Wow...you really take this waving thing seriously, huh? Relax man, they are just probably trying to leave quickly away from your house.

If my hand is numb, I'll take that opportunity to flex it.

Actually, I notice a big difference in the number and type of people who wave whether I'm on my road bike all lycra'd up, road bike in casual clothes, or on my hybrid being totally fredly portaging groceries with no helmet at 8mph.

Pegged! I got your number.

i like being accompanied while i'm riding... especially is it's a HOT MOM!

nod at the bros, smile at the ____

You prefer to draft her??

I save my waving for the supermarket...

"You're buying cereal?!?!? ME TOO!!!!1"

"It's really dangerous to wave at someone you don't know because what if they don't have a hand." - Mitch Hedberg

Most of the time I'll wave, ring a bell, or nod. Sometimes I don't get a wave back and I don't really expect one. I am just glad that you are on your bike. Life goes on.

I wave, nod or say hi but I don't do any of that on MUP on the weekend. If I do that, I may strain my hand and I also need to pay attention to the chaos on the MUP.

Ride with a group and everybody will wave at you. Solo it's a crap shoot. GL

I was riding on a rather empty 4 lane road and two guys in spandex going the opposite direction waved at me from across the road. I waved back. Generally I nod if I'm on a path.

At the what??

I waved at this guy once, and he didn't wave back, so I followed him to the Circle K and a security guard put me in handcuffs. What should I do?

lol!!!! One of the funniest posts i'v read.

I see what you did there.

I usually wave or nod. The way I figure it we're all part of community of cyclists who should watch out for each other.

It's an interesting phenomenon. I see it when riding my bicycle and motorcycle. There is a need for some to want to connect, with either a wave or a hello, to others that are performing the same activity. Do we do that when eating ice cream and spotting someone else eating ice cream, when scratching our nose as we lock eyes with another nose scratcher? If you are a social person then make contact. If you are not then don't. Just don't get upset if the other person doesn't behave in the manner you think they should. If they are giving you a reply out of an obligatory politeness without any true feeling then it is just an empty gesture. It turns into a mindless task like when people say, "Gesundheit" or "Bless You" when someone sneezes.

If you're attention-starved you could start a thread about it.

head nod. later.

I'm a lot like the OP. As a cyclist, I feel special, and like to amplify that special feeling when I see another like-minded cyclist, so I always wave. If she/he waves back, I'm gratified. If she/he doesn't, I find it kind of irksome and usually turn around, follow them to a quiet and/or remote area, push them off their bike, jump on them, put my hand through their ribs, pull out their still-beating heart and wave it in their face, just to see their expression as they expire.

That's just me, though.

Don't tell the Road Gestapo, but yesterday I was on a training ride out in the Delta and I waved at two other riders. In between intervals of course.

This ^^

But the BF Pope may add extra fredly insults in place of any friendly gesture...

this is the double-secret Cinzano. Real roadies don't talk about the double-secret Cinzano.

Nod and a two finger 'wave' from the hoods if they look like cycling 'enthusiasts' - be it roadies or freds. If they look more like people-who-just-happen-to-be-on-bikes, I usually don't wave.