I'm a slug geezer. I wear t-shirts and way old bike caps. The 30speed helmeted circus colored crowd are not aware of my lowly presence - too removed to notice the 80's Colnago and how totally cool I am. They have come to be not worth my time either.


Charlie

Sometimes I wave, sometimes I don't, like when I'm dying like an animal on the side of the road
in the heat.
There are a lot of riders here, and some very serious types who generally don't wave, that's okay
they're training.
I have yet to be stopped on the side of the road for any reason and had another rider or group
not ask me if everything was okay, or if I needed help etc.
I always ask if everything is okay when I see a rider on the side of the road, I do that when I'm
driving too, carry a pump in the car most of the time and tools.

Wow.

I used to kind of care, now I don't. If they wave, I wave back, or grunt. If I am passing bikes, I give a "on your left", if they are "citizens" I usually say "hello" also.

I love riding my bike, I don't need passing strangers to acknowledge me to feel better about the experience.

I count points on my morning commute by collecting smiles, waves and good mornings from joggers and commuters. It works best if I'm decked out in the full casual costume of t-shirt, ball cap and tennis shoes and at a modest speed. Wearing a helmet, jersey etc and working out at threshold I couldn't buy a smile (which is also fine with me). Maybe slight hand or head movements from other "roadies". Near as I can tell it all depends on whatever image I'm projecting.

My area is a huge cycling mecca it seems like, and I'm still just a newbie/novice but I've probably put in 300-350 miles since starting up and I can only recall one greeting from a fellow cyclist (he also was riding a vintage bike) and we only head nodded since we were hauling ass in opposite directions down old redwood highway. I've only had one non cyclist greeting and it was a local cop (he seemed to be drooling on my Le Mans). I wouldn't call cyclists unfriendly, but the guys in kits sure don't say hi to anyone, and the rest of them seem to avoid others on bikes because of the guys in kits. (I could be wrong)

I noticed it right away a few years ago when i started riding alot again. I just assumed the following

1, the ride of the carbon fiber frame was just too rough for anyone to let go of the handlebars.

2, since the sales person told them "with these brifters you never need to move your hands to shift or brake" everyone is afraid to let go of the bars

3, everyone is just too busy trying to best there last personal best so thay can make the Olympic team

most importantly I ride alot around So jersey in the Lumberton, Medford and Mt laurel ares and I just assumed everyon thought they were better than everyone else (you should see all the lexuses {Lexi?** infinity, and excalades around here) and therefore there was no ned to recognize any other person.

personally I always way, I am not big on the whole head nod thing. I think I get a response about 50% of the time

I must confess; I smile, nod, an occassional "good morning" because I'm a filthy pig! I came to realize this on a recent group C&V ride across LI. While pedaling through the Hamptons early Saturday morning, I began my litany of "good morning ladies" to all the blonde, tanned and artificial whitened smiling ladies we passed.................in hopes Christy Brinkley would pass my way........(sigh)....I'm such a pig.

I wave, but I don't look. Trying not to get hurt. I was climbing a mountain recently, and 4 lycra clad roadies came bombing down the mountain the other way. They all waved. I cringed.

I don't generally wave or acknowledge commuters in town, too many of them

Where am I? Is this the 41?

Yeah, I've noticed the same thing. I also ride motorcycles - well, used to until I crashed and haven't bought another one. But anyway, I'm used to waving to other motorcyclists. Thought it would be the same with bicyclists but was surprised to see that it was rare to have them even look in my direction. If I'm lucky I'll get a nod, but that's maybe 1% of the time.

I commute 2-4 days a week on my bike. Cross neighborhoods of all kinds.....for the cyclists I see it's about 75% wave or nod. I've gotten one pedestrian nice bike and today got my best acknowledgement yet. A semi-truck tow truck blocked traffic for more so I could merge across the freeway on-ramp lane and the gave toot on the air horn and a thumbs up.

I wave.

nothing.

I wave and say "hey!"

nothing.

I turn around, track the MF down, and get on his wheel, and cough.

nothing.

I pass him, and say "hey!" when I get along side, and pull in front.

nothing.


I stick a frame pump through his spokes.

Usually, that works.



Around here, almost everyone says hi, waves, etc.
If not, they're intent on their workout, head down.
I don't even bother waving to people on aerobars.
The majority of "others" will slow down, or turn your way, etc. if you encounter them "on the road."
You generally get close, exchange pleasantries, and then move on.

There are no commuters, so I don't know the protocol on that.

Well, I usually lift a few fingers and nod.

Most respond, some are in their own world.

Sometimes, I'm in my own world too. Paying attention to what is in my path, other thoughts in my head - may not even notice someone passing in the other direction.

I almost always ask a stopped cyclist if everything is OK.

Interestingly, when I'm riding with my wife - who rides slowly - sometimes, I will stop - standing over the bike, waiting for her to catch up. If I wave at an oncoming cyclist, most of the will start slowing and ask if I am OK.

I only ride on MUP, the section I ride is 90% cyclists.

I always give a nod, and 95% of the time get at least a nod or a finger lift (pointer finger) back. I find pretty much everyone on a bike out here is friendly.

