General Cycling Discussion - Dude, hold your line!!!!

I was out riding the other day, on the way to work. I was flying by a lot people on a variety of bicycles. I was playing pursuit, you know where you see someone in the distance and crank it out to catch them. I came up on this guy, and like all the other bikers I passed I inventory this guy. He's riding a geared bike, seemed bow-legged with his pedal stroke, and all over the bike path. I announce my pressence and pass the guy, and keep rolling along. I didn't think anything of it until the guy comes huffing up along me, saying something like "I've been waiting for someone I can ride with..." He proceeds to pass me and gets about 20 feet in front of me, and starts back to weaving all over in front of me.
I am at the top of my speed, riding all out on my fixed 48x16, I'd been kicking butt at an average of 20-21 mph into a light headwind, and was looking for someone to draft, but this guy couldn't hold his line, so I kept back. This causes him to slow down, like he wants me on his wheel. As Phil Ligget says, I dug down in my courage and found what I needed to take this guy and dust him." As Emril says I kicked up a notch, and crossed one of the main roads and left him and a couple others I'd passed at the crossroad. I was not going to let this guy get my wheel again. Fortunately, dude turned off somewhere behind me, so I didn't need to worry about him any more.
It put my fellow riders in a different light, and my own habits in a different light. I have worked hard to be polite and improve my riding. I have read, watched and participated in my riding, I am rare. I take my riding serious, maybe more than I need to, all I am doing is commuting to and from work, 23+ miles one way, and occassionally I get out for a century or two, or five, last year I did 12(1 a month) and I rode for my vacation. I just don't understand how some bikers get on a bike, with all the kit, and think that makes them someone I would ride with. There's more to riding than turning the pedals, there's being aware of your own abilities, and where you are and what is going on around you. I'm not asking for anything I don't give. If I find a cyclist going my way, I do ask to grab his wheel, and I offer mine. I hold my line. I just figure if you are able to hold onto my wheel that you follow the same book of cycling ettiquette. That is not always the case. I just don't understand.

Yeah you sure are rare. Whatever that means.

Anyway, maybe some people dont take riding as serious as you do. You make it sound like those people dont deserve a bike. Although I do agree that its good to learn riding etiquettes... i doubt all riders know such things exists in the first place.Ppeople just dont share the same passion to the sport as some people do.

It’s the difference between being a cyclist and just riding a bike. I’ve not encountered your problem with someone trying to lead me, but I’ve had many problems with bikers swerving all over the place. All I ask is that once in a while they glance over their shoulder to see whose coming up from behind!

Yeah you sure are rare. Whatever that means.

Anyway, maybe some people dont take riding as serious as you do. You make it sound like those people dont deserve a bike. Although I do agree that its good to learn riding etiquettes... i doubt all riders know such things exists in the first place.Ppeople just dont share the same passion to the sport as some people do.


The guy was weaving all over the place, wouldn't it be common sense NOT to do that? Such people dont deserve a bike.....and your probably one of them.

swerving = very bad for you and everybody around you.

As for the guy saying "I've been waiting for someone to ride with..." He should have asked you if he could ride with you, not stated it like it was fact.

I can never understand Roadies, so I suppose that is why I have a Mountain Bike. I suppose it is the speed of a mountain bike, that trains you to ride like this other rider, All over the place missing rocks and holes, and dead sheep etc. Don't blame the other rider for his riding style, as most of us mountain bikers have to ride like this just to survive.

This should really be a Foo thread titled "what's wrong with all those other cyclists, am I the only one that knows how to ride properly? subtitle: put yer pump away, 'cause your ego is already overinflated..."
:rolleyes:

Or maybe it belongs in jokes and humor.... :D

Oh yeah, and do you know what ticks me off on my commute? When some idiot on a racing bike in lycra blows by me at top speed only inches from my handlebars without slowing down or giving any advance warning that he's passing. :rolleyes:

Was there any verbal communication going on? I wonder how the other guys description of the situation would read. Probably something about "some @sshole..." Maybe the guy was a putz, but from your description it doesn't sound like he had a poseur attitude, just a lack of skill.

