm crazy to take the risk of riding a bike on the street.

Praise

My doctor, amazed that I had an appointment because she never has had to treat me for illness.

Praise: Once while I was in San Antonio and finishing up a ride on a really hot day a car full of teenagers pulled along side and asked if I wanted a beer. I told them that I would so they handed me and my riding buddy one before driving off. That beer sure tasted great after finishing the ride :)

Zack

Praise: "Right behind you, Conan!" -- my training partner, while I'm taking a hard pull.

Scorn: "You ride your bike everyday? Don't you think that's obsessive?" -- coworker

Praise: "This is the best HDL/LDL ratio we've seen all day." -- nurse at the health fair cholesterol screening

Scorn: "This is a road, you moron! Why don't you ride on the bike path?!?" -- Irate motorist

Praise: "Nice legs." -- my wife :)

Scorn:

Being told I don't belong on the road beacuse I don't pay gas tax.

Praise:

The nurses all gathering by my bedside (after a daycare surgical procedure) to marvel at the heart rate monitor.

Scorn: "You ride your bike everyday? Don't you think that's obsessive?" -- coworker

Appropriate response: You drive your car every day? Don't you think that's obsessive?


what i hate is when other bicyclists scorn me.

Me too. I can't stand the self-righteous blowhards who lecture other cyclists on the rules of the road. These people must have been hall monitors in school.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Brennan
[B]Appropriate response: You drive your car every day? Don't you think that's obsessive?

Nice! I wish I'd been that quick.

Praise? - "Nice legs!" yelled from some yahoo in an exceedingly lifted, oversized tired, beat up 4x4.

Scorn - "Nice gut!" yelled as my response.

Whoops, I think I got this thread backwards.

OK. . .

Scorn - "Get off. . . <inaudible>!" yelled from passing vehicle last night. I assume he wasn't telling me to seek some sort of pleasure.

Praise - I wave as I race past him at a stoplight that he will spend more than several minutes at because he is in line with at least 50 cars.

OK. . . I guess I haven't received much praise.

Praise: I was passed by a car with a dad and his adolescent son. I noticed the kid looking at my bike. They passed me and were headed to a parking lot of a hardware store, and the kid stuck his head out the window of the car and gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. Maybe he noticed that I was on a GT and he has one ,or he's just into bikes, but I thought that's cool!

Scorn, none recently.

Brennan good response! It's like when people say that about kids. "how come you don't have kids?" I don't ask anyone "Gee, how can you have kids with the state of the world today?"

We should think about good answers to questions like that.

I had some praise again just yesterday- there was a kid in the back seat of the car in his car seat. He was about 3 years old. I was on my bike waiting at the stoplight, and the kid started pointing and talking at the same time. I smiled at him and waved, and he waved back at me and began smiling and laughing.

Let's hope I got another one converted. We'll see in about 5 years! :)

Koffee

I too have noticed praise from children in the past. I'm just wondering when they turn into snarling, abusive motoring primates. :eek:

O ye of little faith! Oh yeah, I forgot- o ye of much agnostic! ;)

Give those kids some time. Maybe today's kids will remember that picture of me smiling and waving, and when they get their first bike from a real bike shop (as opposed to K Mart) and go ape (no pun intended, babe!) over their bike and get more into riding their bikes than driving a car.

I am holding out hope.

Koffee

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
<snip>... and go ape (no pun intended, babe!) over their bike and get more into riding their bikes than driving a car.

I am holding out hope.

You mean end up like me? Are you sure hope is the right word for that?

Well, it ain't despair, so it has to be hope, right?

;)

Originally posted by wabbit
. "how come you don't have kids?"


I reply totally deadpan "because they're PURE EVIL."

No-one really knows what to say to that on the spot. ;)

Originally posted by ParamountScapin
she stayed with me the next 40 miles and questioned everything I did. "Was I going to stop for the stop sign?" "Was I going to signal my left turn?"



Whoooooaaaa..... "Psycho Hose Beast" Alert!

Forty miles?!?! I'd have stopped the bike and looked her dead in the eye and threatened to shoot her in the face.

