Keeping Your Thoughts to Your Self
 

I have often thought about the appropriateness of advising another rider (typically as I ride up on them) my opinion as to their bike fit. We all have seen it: a very poorly fitting bike such that the rider is widely bow legged or has hips rolling left-right, etc. and its is not surprising that we (me) would want to assist. Perhaps they don't know of their fits issue or perhaps they have a reason for it....but, thankfully, I have never brought myself to making such a comment and now I am convinced keeping my mouth such is the correct way to go....

I have been riding for over (25) years and over that time I have owned perhaps 15 - 20 road bikes. I have raced and done 1000's of miles of club riding (tempo) and many more solo riding. About (12) years ago I went though the full fit process when I purchased a new "expensive" road bike. Since that time, I have kept my fit in close proximity to those fit dimensions and angles. I current have (3) road bikes that I switch between and they are all within a hair of each others measurements for all the key fits, i.e. saddle height, reach, bar width, etc. Over the last (12) years of cycling I have not once had any pain or tinges of pain related to fit. No back issues, no hand issues, no knee issues, no neck issues...it been all good!

Ok, so last week I am on a morning ride ( +/- 20 miles) when a club ride of about 15 speedsters came up on me. (Note: I am a "lifetime" member of this club and while not so much any more, I used to ride with them 4-6 time a week and I no longer wear the club kit.). As the leaders passed, I pedaled up and hung with the "sitters-in" for a couple miles, but, as that those first riders made their initial pass a complete stranger yells out" Hey, that bike is way too small, your knees are going to get blown on that ride....I am just telling to you this out of courtesy!" (yes, his exact words)

Beside this statement being so far off base or founded in reality, I was truly confounded as to (1) why this guy thought his (inaccurate) opinion would be seriously considered, (2) why he felt it was necessary to even offer his opinion, (3) why would he offer such an opinion in the middle of a rather speedy portion of said club ride, (4) why he thought he could fully assess my fit as he passed me at 25 mph and (5) why would I have every thought to offer such advise to another rider....

So, should you, like I have, ever entertain the idea of offering unsolicited and uneducated advise to another rider as you pass them by, think again and don't do it. Just don't do it. Its true, there is a time and place for everything and this guy came off as a total d*ck for his comments, IMO.

Now I know....

Did you yell back at him?

I generally bite my tongue and only give advice to people who I know/trust or those who ask. It's a sign of maturity.

I wouldn't and don't and wouldn't do it. Sometimes people do those type of things to give them a air of superiority.
But since I ride real bikes with horizontal top tubes sometimes those carbon bikes with the TT angled downward towards the seat tube and very long seat post give the impression their bikes are too small.

The real question here. Did you wave?

Maybe I shouldn't have said that...

It was going to be said sooner rather than later.

Wearing a helmet?

Lycra? Check
Crabon? Check
Clipless? Check

He was one of those 'serious roadies' and therefore a jerk. I bet he didn't even wave.

I come from a long line of know-it-alls and it's been a life-long effort to control my know-it-all-ism, but in recent years I've had some success in that I do not give unsolicited advice unless it's an issue of safety. So if I notice that you've got your helmet on backwards or that your jacket is about to get sucked into your wheel, I will tell you. If I notice that your saddle is too low, I won't unless you ask.

Cycling is like golf.


Once a person does it a few times, they gain expert knowledge that they are eager to share.

At the moment, no. I am thinking of wearing my hardhat on the way home this evening.

And golf is like sex, you don't have to be good at it to enjoy it.

Let me show you how to lean your bike against a wall so it doesn't fall over.

It's a really good skill to have.

Let me show you how to ... nevermind.

Serious answer here. I've bit my tongue several times but on 3 different occasions I politely approached the person at the trail head and asked if I could say something.

First time the older lady had the helmet backwards and all the way on the middle of her skull the forehead area completely exposed. I apologized for the intrusion and showed her how to properly wear her helmet. She thanked me and hugged me which caught me by surprised.

