ryanparrish

I am a poor roadie/commuter. I ride with busted up teva shoes, and baggy PI shorts, and a cotton long sleeve shirt. Why are roadies not friendly at all? This guy on a recumbant was really nice he waved so did this older dude on a litespeed. What is up with these people that look down or look away or don't even acknowledge your precense when you wave at them. This one guy I passed I told him on your left I went to the far left he went to the far right and took a huge pothole. I still don't understand

bikebuddha 

My biggest complaint about roadies on a MUP are those few who treat it as their own private training course. If they're too concerned about their avg speed to slow down for congested areas, how can they be bothered to wave acknowledge other cyclists.

barba

Roadies should not be on the MUP. Those were MUPies, and they are different.

DataJunkie

No matter what I am riding (MTB, touring bike, straight roadie) there are times when I am not friendly. I tend to be a grouch when tired. Plus, why would I wave or say hi to everyone on busy routes? That would take forever. Then there are times when I am feeling overly happy and wave and say hi to everyone from old grandmothers to homeless people. I really don't think it matters any and everyone is reading too much into this.
I tend to believe the bicycling public segregates into little clicks (sp?) and those in those groups are friendly to others in the same group. However, there are many exceptions to this that completely invalidate my thought.
So.....whatever

DCCommuter

Exactly. Or maybe we could rename the MUP wanab. People who race on it would then be wanabies.

CliftonGK1

I agree with you on this one. There's a huge number of cyclists here, and I have noticed a difference between the club riders and other roadies (actually out on the road) and the MUPies (who ride exclusively on the B-G/SRT.)

The roadies understand traffic and courtesy. They know to slow down when they ride past places like the skatepark or the local picnic parks because there might be little kids running around. Even though they ride in packs of 15-20, they're not a nuisance to anyone because they'll break into 3 groups and space themselves out if the road gets narrow and cars need to pass.
The MUPies (one specific group that I've encountered) ride early weekday afternoons. It's a pack of about 8 riders all out cranking for top speed. There's been more than one time that I've had to jump trail and ride in the grass because these speed weenies won't ride single file, and whip around blind corners on the path like they're the only people that use it.
I wear my busted up Shimano SPD shoes from 10 years ago, logo bike shorts from Schnaubelt Shorts (now Aerotech Designs,) and a YellowArrow.net t-shirt. It's not about the gear. I'm the 1973 Jeep Wagoneer of cycling: Big, ugly, kinda beat-up looking, but watch out for what I'm packin' under the hood! I may not be the fastest, but I'll take on any terrain and keep going all day long.

Don't let anyone's attitude get you down. That's the great thing about riding: You can get out and have fun doing your own thing. You don't need anyone else to validate what you do and how you do it.

derath

Blah Blah blah.

I'm sorry but is this that mysterious. How many people do you encounter in everyday life, walking etc, that don't say hi, or avoid eye contact, etc. It isn't limited to roadies vs. others. It is everywhere.

-D

truman

The problem exists solely with them, until you choose to make it your own.

If we're going opposite directions, I make eye contact when possible to make sure our paths won't conflict. I'll give a little nod, or eyebrow lift, and return any verbal greeting they might offer.

If I'm overtaking someone, I'll call 'on the left' to get them to hold their line and hopefully not spit while I'm in range. Then, when I pass, I'll say something like, "Helluva headwind" or "Beautiful day".

If they're out joyriding, it's just politeness, but if they're MUP-puppies it serves to drive home the point that I'm passing their lycra clad, skinny tired butt with a knobby mountain bike, in cutoffs and a backpack.

rule

A roadie on a MUP is not a roadie.

If you want to get a reaction, yell out "Hey your fly is open."

DataJunkie

So, a roadie who has ridden say 80 miles on the road and is feeling exhausted and takes a MUP to his house is no longer a roadie?
Interesting.

Generalizations suck.

newbojeff

Don't sweat it. Many people out on the MUP or road are quite nice. Some are jerks. Don't sweat it.

MMACH 5

I think you get a pretty good cross section of society out on bikes, regardless of what clique they fall into. Some are very friendly, some aren't; some are jerks, some aren't; some are simply shy or insecure, while some are more outgoing and self confident.

derath

Yea and it goes both ways. I have been riding out on my Lycra wearing roadie days and been dissed by the cutoff shorts and sandals riders as well. Some people are just nicer than others, regardless of what they are doing.