Scorn...Scorn... Nothing but scorn, at work at least, co-workers have ridiculed me for my cycling commuting for many years now. Faces have changed, personel have come and gone, but still their attitude never changes,
chatting about me when they think I can`t hear or I`m in another room.

Why does`nt he travel to work like NORMAL people is the one I hear most, so I reply "define NORMAL" is it any more normal to sit behind the steering wheel of a car than to cycle. Never yet heard a satisfactory reply to that one..

Originally posted by willic
Why does`nt he travel to work like NORMAL people is the one I hear most, so I reply "define NORMAL" is it any more normal to sit behind the steering wheel of a car than to cycle. Never yet heard a satisfactory reply to that one..

Yeah, I get that to. My answer is "well, all the 'normal' people are still sitting in that traffic jam on the Sundale bridge. I've been home for hours!

Praise AND Scorn:

"Nice tights !"

Praise - I got a "You GO Boy!" the other day from a car, and as I passed, I noticed some cycling related stickers on the back window. That made the rest of the ride about 2 mph faster.

Scorn - I was turning left onto a perpendicular road, and a Ford Explorer with some kids yelled at me. They gave me a single digit salute and I returned it. They slowed down like they were going to stop. I got pissed, stood up and started racing toward them like a fanatic. They drove off! I was all reved up the rest of the ride. Rode about 2 mph faster.

Either way, someone yelling at me forces me to pick up my pace!

i am scorned by this little feisty dog down the road from my house every time i pass his area. he shows his fangs, makes this growling sound, and starts chasing me. yesterday i outran him, then turned around and rode directly at him at full pace (i would never hurt a dog, just wanted to teach him a lesson). he ran away from me whimpering, so hopefully now he knows not to chase me again! now if only i could get him to stop pooping in my lawn.... maybe i should give him a taste of his own medicine in that regards, too. :D

on the issue of the workplace, i am lucky in that i feel a lot of respect from my co-workers when it comes to commuting. they say things like "wow, you ride 8 miles to work every day? that's great!"
i can't imagine why people would be against a healthier lifestyle.

i do get scorn from people on the road on occasion. usually people driving bigger jacked up trucks and suv's. i think they feel secretly ashamed of their wasteful ways. usually what they do is when they get beside me they rev up their engine and blast off down the road at an idiotic pace. what's funny is when 10 blocks down the road i pass them as they are waiting at a light. i'll usually give them a nice cheesy smile and a friendly wave.

Originally posted by gonesh9
usually what they do is when they get beside me they rev up their engine and blast off down the road at an idiotic pace. what's funny is when 10 blocks down the road i pass them as they are waiting at a light. i'll usually give them a nice cheesy smile and a friendly wave.

Another similar and curious psychological phenomenon I seem to notice:

Often, when I am in traffic, if I keep pace with a car next to me for 10 seconds or more, they will invariably accelerate. They do this just about every time, regardless whether there is a car in front of them, or a stop condition and they have to immediately slow down. I'm still left wondering why?

chezjfrey, i have noticed this as well. maybe it's a portland thing? i think people are secretly ashamed of their wasteful ways, and jealous that we are getting around so much more efficiently, and having fun while doing so. then, when we are keeping pace with them, they can't validate why they are driving, so they try to speed up out of frustration.

although i do think people here are more conscientious towards bicycling than in most places.

Willic, I am surprised that people in england think that way. I know that not everyone in the UK is exactly the same, I just always thought that attitude was more north american and that the UK attitude was more cycle-friendly.

I remember watching this show "casualty" on BBC canada. It's sort of like ER. In the show, one of the hospital administrators rides his bike to work, and his coworkers joked that he looked like 'the pizza delivery man'. As if it's so weird to ride your bike to work!

We don't get BBC canada anymore. Too bad, I loved that show!

Originally posted by gonesh9
i think people are secretly ashamed of their wasteful ways, and jealous that we are getting around so much more efficiently, and having fun while doing so. then, when we are keeping pace with them, they can't validate why they are driving, so they try to speed up out of frustration.

I'm not even sure if that's it. . . I was thinking maybe it's simply a case where they're just upset that they can't move faster than a "slow-moving" bicycle.

BTW, I responded to your PM - have you rode/driven Hwy 30? You might like it.