Or maybe "Lots of dumb a$$es on bikes. I get those all the time. When i started to ride i always remembered something i read,dont pass someone just to pass and then get passed back. They pass me and i'm holding my mph and cadence firm and come back upon the guy within a mile after he's pedaled out. I try not to think to much about it because i figure atleast he's on a bike.

The guy was weaving all over the place, wouldn't it be common sense NOT to do that? Such people dont deserve a bike.....and your probably one of them.

Common sense to who? To people who take it seriouly to know not to do that. There are a lot of clueless people who buy bikes everyday... they have money to burn... so they buy everything at once... without knowing general riding etiquettes. Just because I didnt completely agree with the original poster you tell me that im probably one of those people that dont deserve bikes. :(

I have this feeling that a lot of you will scoff at me when you see me in my 20lbs $500 bike... some of you will give me a lookever... frowning at my tiagra crank... my tektro brakes... my cargo shorts. Yet here I am riding my heart out... trying to slowly learn this new sport I fell in love with. :(

Common sense to who? To people who take it seriouly to know not to do that. There are a lot of clueless people who buy bikes everyday... they have money to burn... so they buy everything at once... without knowing general riding etiquettes. Just because I didnt completely agree with the original poster you tell me that im probably one of those people that dont deserve bikes. :(

I have this feeling that a lot of you will scoff at me when you see me in my 20lbs $500 bike... some of you will give me a lookever... frowning at my tiagra crank... my tektro brakes... my cargo shorts. Yet here I am riding my heart out... trying to slowly learn this new sport I fell in love with. :(


I think any non mentally challenged adult or teenager has the common sense to know that you dont swerve all over the place. I dont know what kind of road or whatever they were riding on, all I pictured was a bike path. Anywhere really......you just dont swerve all over the place. If somebody was swerving all over the place in front of me they would deal with my 17 combined inches of suspension travel.

If I ever passed you I would see the tiagra crank, I would say what a cheapo. I would see the tektro brakes, I would snicker. I would see the cargo shorts, I would think who is this weirdo? http://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/needpics.gif
http://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/joke.gifhttp://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/joke.gif

I think any non mentally challenged adult or teenager has the common sense to know that you dont swerve all over the place. I dont know what kind of road or whatever they were riding on, all I pictured was a bike path. Anywhere really......you just dont swerve all over the place. If somebody was swerving all over the place in front of me they would deal with my 17 combined inches of suspension travel.

If I ever passed you I would see the tiagra crank, I would say what a cheapo. I would see the tektro brakes, I would snicker. I would see the cargo shorts, I would think who is this weirdo? http://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/needpics.gif
http://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/joke.gifhttp://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/joke.gif


booooooooo... :mad:

people like you make me want to give in and buy those $5000 bikes my credit cards are afraid of. but then... i dont want to go out there with my $5000 bike and come across a rider who will post threads like this about me. :D

BTW... my MTB only has 4 inches of travel. :( :( :(

booooooooo... :mad:

people like you make me want to give in and buy those $5000 bikes my credit cards are afraid of. but then... i dont want to go out there with my $5000 bike and come across a rider who will post threads like this about me. :D

BTW... my MTB only has 4 inches of travel. :( :( :(

Heh tiagra and tekpro brakes on a 20 lb $500 bike, what you got, giant ocr2 like me?
Mine only has 1/8" of travel :p

but then... i dont want to go out there with my $5000 bike and come across a rider who will post threads like this about me. :D


If your riding a $5,000 bike, nobody will make fun of you. ;)

Heh tiagra and tekpro brakes on a 20 lb $500 bike, what you got, giant ocr2 like me?
Mine only has 1/8" of travel :p

a 2003 allez sport... tiagra/105 stuff... but nothing compared to some of these guys with Campys and Zipps... :(

If your riding a $5,000 bike, nobody will make fun of you. ;)

hahaha yeah right... :p ;)

I don't think that it's the bike, but more the rider. I would rather ride with a good rider on a $200 bike than some wanna be on a $5000 bike

If your riding a $5,000 bike, nobody will make fun of you. ;)

Oh yeah? Let me tell you I used to make fun of people on $5,000 bikes when I used to drop them on my $600 bike.

