Groundhawg

I'm wondering if this has ever happened to any of you. I was talking with one of my friends the other day, and told him I had to go..because I was going to do a 10 mile bike ride. You should have saw his face. His mouth dropped open and he had the most horrified look on his face. I thought he was going to faint. He said' You mean you're going to ride that thing 10 miles?

I told him yeah, at least 10 maybe 20 miles He looked at me as if I was crazy or insane.

I should have told him that I couldn't go any farther than 20 miles, because the trek 7100 hybrid would automatically start disentegrating at any mileage over 20. Have any of you had similiar reactions from your friends

One more funny thing I just thought of. My niece had picked her children up after school a few months ago. On her way home. She saw a boy riding his bike, He also had a backpack on to carry his books. She said " I felt so sorry for that boy having to ride his bike home from school. His parents are probably at work, or can't afford a car to pick him up"

Anybody else got any funny stories they would like to share?

my58vw

I was at work today and was exhuasted, so I took my shoes off and put my legs up on the desk (dispatcher...). After the shaved legs comment they asked how many miles I rode today. By now they are used to hearing, 20 or 30, etc but when I said 80 they said... WTF, are you crazy!

I was at the bike shop after my ride (getting the rear brake fixed) and some guy picking up a road bike for his daughter came in and after staring at the wheels for about 10 minutes asked...

I see you here all the time, do you live around here...

I say... nah... I just ride here...

How far is here... oh about 12 miles each way...

WHAT! Then the guy behind the counter says,... and he rode 80 miles today... you can imagine...

There are the classic questions I get asked all the time
1. How do you ride on such small tires?
2. Doesn't that seat hurt?
3. How much did (bike, wheels, crank, etc) cost?
4. How many miles, time, etc did you ride?
5. Why do you shave your legs?
6. Do you ride for the healthnet pro team (expecially people around me because of Redlands classic)
7. etc etc...

Dewbert

I get that when I commute....they always say "OMG...how far is that?" When I say it's ONLY a little over 30 miles each way they freak out...."and you still get to work by 7:30?" Then I try to sound glib (like Matt Lauer<g>) and say something about...."well, that's nothing compared to the 100 miles I rode last Saturday..."

baj32161

Yeah, I get it all the time and my commute is only 11 miles round trip. My co-workers have gotten used to it but some of the folks I regularly see downtown think I am a nut.

When I tell my friends about a couple of my 50+ mile rides, well THEN they KNOW I am nuts!

It's fun.

bnet1

Same here. My commute is about 17 miles. The response is: "you are going to ride HOW FAR??" It seems to just blow most people away.

chris_pnoy

"You sat 5 hours on that bike? "

Then one of my relatives asked "Hindi ba sumasakit yung itlog mo niyan?" roughly translated that means "Don't your balls hurt?" (except in a more polite manner).

Hahaha... those are weird...

KingTermite 

Yeah....I have heard it a number of times and usually on distances I would consider small.

10 miles? Are you NUTS?? I don't think I could ride 2 miles......that's crazy!!

Stuff like that.

Bigmark

I am 41, and just over 300. My brother is 44, and just under 180, he was talking about having his blood pressure checked, and the Dr told him to start exercising. I told him great! I will pick you up Saturday, and we will go to the trail. He sounded excited, and said, “How far do you go?” when I said the trail was 10 miles he almost $H!^ and said, “There is no way I can ride TEN miles.” Then I told him’ “No, it is ten miles one way.” He darn near died.

Kayakado

People freak when I tell them I ride 100-150 miles per week, when the weather is nice.

slowpedal53

After I rode my first century last year, my girlfriend's parents were overwhelmed by the fact that I had done it. Since then, whenever they introduce me to anybody, they always add "...and he rode 105 miles on a bike -- in one day!"

cc_rider

I don't get that reaction when I say "10 miles" 'cause I don't bother mentioning 10 anymore. I enjoy seeing their reaction when I say 40 miles, 50 miles or more.

Eggplant Jeff

My commute's just under 5, and people usually go "Well, I guess that's not too bad..." But the look on their face is like "Man what kind of nut rides his bike to work?"