-D

ryanparrish

Maybe I can take their looks as amazement. I couldn't figure it out I was like the only one with shorts on everyone else had tights, and jackets on I was kinda confused. I had cutoff shorts on before, and a pack of roadies was trying to supress their laughter. I was like I didn't know it was that funny.

knobster

Wow, you just described the population of the world. You'll see every kind on the roads or MUP in this case. I usually wave and don't even pay attention enough to know if they waved back. I just don't care. I every once in awhile do training rides and on those I am concentrating and don't look at things like riders on the other side of the road. I bet they call me a jerk sometimes too.

knobster

I know what you mean. I was called a *** one day by a guy driving a Jetta.

ryanparrish

The MUP I ride I don't think is a good cross section of people. Everyones the same race white theres families and adults on cozy rides and their are roadies and recumbent riders. Thats about it I saw some one practicing their cross country skiing that was cool saw allot of people on roller blades. The town I live in isn't a good cross section of anything it is predominantly white republicans that fear out siders its kinda weird.

badger1

Going to second (third?) CliftonGK1 on this one -- and yes, I've 'blah blah blah'ed' this before. I pile up about 3 to 4000 kms/year commuting, most of that accumulated on our MUP system; my observations/incidents/encounters entirely confirm GK1's. One CAN distinguish the (true) roadies on the path; they do tend to ride carefully/considerately, even if a group, and signal, call out, slow down for the kid areas, drop into single file as/when required, and so on. Then there's the MUPabe's -- alone or group, full kit, often quite pricey rides, but riding (in THIS environment) w/o any consideration whatsoever. This group includes tri-geeks as well. In my observation, this behaviour is not restricted to road-bike riders -- there are mtb/even hybrid riders who behave this way -- but such jerks are, more often than not, riding full-on road or tri bikes. Anyway, just one (recent) example: this past July, I was heading home and approaching our local small MUP 'hill from hell' -- a very steep short rise that descends to a blind corner >>over a creek bridge; at the foot of the hill a little girl (9/10 yrs), riding with her dad, had panicked coming down, hit her ineffective brakes and gone off. She had a badly split/torn knee, severe gash in her forehead and a mild concussion, and was lying half on the paved surface. A couple of people had already stopped, as did I, and we called 911 and did what we could while waiting for EMS. One of us had gone up the top of the rise, trying to warn people to slow down, but the warning didn't work on a small group (5 or 6) of wannabes in full gear out on one of their play/pretend training rides; down the hill they came in double file, spread across both lanes as usual with these people while heading toward the blind corner, and were then right pissed off because they suddenly had to slow; as they went by, one of their number very loudly called out "Get the f__k out of our way, f_____g idiots." Very sad, I think -- really nothing else to say. Sorry for the long post, but this kind of thing really bothers me.

DataJunkie

That type of person deserves a concussion not the little girl. Such is life.

P.S. It would bother me as well.

MMACH 5

Yea. That was kind of my point.

oboeguy

Hooray for sweeping generalizations!

Not all roades are jerks. I wave, say hello, etc to most everyone on the MUP, road, street, etc.

DataJunkie

yay oboeguy! That is what I was making an attempt at saying in a very obtuse method.

CBBaron

Roadies in general tend to come off as having a bad attitude but I think it might be the circumstances. Usually these types when on thier bike are out for a hard workout. They are often trying to keep thier heart rate up or trying to improve thier average speed. This means they are busy working while on thier bike.
Commuters are often not pushing as hard and maybe just enjoying the ride or the scenery and so are often much more friendly. Familys also enjoying the MUPs also tend to fall into the more relaxed ride category.
Ofcourse there are always exceptions to these rules.
As for Roadies on MUPs. In some areas riding on a MUP at an off hour like first thing in the morning is often a good place to get a workout. There are often fewer intersections, little traffic and a pleasant course. Now those who try to ride fast on congested MUPs or who won't slow down for congestion are a problem but most riders are more considerate.

I am not a typical roadie but more closely resemble one than I resemble the guy on a MTB with cutoffs. I do ride fast on a MUP as part of my commute. However I give warning of anyone I meet, and most commutes I only see a few other users.
Craig

Roody

Just wondering--is this like cagers who honk at you ("give warning") then blow you off the road? I think you should stay off the MUP when you want a fast steady ride. Most MUPs have blind curves and narrow spots that should be taken slowly, even if you think nobody else is out early in the morning.

ryanparrish

I don't like to complain. When I see riders on this mup they hardly slow for the stop. I come to a complete stop, and look both ways I don't want to become a splatter on the road. Also what is with the bridges that have the rubber in the middle do you ride on those? They seem like if you were to ride on the rubber you'd fall over because of the large gap between the road, and the rubber