In answer to the original question, I wouldn't let it bother you. Idiots are everywhere, it's just a fact of life. I had someone sucking my wheel on my commute this morning. I got rid of him as soon as I hit the traffic (he didn't know how to handle it, I did). However, they don't really bother me that much. I can get rid of them fairly quickly (either by dropping them, firing snot rockets, or deliberately riding close to pot holes without pointing them out). It's really not worth getting too upset over.

If they guy slows down to try to get you on his wheel, just slow down with him until you get close, then put on a pre-planned sprint. I doubt he'll be able to react quick enough to get to you.

We get a lot of customers like this at our shop. One guy is really odd though. He bought an '04 Stumpjumper, which is a pretty high end bike. Its his first mountainbike as far as I can tell, and he put a nice Walmart cyclometer on it. He also cannot ride to save his life. I mean thats cool and all... he may eventually learn, but it seems like such a disservice to the bike. Also his attitude is one of supreme knowledge even though he has maybe been riding for 3 months, and judging from his bike last I worked on it, perhaps once a week.

I recently got a bike one model up from his, but at the time of purchase he insisted we upgrade the Deore f. der. to an XT (like the front derailleur matters at all)... anyways he saw me on my Comp which has the LX front derailleur and was so quick to point out how he got XT and how much better it is, and I am just like whatever dude. So he follows me out to the first climb on the trail and I didn't see him after about 30yds on that. I didn't want to be an ass but some people do NEED to be put in their place, but I wanted to do it in a manner that it was my riding and not my mouth that demonstrated that.

To be fair my roadbike is a 1989 23lbs beast with a MONGOOSE saddle!!! Yes, Mongoose! It was the best saddle in the parts bin at work, seriously :-D Its cool cause its pretty stealthy. People think I'm a weak rider since I am riding this cobbled together old beast of a bike, but seem pleasantly suprised when I'm on their wheel at 28mph :-)

Basically let your riding speak for yourself and don't go out of your way to embarrass other riders... thats my policy at least, and it seems to be working out well so far.

This thread is a joke, right?

Just let people ride, its not about YOU and the fragile ego you carry.

If someone want to weave up and down the bike path, so what? If my bike cost three times more than yours, so what? Jeez, get over yourselves, you are all relatively crappy cyclist and you know it. Otherwise, you would be a pro (professional riders need not reply).

My ride is a cobbled together fixed gear, a Schwinn World Sport with a Trek carbon fiber fork, I run 48/16, it's no speed machine. I was in my bike shorts, but my cargo shorts were over them, as work has asked me not to wear the lycra indoors. If I am a poser at all, it's to be a 20 year old messenger biker, yeah I had my messenger bag on too.
As far as learning to ride in a line, it was MTBing that taught me how to do that. Pick a line and follow it. When you ride single track you don't always have a path to swerve on. And it was MTBing that taught me to be aware of my surroundings, what lies ahead, what could be around the next bend or over the next rise.
Since I ride both disciplines, and enjoy them both, I use the teachings of both.
And I do announce myself, often when I see I'm coming up, "behind ya," gives them a chance to collect themselves and decide which side of the path they are going to take, I hate calling out "left" and they go left into me.
I guess what I've come away from this encounter is that I just don't want to be like this guy, an expensive bike riding retireee in spandex. I'm sure he was having the time of his life, and I hope to see him again, and hopefully he'll be a little better, a little more smoother, a little straighter.

We get a lot of customers like this at our shop. One guy is really odd though. He bought an '04 Stumpjumper, which is a pretty high end bike. Its his first mountainbike as far as I can tell, and he put a nice Walmart cyclometer on it. He also cannot ride to save his life. I mean thats cool and all... he may eventually learn, but it seems like such a disservice to the bike. Seely, you're kidding right? Disservice to the bike? WTF!