Cyclaholic

all of the above

Normally I arrive at work at least an hour before anyone else so I'm showered and eat breakfast before start time, anyhow one morning through a series of events including a flat tyre I arrived late and as I wheeled my bike to my office a whole bunch of people realised that I had ridden to work - people that didn't previously know, well you can imagine what that led to.... next thing I know there's a fairly big crowd forming around my office door, some with that look of morbid curiosity like at a circus sideshow or a car wreck. Most just wanted to confirm the 'rumor' that I ride 60 miles a day, and ask the 'usual' questions before walking off in disbelief. The whole thing made me pretty uncomfortable, really. I could feel people looking at me funny around the office most of the day but I think that was just a bit of paranoia on my part.

twahl

They really freak when they find out my 10 year old daughter does metric centries with us.

thelung

I just got into cycling a couple months ago so I'm not a distance freak yet, but I am trying to average 100 miles per week and my mom and a few friends think its crazy. It doesnt seem to impress my girlfriend that much though

Rick G

I rode from my house to the closest auto parts store one saturday morning ( I have friends who work there)when I arrived they started in about having my wife drive me in or having her pick me up etc.but really did not believe that I rode in considering I had my 3yr on the back of it.Now I am threatining to ride to work which is about oh 12 or 14 miles from home and there is 1 big hill between me and it.my bosses daughter did it here a couple of months ago.(she is now 21 and goin to collage wants to be a physical theripist)
I just havent done it yet.guess I need to start.I have a couple of 20 mile loops I want to ride this year so I really need to get after it.
Rick G

Eggplant Jeff

Yeah, girlfriends are hard to impress sometimes. The stuff you think will, never does. Just remember, as long as she's still going out with you, you're doing something right .

larue

The best one is "you ride on the road next to the cars!?"

cedo

On a 24 hour fleche ride, we stopped at a convenience store checkpoint. The lady behind the counter asked where we had come from so we said Parkersville (or whatever) which was about 17 miles away. She couldn't believe it, YOU JUST RODE YOUR BIKES 17 MILES!? We didn't have the heart to tell her that we had just ridden more than 200 miles prior to that stop. We smiled and tried not to LOL.

BlazingPedals

I used to bicycle commute. From my (then) house to my office door took eight minutes. Everyone at the office thought I was Superman(tm) for riding 1.5 miles each way, especially in the cold or rain. I explained that if I drove, it would take eight minutes to walk from the parking lot, so either way my exposure to the elements was the same. Several of them lived similar distances from the office, but I was never able to convince anyone else to bicycle commute, even though there was a nice place to park inside

timmhaan

well, when i first started riding, i would be quite proud to tell people i rode 10miles. and they were surprised as well. at that time i thought it was quite an accomplishment. never would i have thought that 10miles is about what i do as a warm-up.

juf2m

We went out for dinner following a weekend ride. When the waitress came to the table we said that we were starving, haven just ridden 57 miles, she said "57 MILES??? On a BIKE????" The look of utter amazement was hilarious. We got our food REALLY quickly.

When I told my brother about the ride he said "You mean you rode 57 miles IN A ROW?"

I love getting these reactions, it makes me feel very sporty.

timmhaan

the more i think about it, the more i actually don't enjoy getting these kinds of responses. it just shows how little understanding some people have of our sport. it's funny sometimes though.

TheKillerPenguin

I kind of had the opposite experience yesterday. I was talking to a guy and he started bragging about how he rides 15 miles every day, and he got all dissapointed when I didn't act as impressed as he wanted me to be. He showed off his legs, then I showed off mine, and with this look of wounded pride on his face he said "we both have bikers legs!"

Bikewer

We send all our guys to the Police Cyclist training course when we hire 'em. In hiring, they always ask if the prospective officers have any biking experience. Of course, they all say "sure"...

The last day of the 4-day class is a "big ride" from the police academy downtown to the famous "Gateway To The West" grounds and back. It's maybe 15 miles. A lot of the recruits are just sort of stupefied. "15 MILES!"