puckett129

I want to see if anyone here has some insight into something that happened today... maybe I'm missing something obvious. I went for a ride today, a little 18 mile loop just to break up the day. As I was returning home I passed two cyclists in full kit. The road is very narrow and very much a back road. As I approached them I waved and said, "How ya' doing?" At this point I was perhaps 10 feet from them. They both looked at me (almost in unison) and then looked away without so much as a nod. I actually rode away pissed. They're that effing cool? What gives? The only thing I can think is they looked at me and said to themselves "This guy is not a serious cyclist, we're not even going to acknowledge him."

I'll give some more detail so as to give some perspective and to possibly offer some explanation. I could not tell what their kit said, but it was matching. I didn't even see what kind of bikes they were on except that they were nice road bikes. I was traveling at perhaps 15 miles and hour and them more like 12. They were pedaling slowly almost as if they were just winding down from a ride or warming up. The ground was flat and I was just coming off of a slight decline. There was no way they didn't see me wave, although I guess they may not have heard me say anything... they were wearing ear warmer things. I am clearly not a true roadie with my nondescript "kit" and I was wearing a Giro urban/all purpose style helmet with the old "team Z" logo on it. My bike is a hot pink, 25 year old Greg Lemond steel framed bike, but it does have all new parts (mix of Veloce and Ultegra). My shoes are SPD style and clearly not road shoes. My saddle bag is a little larger than most roadies.

I am clearly not a dedicated roadie, but I always see other cyclists along the route and I always wave and so do they. I would not think much of this, but we were so close and traveling so slow it was obvious that they intentionally ignored me. Am I not aware of some serious roadie code? Does anybody know roadies who won't wave at other cyclists they deem to be less deserving? I know this shouldn't bother me, but it does. This was not a life changing event and I won't lose sleep over it, I promise, but I thought the 41 could give me some insight. At any rate, I'll try to make my kit match my bike a little better next time I step out .

Dudelsack 

Proverbs 12:16.

darb85

dude, who cares, just ride

LowCel 

Oh well, just keep riding. Who cares if someone you don't know doesn't wave at you while riding the opposite direction.

As for what bikes they were riding, we all know they were riding Treks.

halfspeed

Cool. First waving thread of the season.

Nerull

You could look at one of the million other waving threads.

escarpment

Do you wave at all people driving cars?

There are a lot of jerks out there, and there is no brotherhood of bicyclists.

bt

sorry, we don't wave to freds

gc3

man, was that you? i'm really sorry, looked just like my grandmother...

WHOOOSSHHH...

You don't wave at your own granma?

svtmike

I was going to wave, but the mix of Veloce and Ultegra confused me, and the large saddle bag scared me.

CALE262

That's a Jeep thing

rubic

Maybe they were not fools. Perhaps one of them had some sort of life issue and was discussing it with the other fellow in the same kit. The OP happens by and attempts conversation that does not work due to the seriousness of their conversation. Haven't we all experienced this at one time or another? Now who is the fool? Or better yet, who was fooled?

MegaTom

Imagine my surprise to find that this is not a 5-year old zombie thread...

svtmike

The guy having the life issue, because it's probably his fault.

MegaTom

I failed to return a wave yesterday. I was riding my Lynskey, fully loaded with an 18-pack of Miller Light and 2 4-paks of Strong Bow bungied to the rack, and an expensive bottle of whiskey in my backpack, just tryin' to get going from a dead stop and crossing an intersection on a busy road. The guy seemed friendly enough, but gosh-darnit I just couldn't find the wherewithal to wave back at the fella. Now that I read this and think back on it now... I feel really bad.

puckett129

It's all possible because of the shiftmate and it is wonderful. Had I known it would confuse you I would have definitely tried to catch up and explain. I don't wave at all cars, but I do wave at people that wave when they approach me on the sidewalk, and I think this is closer to that sort of scenario.

Enough said, it's a "we're cooler than you" thing. I get it now. Like I said, I won't lose sleep over it and now I know. Thank you, everyone for the help.

longbeachgary

I don't remember New Yorkers being this sensitive. Some people wave and some don't. After a while you'll know who does and who doesn't.

rubic

https://947thewave.cbslocal.com/

Here is the proper way to wave.

And all that jazz.

Cookiemonsta

Whether it is cyclists or anyone else, some people are just not that friendly. Hell, I have neighbors that will not even say hi to me.

I would not worry about it or care.

zonatandem

Typical NYorker! Got to ***** about somethin'!
Pedal on!

Gluteus

Luke 23:34

Desi

I agree...

halfspeed

No. It's a "we've done this thread a million times and it just ends up a stupid argument" thing. Some people believe that there's a moral imperative to wave at other cyclists while some believe there are reasons why one might not do so. If you're really interested, I think that google thing works pretty well at finding old threads that hash and rehash this ad nauseum.

Desi

I meant..I agree with this comment..