I do group sportbike rides on Saturday a month. Probably 5-6 of the guys also ride self-powered two wheelers. It cracks me up to see a bunch of roadies and the shocked/horrified looks when a stream of ~10 guys on sportbikes all wave to them.... Every once in a while one waves back.
Either way, I don't get concerned - some days I wave/nod to everybody, some days I'm in my little pain cave and don't want to be bothered.
Ride your own ride...

Recently I was riding down a suburban road and on one the side of the road a woman was waving. I thought she needed help so I pulled over ....smiling brightly she said "have a great day". I replied you too. Not one minute later I made a turn and a car went flying by the other direction with a young punk leaning out the window spitting at me. I couldn't stop laughing. On a bike you meet ALL kinds.

Happens to everybody, everywhere. Some people are just in their own world or don't see your wave in time, or just don't care. I wouldn't worry about it.

It is definitely a size of urban area thing. In the big cities such as NYC the riders do not have access to long stretches of roads without lots of traffic or riders. So they are seeing big bundles of riders on every ride. I live in the suburbs of Richmond Va. I can go a couple of miles and be out into the rural areas away from the congestion. Even if you live in the City of Richmond proper, 4 or 5 miles in any direction gets you out of the city and congestion. Now for you big urban city dwellers imagine living where you can ride for 2-4 hours and not see another bike, rider or auto of any kind. Where there are stretches of no cell service, gasoline or convenience centers of any kind for 50-150 miles. Places where you are hoping to see cars and other riders to wave or nod to. Those places still exist in the west.

Shameless plug time. I was raised in the Wichita Falls, Texas area. If you are into century rides then you know next weekend is the annual Hotter-N-Hell 100. The one of the largest sanctioned bike ride in the country. Nothing but you, the 100+ heat and wind, the buzzards, long stretches of flat nothingness wasteland, and 13000+ other riders! Check out the link. https://www.hh100.org/

I've never really understood this view of cycling as a musical Disney cartoon, riding along, singing a song, flocks of butterflies following along.

BTW, I get plenty of waves and nods, if I want them. And there is no distinction re carbon and lycra.

I don't know what the anti-lycra/carbon thing is about here. I don't want to ride it (I do wear padded lycra shorts on longer rides because they work better) or wear full kit, but I don't view them any differently than I view anyone else on a bike either. Honestly, the only riders that get on my nerves, as a group, are the beater bikes, no brakes, riding on the sidewalk, no bike handling skills folks that think riding against traffic is safer and are on bikes because they have to be. That's a fairly large group here and I have more issues with them than I do with cars.

A little education goes a long way

So do tickets, and I disagree with this being about education...most of them know what the rules are, they just don't care. I've had numerous "encounters" where I've tried educating one of these human door knobs and all you hear back is an angry tirade, threats, etc. I've worked for neighborhood bike works, a local cycling community group, and have seen these same people who want free bikes from us ride away on the sidewalk after lessons about proper cycling. I'm firmly in favor of the stick with this group over the carrot. Ticket them on the spot, confiscate the bike and let them pick it up after they pay the ticket.

You have a large group of people riding bikes in town because they broke laws driving cars and lost their privilege to drive them. So the same people who didn't respect the rules while driving are now using less regulated bikes. Hilarity ensues.

I generally get responses when I acknowledge other riders, sometimes people beat me to it. I agree about aerobar riders though.

One thing that stuck with me recently: A couple months ago I was on the Touring Series V and about 12-15 miles into a ride the left crank arm started to loosen. I pulled over and called for the SAG wagon (I now ride with a 14mm ). While waiting I was on the side of the road, helmet off, sitting on it, with the bike leaned up against a sign. Four groups of cyclists, two pairs, two solo passed by me without so much as a wave, acknowledgement, or "need any help". However, three motorists pulled over and asked if everything was ok....one guy in a pickup who evidently lived about a mile away and offered any tools I might need. Wife was on the way so I declined. I still reel over that experience...amazing.

People riding against traffic make me crazy. Lots of them think they should be in the bike lane, too. So not only are they going the wrong way, they're in MY lane, forcing me out into the traffic that I can't see. In these cases, I almost always say "You're going the wrong way, man!"

I've had so many hostile encounters saying something to these people that I've surrendered. You can't fight every fight and there's just no win. Two weeks back I had a wrong way bike lane rider play chicken with me. My general strategy with the salmon is to ride dead center where they want to be, make eye contact and force them out of my area. Most know they're wrong, so they pull off to the side. Not this guy. He wasn't moving, I wasn't moving and we both eventually pulled off at the last moment. Mr. Classy screamed some things you can't say in PG-13 movies. I was pissed off (I do have a quick fuse and generally don't suffer morons)and yelled back (which was foolish, there really is no win in this situation). He stopped to initiate a more serious confrontation and I did the math:

My bike is worth 10-20x what his is worth. If mine is damaged, I have a substantial loss. If his is damaged, he can replace it at a dump. If I get into a fight, I could be arrrested, injured, miss work...etc. I'd have to deal with my wife critiquing my stupidity. He didn't look like he'd be missing work the next day. In other words, I had more to lose, there was no win and it wasn't worth it. I rode away wishing I'd just pulled over to let the moron by.

The idiots win, until they thin themselves out of the genepool and get hit by a car.