rollin

I would have stopped. Not sure why his group didn't double back, I wonder if they had spares between them.

Hell if I was on a tough climb with 3 miles to go and 100deg heat I would be looking for a reason to stop!

Walter

My wife and I were riding with a noob yesterday morning. He flatted and had no gear. I was in front and didn't realize right away that he was stopped but my wife did. By the time I got back my wife had him almost ready to go with her spare tube. We use the CO2 and it should be over. Our partner sees my nearly antique Zefal frame pump and decides to put a little extra air in his rear tire and promptly rips out the valve.

2 tubes, 2 inflators and 2 wheel changes but no complaints. Guy is enthusiastic and in real good shape. He'll become a good rider and will probably be dropping me pretty soon. Getting a new guy started is always a good thing and I can always use a little more karma.

Not directly related to the OP story but a long way of saying I'd have stopped and helped.

(Of course, I despise climbing so a chance to suspend the misery would play into my decision as well. )

El Diablo Rojo

I voted yes. Karma baby, karma.

Tunnelrat81

Moral of the story seems to be this:

If you're wife is out of town, and you're 40 miles from home, being prepared involves more than two tubes and 3 Co2's. A patch kit and a small but effective 25 dollar pump will easily fit in your back pocket and provide you with all the security you need, while allowing you to help anyone else along the way. How many times have you heard stories of people with 3-4 flats in a single ride? I've heard a few, and I don't consider myself to be above that happening to me in any single ride, especially when I don't have a life-line bail out to call and pick me up.

In your situation, I'd have probably kept my stuff and surely asked for a description of the guys at the top so I could find and alert them. But I'd also re-evaluate my own preparedness for future rides. It might suck to carry a small pump and a tiny patch kit when you've already got full pockets, but not as much as it sucks to find someone who DOESN'T have friends at the top, and potentially screw yourself over by cutting your own options in half to help him/her. I carry a tube/Co2 inflator in my seat pouch, and when I'm riding distance, I have my tiny pump, second tube, and patch kit in my jersey pockets. Takes the fear out of the ride for anything short of a full on tire blow-out.

-Jeremy

bigbossman 

+1

If you don't want to help, why bother asking?

I'll always help if I can, but that's just the way I am.

banerjek

My attitude is that you need to come to terms with whatever happens. My general experience is that people are very kind, even when they have no reason to be. I never count on that, though. The good news is I get pleasantly surprised all the time.

Two years ago, I found a guy walking towards town who had been carrying CO2 and a tube, but he had especially bad luck and flatted his spare. He'd walked 14 miles before he met me, had wrecked his cleats, and had another 5 miles or so to go. I offered him help, but he'd walked so far he saw no point. I think he turned me down because he didn't want me to deny him a great story he'd be able to tell for years to come.

I can appreciate that since a crappy experience makes a great story. I narrowly averted a really miserable walk once. On that particular day, I couldn't call my wife because we'd just had a huge fight and I knew she'd leave me out to freeze. I didn't even tell her about the experience for more than a year, and she verified that my assessment of the situation was correct

I'll let you in on a little secret. Any woman who's been riding for a long time is a hottie, at least to any normal guy who's not a generation away in terms of age.

Retro Grouch 

In my case it would depend on what I was doing that day.

If I was just noodling along I definitely would have stopped, used my tube, my CO2, fixed his tire and refused to take any money the first time that he offered. (If they offer twice, I take it the second time because I think that it makes some people feel better.)

If I was trying to break my personal best for climbing that particular hill, I wouldn't stop unless he looked like he was in physical distress.

Incidentally, I may or may not wave at other riders based on a similar thought process.

AshtonEMT

Excellent point, I would've helped the guy regardless, but just think about walking in cycling shoes for three miles....BRUTAL!

peiffer83

I would have helped. Or at least tried. I always carry an extra co2 but not tube. Helped a guy on my double century this weekend, I figure if that guy ever sees me. He will help me if im in need, or buy me a beer down the road!

Accordion

I offer every single time. Regardless. I've received the rare glare or voiceless dismissal but I'll offer every single time.

And to the woman who said if she was stranded it is comforting to know she'll have company, I've done it!

