I frequent several of the multi use trails locally. Over the past year or so, people have growing increasingly strange, distant and hostile. I usually try to make eye contact and smile with people as I walk or ride by (I ride slowly on the multi use trails). In years past, especially when walking, quite a few people would make eye contact, smile back and many would say hi.

All of that changed this past year, as most stopped making eye contact, except to stare at me with fear or wariness out of the corner of their eye.

In the past couple of weeks, oddly, it seems like the friendly vibes have returned somewhat. Today for example, multiple people smiled and said hi to me as I rode by. I suspect that the tensions and anger caused by the perceptions of the previous administration have dissipated.

As an odd coincidence, I visited one of the chillest friendliest coffee shops out of town a couple of weeks after the previous president was elected in '16 and the employees were acting wildly out of character: yelling at customers, and generally strung out and angry. I never returned to that coffee shop!

It's strange that politicians can have such a profound effect on people's emotional welfare (assuming my suspicions are correct), one way or the other. What are your experiences recently? Any coincidental changes in people's mooods and behavior in your experience?

What is the cycling content in this post?

This

The only relevant word in your whole entire post has been bolded. The rest of it is just grasping at straws.

Maybe keep your electric bike off the MUPs?

Well, it looks like people aren’t friendlier after all.

I too would be wary of a stranger who stares me in the eyes and smiles for no perceptible reason. Pretty much no one up here does that.

3-Steps to Clarity: Know When You're Projecting and How to Stop

Did you stop wearing that furry helmet with the bison horns sticking out of it while on the MUP?

lol, so you think people are friendlier because Biden is prez?

I have noticed the same thing. People are friendlier, including me. I even said good morning to that annoying woman who comes to the park and immediately lets her two dogs off their leashes. I mark it up to the change in our political leadership as well as the loss of that hate spewing radio host. Everything just feels better. And beautiful weather doesn’t hurt either.

Wicked snow here in Philly at the moment. Changing to rain in the city later.

From my times working in other countries, I've met plenty who were surprised by the general friendliness of Americans and our prevalence to greet people for no particular reason.

I will agree that over the past year the people on the MUP have been a lot less friendly, but I've attributed that to the greater number of random users and the wariness of catching something deadly from random strangers. As the pandemic is showing signs of winding down and the solution is becoming more wide spread the wariness is subsiding and the friendliness is reemerging.

The waxing moon this week has done a lot to boost people's friendliness and happiness.

closed for now, nothing good has come of this so far