Perhaps, he's growing into it, or maybe he wants a nice ride. I hope you're never my bike mechanic. Everyone had to get a first mountainbike, even you.

He probably didn't want to spend $50.00 for a boutique cyclocomputer, when all he needed was speed and distance.
All i can say is: Get over yourself.

The guy was weaving all over the place, wouldn't it be common sense NOT to do that?
Common sense tells me not to trust anybody to have common sense other than myself....

Radar up?

55/Rad

This thread is a joke, right?

Just let people ride, its not about YOU and the fragile ego you carry.

If someone want to weave up and down the bike path, so what? If my bike cost three times more than yours, so what? Jeez, get over yourselves, you are all relatively crappy cyclist and you know it. Otherwise, you would be a pro (professional riders need not reply).

Because when you come up on a guy weaving and you have a nice 20 mph pace going you have to slow down with each weaving cyclist and that gets old. It sounds like you might be a weaver.

I'm uncomfortable riding behind, around, or beside a weaver. Erratic movements can be dangerous when you're holding 18-20 mph. I would of gotten away, too, especially if he wanted to pace. It's not about how much the bike cost or the kit he's wearing, it's holding a line.

I'm tired of hearing "it was all because my bike wasn't as expensive" or "bike-snobs" stories. I'm starting to think the whining is an excuse for lack of fitness. Blame it on the "bike snobs" cause they ride a nice bike and wear a wicking jersey. Nevermind their bike is a priority to them, and they sacrificed to buy it. I usually can't say hello or wave because I'm hammering intervals and about to see Jesus. Not because we're "snobs." Unless you think, EVERYONE, should be out for a Sunday ride barely breaking a sweat and waving at the dangerous weaver.

I know when i got my bike i just couldnt go down,lay out the plastic and buy it. I saved for a year and then looked for my bike. Most of us most likly dont have money in a drawer waiting to spend, but if i did.

This thread is a joke, right?

Just let people ride, its not about YOU and the fragile ego you carry.

If someone want to weave up and down the bike path, so what? If my bike cost three times more than yours, so what? Jeez, get over yourselves, you are all relatively crappy cyclist and you know it. Otherwise, you would be a pro (professional riders need not reply).

I agree completely...just respect others and they will respect you!!!
;)

I usually can't say hello or wave because I'm hammering intervals and about to see Jesus.
Oh, yeah, I forgot this is the ONLY way to ride properly. :rolleyes:

Only in America.... :o

Believe it or not, there are many, many cyclists who aren't interested in "hammering intervals in order to see Jesus" when they get on their bike to go for a ride. And all you hammerin' idiots are just as annoying to the rest of us as we seem to be to you... :)

Seely, you're kidding right? Disservice to the bike? WTF!

Perhaps, he's growing into it, or maybe he wants a nice ride. I hope you're never my bike mechanic. Everyone had to get a first mountainbike, even you.

He probably didn't want to spend $50.00 for a boutique cyclocomputer, when all he needed was speed and distance.
All i can say is: Get over yourself.

I dont think you even read the line preceeding the "disservice to the bike" part, or anything after it, cause if you had you would see that I said exactly what you had said.

As for the cyclometer, its $24.99 for the Specialized Sport (I install them free), and if you pay $1150 for a bike and care enough to upgrade the front der. to XT you should care enough to put decent accessories on it as well, and have the accessories installed right by a professional. None of this route the cable straight up the fork leg and then tie off the excess in a knot around the brake housing BS... heck if he had asked I would have put the Walmart computer on for free too.

I don't know why I am wasting my time responding to this post actually, considering that my views are plainly expressed in my first post, despite the fact you chose to read one line out of the entire post apparently. :)

With a few exceptions, I ride on the street and not on a path. There aren't many "weavers" on the street, 'cause they don't last too long on the road when they do that. :eek: If you ride on a path, runners, joggers, walkers, bladers, dogs, young kids, and unskilled cyclists are some of the things you just have to live with.