There was a woman (attractive, but it didn't affect my decision to stop) and she flatted on the bottom of one of our canal underpasses. She flatted under the I-5 in a particularly dark area (it was midday but it's really gloomy under that long underpass). I asked if she had everything she needed and she said yes.

I told her that it might make more sense to move her bike out from under the underpass and up to the top of the street. She agreed and I walked with her to the top. I told her I would wait with her until she was on her way. I sat there and chatted with her but did not physically help her or offer to physically assist her. She was well-prepared, knew what she was doing, and seemed to enjoy the company. At the very least maybe the presence of another person with a bike alongside her would deter the one-in-a-million freak from preying on a "woman in distress". Maybe not.

If your name is Nancy, you are a nurse in Mission Viejo and you remember the guy with the Bianchi pista (it has NO gears?) then HI!

xfimpg

Why would there need to be a line?

You mean he looks young and in control of the situation?

You don't like the colour of his/her jersey?

Use your intuition. Just offer the help.

Anyways, those are my thoughts as per the request of this thread.

xfimpg

+1
That's exactly what I do.

Cyclist0383

Just by the mere fact of you posting thread this you seem to know that you should have helped him.

xfimpg

No sure if that's so annoying.
A few weeks ago a guy had turned his bike upside down and was obviously working on it.
So I swung back to offer help and turns out his LBS had replaced his quick release with 2 bolts.
I couldnt help him fix it, but i did point him to the nearest hardware store.
I ask even if they're working on it, they may be in the process of trying to figure out what to do cause they just realized they forgot their CO2s.

RT

If I have the means, I always help.

Fixitman

I would probably stop. I always carry 2 tubes so giving one up would not be a big deal, but in your case giving up your only tube would probably not be wise.

In this case I would have told him I would send one of his buddies back when I got to the top, and if they were not there I would ride back down to help him ...Then again his buddies could already be on the way down and you would not know them as they passed you .. now my head hurts .... crap!

Did he have a cell phone? If so he could have called for the sag wagon …in my case that’s the wife.

banerjek

I'd purposefully left out some of the other details just to get a read on how people felt in general.

For 2 miles, I would not accept assistance because I can cover it on foot pretty fast. I've told people that there's only 2 times they even need to check if I need help. One is when I'm walking far from town because it means I can't fix my bike. This is extremely rare -- the last time was 7 years ago when I had a rim fail on me. The other time is if it looks like I'm sleeping by the side of the road, because that's not what I'm doing. That happened only once in my life (crash requiring trip to hospital)

bigbossman 

Looking at the poll results, it amazes me that 25 out of 100 of us (so far) would not help if they could. That's a pretty disheartening.

banerjek

I think it's the 3 miles and the people at the top influencing the results. If there wouldn't have been anyone waiting for him, or they were much further away, I'm sure the results would look different. It would certainly affect what I would have done.

Booger

If the same thing happens to you tomorrow, what do you do?

unbelievably

Perhaps if the walking cyclist had asked for a tube, I would have obliged.
However, by the sounds of your situation, he had it all under control.

Don't ask for help and you shall not receive help.

Geoff326

should've ridden to the top and told his buddies to ride down to help him

3 miles isn't very fun to walk in cleats up hill though.

banerjek

Given the exact same facts, I'd see what his mental state was before deciding what to do. If he asks outright for help, he'll get it.

I think I'd turn around and go looking for his buddies.

ricebowl

That's going above and beyond in my book. I stop and ask. But borrowing my pump and getting a free tube you're going to change your own tire. Right now my mind is saying that policy goes for a hottie too. But...

BryanW

Agree 100%. To OP, if you'd been carrying a patchkit (which weighs less than your second tube) and a pump (which weighs less than your three CO2 canisters) you could've helped him and lost nothing but five minutes. As for him learning his lesson, he'd probably already learned it before you got to him. Most small pumps have frame mountings, and can get a tyre up to 100 psi. I can't believe people go riding without one - often they say that if the worst happens they'll call up their wife or whoever and get picked up - thus cutting short their ride and wasting loads of someone else's time because they can't be bothered to carry a pump.

Also, you once had to ask people if you could drink from their garden hose? If someone asked me if he could drink from my garden hose, rather than ask for a glass of water, I'd think he was dangerously insane. That may be a cultural thing.