You might be onto something. Wearing an "Iowa State" t-shirt in Southeast Iowa might very well earn you a glare. A "Michigan" shirt would be utterly out of the question.

I try to think of such people not as snobs, but as developmentally delayed in their social skills.

Maybe he lost his car on a bet and had to ride a bike...

Actually I was wearing a local bike club jersey with black shorts. My cycling shoes do have blue trim on them though:)

Maybe the poor guy was about ready to pass out from the exertion.

And if he soes hate us, I think we should ask: what are the root causes of his hatred? What did we do to provoke it? How do we interrupt the (bi)cycle of violence?

Let's all pick on the fat guy. He has no feelings and it will make us feel that we are better than we know we really are.

I'm a very friendly woman.

Almost nobody ignores me...:D

I believe there's always another reason (or many other reasons) for someone's less-than-perfect behavior.... maybe he was riding to the hospice to visit his ailing wife/mother/father/significant other AND is about to pass out from the exertion AND is thinking about a million other things except me on my own bike....

If it was just a case of the guy ignoring him, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. But, as the OP said, "No wave, no nod, just a glare."

In a region that's known far and wide for its friendly residents, glaring and not responding to a wave are legitimately viewed as anti-social and/or aberrant behavior.

OK, so I'm crossing the mode-of-transport boundary here, but I think it sort of fits in. Once some friends and I were snowshoeing in a beautiful wilderness when we heard the roars of snowmobiles. In a minute or two here they came. We stood a little bit aside, to give them room, and waved, and I'll never forget the leader of the motorized pack: A huge beast of a woman with a beer can in one hand, a cigarette clamped between her teeth and a glare that would've burned a hole through asbestos. She was such a horrible cliche that we all started laughing.

That's when you hope for a bit of wind to blow a burning ember from the cigarette onto her face, and set her mustache on fire.

Maybe he got a DWI and lost his license and HAS to ride the bike and is therefore understandably permanently PO'd. That would be bad enough for him to make us all feel better too wouldn't it?

Ok, then..... maybe he was from out of state and was grimacing from pain....

Or, maybe he was like me, having a bad day and acting like a complete jerk.

Oh, give the guy a break. He probably just lost his license to DUI and his Harley is parked behind his trailer under a tarp. :)

Perhaps the guy was sizing you up the same way you have apparently sized him up. His post can be found here in the forum if you just look for it . . . but, don't search to hard, you might not like the way he describes you or some of the augmentation added by responders.

You say he glared - but, that's your perception. Maybe he was just exerting himself, or, perhaps his countenance is permanently fixed in what looks to be a glaring expression.

We don't know why he didn't wave - I'm a waver - can't imagine passing another biker without some gesture of friendliness - but, as has been pointed out to me on this forum, some guys/gals don't care to speak to everyone they pass.

I say we should cut the big guy some slack.

Caruso

This wasn't intended as a personal attack on the individual but an observation based on the many threads in Bike forums about how unfriendly cyclists on road bikes are compared to cyclists on other types of bikes. Not a big deal in any sense.

We no longer wave at other drivers nor expect them to wave back at us. There used to be a whole code that determined whether the MG driver or the Iso driver would initiate the wave.

Paul

I usually ride rural roads where I never see another biker. Occasionally, in an effort to be social, I'll take my bike an hour over to the trails around Alton,IL and southwest of there. I am amazed that very few people even acknowledge my presence when I meet them on the trails. I'll say hello and most folks ride past without a word. About 20% of people will say hi. They act like city folk who are afraid to make eye contact with strangers. I'm not used to people acting like that.

He might have been so stressed with exertion that he may not even have *noticed* the brief wave, even though he was making eye contact.

Wow...now there's a blast from the past...The "B" would initiate to the Midget, The Healey 3000's or six's to the "B" etc. Brings back fond memories of a practice long since gone in our neck-o-the woods.

I might as well throw my own "hypothetical" into the pot...:)
So... fat hybrid guy in jeans and baseball cap, meets road bike guy with cycle shorts, riding shoes and club jersey?
It's possible that he's recently decided to do something about the shape he's in, and might be a bit intimidated based on what he's already experienced from other riders with a similar look.
Perhaps he was just icing you down before you had a chance.
Just sayin.....

Perhaps the Trek hybrid rider was a blind cyclist and didn't even see you. :D

Maybe the guy was out for his first ride on a new Brooks saddle and his butt was killing him.