I was a weaver back in the day. I had just transitioned from a huffy mountain bike with enourmous wide bars to a "lightweight" ten-speed bianchi with 38cm bars. man, I was all over the place. even worse, when I got my lemond a year ago, I transitioned from the slow-handling bianchi to the lemond, I was all over the place once again...practice makes perfect...I can hold my line pretty well.

the moral of the story is that he just needs to work at it. I dont think you should look down on him becuase of it.

Randya, I didn't say it's the ONLY way to ride, it's the way I tend to ride. I ride for performance and improvement, and my comment was meant to say that when you're working hard, it's not possible to wave and chat.

Seely, I got the jest of what you were saying, but don't you think you were pretty harsh on the guy? Talking $hit behind his back on a forum like he doesn't deserve his bike? That hits the very core of my being, I remember how I felt when I was learning to ride, and even now, riding an Epic. It was harsh, and I replied harshly.

With a few exceptions, I ride on the street and not on a path. There aren't many "weavers" on the street, 'cause they don't last too long on the road when they do that. :eek: If you ride on a path, runners, joggers, walkers, bladers, dogs, young kids, and unskilled cyclists are some of the things you just have to live with.

Unskilled is one thing but what about the guy weaving in and out across the divided line of a two lane bikepath. When you come upon him you dont know what to do. Stop and say hello. I'm trying to keep my pace up for the whole ride and slowing down to 5 mph for that guy or the dog walker with a 20 foot leash or a roller blader going into both lanes. All i ask is all these people to go straight and stay in one lane,i'll pass them without a problem. Also gives the other 1000's behind be to pass be easier. LOL

Seely, I got the jest of what you were saying, but don't you think you were pretty harsh on the guy? Talking $hit behind his back on a forum like he doesn't deserve his bike? That hits the very core of my being, I remember how I felt when I was learning to ride, and even now, riding an Epic. It was harsh, and I replied harshly.

Ok apparently you aren't going to actually read my post. I didn't say he "doesn't deserve the bike". I said "it seems like he's doing a disservice to the bike". They are too COMPLETELY different statements. I'm not talking "$hit", especially considering that I said "He also cannot ride to save his life. I mean thats cool and all... he may eventually learn, but"

I also think you missed "Basically let your riding speak for yourself and don't go out of your way to embarrass other riders... thats my policy at least, and it seems to be working out well so far."

And perhaps you missed the part about why this guy annoys me: I recently got a bike one model up from his, but at the time of purchase he insisted we upgrade the Deore f. der. to an XT (like the front derailleur matters at all)... anyways he saw me on my Comp which has the LX front derailleur and was so quick to point out how he got XT and how much better it is, and I am just like whatever dude. So he follows me out to the first climb on the trail and I didn't see him after about 30yds on that. I didn't want to be an ass but some people do NEED to be put in their place, but I wanted to do it in a manner that it was my riding and not my mouth that demonstrated that.

Basically he knows nothing about bikes in general, which is FINE, its part of my job to help people understand bikes, and its something I love doing. However, he consistently acts like he is an expert on anything relating to a bike. See above example. See I remember VERY well about 4 years ago when I was learning to ride, and walking up every hill, and coming into the shop everday with QUESTIONS. I made no pretenses to be an expert on bikes, and rode with as many people as I could and listened to the sage advice of experienced riders and mechanics. I learned to ride because I sought the advice of everyone I could and made NO pretenses whatsoever to be even a decent rider. I still don't ever talk about my riding ability, other than to tell someone its improved a lot this season, or I need to work on this or that.

The thing that gets me most about said customer is he does not ask for advice, he does not want anyones opinion because he knows. In fact, he has been riding about 3mo and last time he was in felt it necessary to start spouting off to one of our other customers about bikes trying to show off his knowledge and intimidate the customer with his vast knowledge and skill, and his upgraded XT front derailleur.

Ugh ok this is my last post on this subject. If you still think I'm an ass, I'm sorry you feel that way.