Originally Posted by
Velo Dog
As much as anything else, the change here shows how cycling has changed since I started riding in college in the '70s. In those days I might see from zero to two cyclists on my 25-mile round trip commute, and if anyone was stopped, you'd always ask it they had what they needed.
Today I see a dozen or so cyclists, twice that on weekends, and almost no one stops. Too busy going fast or something. Doesn't affect me, because I carry what I need, but I regret the loss of camaraderie. It's weird, too, that if I stop to offer help, which I almost always do, many people seem to resent it. Don't want to take help from a gray-haired guy?
And I'm amazed at the number of people I see with no tools, no patch kit, no pump. Get a flat, give up and reach for the phone.
Been that way for a long time as far as not being prepaired. It ahs been a long time since I've ridden the beach bike path South of Santa Monica. There used to be a wall where the path went by in a long sweeping 180 degree turn. The inside was paved and a nice spot to stop and watch the riders go by.
This was long enough ago that CO2s were rare. I'd say over half the bikes had no pump and no saddlebag of any kind. No way htey had anyting to fix a flat. Far less than 10% had a visible pump.