Second time was this big lady on a Walmart type bike on a very busy 30 mile MUP around here. I used to see her all the time at the beginning of the trail and then on my way back to the parking lot. She was always mashing the tallest gear with a very low seat and a rusty chain and nasty cassette. I could see she was always struggling to go even 6 to 7 mph. One day I passed her on my way to the car and as I was loading my gear she got to her car which was parked next to mine. I said a warm hello and we started to chat.
As she warmed up I asked her if I could take a look at her bike. She said "SURE". I got some supplies I keep on my trunk and did a 5 minute tune up on her bike including cleaning the cassette and lubing the chain. I also suggested her to raise her seat a bit and showed her how to use her gears for an easier cadence. Every so often I'd see her on the trail until my work schedule changed and up to that point she would wave hello and even told me that she was about to quit because it was very painful for her to ride with the low cadence and low seat. That made my day.

The third time at another parking lot of the same trail I was using my floor pump to air up my son's tires and we saw this lady struggling with a walmart type hand pump. My son offerede to air up her tire and we noticed a huge tear on the side of her old dry rotted tire. We showed it to her and pointed that the tube was already sticking out of the tire and she said she had just got that bike out of a garage sale and was on her first ride in over a decade. We suggested that she abborted her ride that day until that tire could be replaced. Many months later we saw her again on the trail with a brand new Cannondale Slate and she said hello to us.

I to suffer from Know-it_all-ism but over the years I've mellowed out, I've learned that when use my gregarious approach the message is way more likely to be received in a positive manner as opposed to be perceived as a Jerk.

Sometimes, but rarely
 

I've only offered advice/observation a couple of times. Onceto a lady who was exceedingly slow with a grueling cadence up a grade and complaining to her companion her knees hurt. I stopped and after a brief chat I raised her seat. Incidentally, small front, big rear for hills was also news.
To one or 2 people, I've mentioned that their road bike tires looked about 35 psi. They didn't know 85 min up to 110+ would be better. (it also explained their rash of flats) I only mention because sometimes low pressure isn't obvious until you are 3 miles out of town and now it's flat. Having a pump and patch kit on hand is useful if you are going to open your mouth.

So, my summation is this: Barking out unsolicited advice is in bad taste; Unless you actually see someone having difficulty that you can actually assist with, then you should be prepared to assist.

It depends. If the other rider is suffering and doesn't have a clue (like the guy at an organized ride who was struggling with a headwind in his big ring/small cog) or if safety is involved, I might respectfully say something. But most of the time I don't say anything (especially if they're faster than me :lol:).

Don't, unless it's safety related with impending catastrophe, "dude, your QR is loose..."

But, if you are good at it, you will get in in the hole more often with less effort.

I'm waiting at a red light and this lady comes up to the light and doesn't want to stop so she makes a right turn goes about a quarter of a block and uturns with the intention of making a right turn back onto the street she came from. But in the meantime the red light turned green for me and I went forward. When she saw me she said - you don't have to be so obvious. STFU is an approximation of what I replied back to her.

Bottom line is shut up and ride your own ride and also know-it-alls most often show they know nothing.

I was on a charity ride last weekend and I saw a guy I sort of know, wearing a twenty year old bell helmet.
I was tempted to pedal up to him and give him some unsolicited helmet safety advice, but instead just kept my mouth shut.

+1

I almost always bite my tongue in these situations, and it is surely the right decision. I can think of two relatively recent times where I failed to bite my tongue, one which I regret and the other I do not.

Both on club rides, talking to younger guys whom I didn't know.

The first one just had this very strange pedaling style - his heels stay way up high, maybe 2-3" above his toes. I asked him if that was a deliberate choice or perhaps something he could improve on and he snarled at me. He was right, I was wrong.

The second one, a guy I had never seen, joined a club ride and was blowing us all away - he would get in front and drop us all and then wait for us to catch up. This is a group where the average age is probably mid-50s, and this guy, I later found out, is 23. I noticed that his stem was way up high so that his bars were well above his saddle, and he was catching a ton of air. I asked him why his bike was set up that way, and he replied that he had just bought the bike a week ago and had never before ridden a road bike (!). The ride finished at something like 18.5 MPH (medium-fast for that group) and he enthused that he had never ridden so fast in his life. So I told him about a younger faster group in the area. He rides with them now, his stem is down low, and I see him nabbing KOMs on Strava all over town.

To start, or not to start, a thread about why do people get insulted and even hurt when they get unsolicited advice from strangers, and about how come it's a sign of maturity to hold one's tongue, but it's still fine to let words get to you...