Chris L

I have noticed that most of the people who yell or honk at me seem to be male. I was wondering if they are trying to compensate for other deficiencies?

Matadon

I think so; about the only thing that runs through my head when some kid in his daddy-bought/InsanePaymentsCreditCo Camaro calls me a dork is that I look better in Spandex then he does.



Here's something that really irked me: Yesterday, while I was out riding, I was taking a short break at a stop sign to change glasses -- putting on the normal specs and putting away the schweet (and too-damn-costly) prescription shades, when two twenty-ish guys pulled up next to me in a truck. They had a couple of *pristine* mountain bikes in the back of their *pristine* Tacoma, and the one in the passenger side yelled out, "Need a real bike?"



Excuse me, but the last time I checked, *real* MTBs (and their owner's vehicles) were supposed to be beaten, abused, and caked in mud and grime. These posers looked like they had just gotten off the showroom floor. Besides, if their bikes were so damn great, why were they driving the truck? The roads around here are pretty clean (very little glass, lots of acorns and potholes), and have a *ton* of convex hills, great for a warm-up before hitting the trails (I'm using them now to work on building my quads and cardio training for distance rides). Not to mention it was only about five to ten miles to the lake (where one would be MTBing), anyway.

Some people...

Chris L

You should have asked them if their "real bike" can go up hills rather than just down

RainmanP

I continue to be amazed at people in big pickups and SUVs that seem very impressed that their vehicle can outrun a fat old guy on a bike.

Campag Fetish Boy

I thought this was a thread by someone who'd seen me out cycling naked again

Chris L

Everyone here is looking at me funny because I laughed at your post :thumbup:

HardBall

Yeah, When my wife complanes that my bikes always seem "messy". I always reply 'Thanks' and stick out my chest.

I maintain them well but they are MTBs, a little messy means that I did good.

cyclezealot

Funny. I have a hybrid, I rarely ride. Ocassionally. But, it hasn't an odometer. Don't bother to count the miles. If not clicked in, it doesn't count. Seems to me, all the mountain bikes; Owners fail to take them to the trails, and they are most often found on bicycle lanes. nothing against mtn. bikes. i own one too.
Seems to me, harrasment usually comes from young punk males you see about jr. high campus', just after school lets out. Does not bother me. For a change of pace go to Europe. I recall, the young girls waiting atop hills applauding you as you make your way to the top. It is just thumbs up over there- for us cyclists.
Worst thing that has ever happened to a fellow cyclist- some punk high schooler threw an ice cream cone. I like to hope it is just americans do not understand the sport? We need more competitions like the old tour de dupont, to popularize the sport.?
As to spandex. Again American's do not understand the sport. Look at the NFL, are their uniforms any different. Why cyclists.?++++++++++++++++

stewartp

On the subject of harrasment. When I run at lunch-times I hardly get bothered. I have 2 lady coleagues also run at lunch times, they don't get hassled much either. But when all 3 of us run together, there's whistles, cat calls, gestures, the lot.
Can't figure it out.

I've never been hassled on the bike, but once, when I stopped to assist a female motorist who was being assaulted by the male passenger in her car. He called me a "poof" as he came towards me to try and hit me.
Ever tried to back away rapidly wearing cycle cleats?

Stew

Ellie

I've been wolf-whistled a lot, and had some pretty lewd offers, but that's mostly when I'm riding around in a crop top and shorts. That's probably my own fault, right? Particularly as most of these people wouldn't have looked at me twice walking around.

Recently however, in full clothing, I got told to 'get a saddle'. Took me some time to work that out, because oddly I _have_ got a saddle. Go figure.

People are just wierd. <Shrug>

Ellie

MtnBikerChk

Nobody really hassles me when I ride.

Maybe I look to mean? lol

John E

What can I say, "Illegitimi non carborundum"? ["Don't let the bastards wear you down."] Ride safely. Ride proudly. Ride often.

toolfreak

Iv`e once runned 5 km on a tarmac road with SPD`s............not the smartest thing to do! (and they still cliped in)

Matadon

I've often found that one doesn't really need to back away much when one has mace, a .45, or a few years' worth of experience in getting the crap kicked out of you by a guy you call "Sensi" or "Sir".

I'm kind of curious to hear this story, myself...

HardBall

Ellie, What you wear doesn't give anyone the right to be an idiot. Never bow to that "she got what she deserves" stuff.

Yeah people are wierd.

fubar5

People(most of the time) Want what they don't, or can't have. So they see a cool cyclist in spiffy spandex shorts and they think,"whoa, I wanna be like that". But instead of being proactive and getting a bike and riding a lot, they decide to get defensive, and harrass you(the cyclist). Whether my arugement is valid or not I don't know, but it is the way I rationalize it. Around here I usually get crap from rednecks. A couple times I gotten cheered on by African-Americans though.

cgonz

I think most 'guys' just want to conform to their local groups behavior. Usually this means watching football/baseball, drinking beer, eating wings, driving big pickup trucks, maybe some golf. There is just no way these guys are going to get NEAR spandex. They throw beer bottles at us for our own good - so we see the light and rejoin the tribe.

Chris L

I agree. People like that are just grade-A tossers.

Chris L

Good point. It's the same as the small penis argument, they are trying to compensate for their limitations in other ways

Yeah, we've got quite a few rednecks around here too. What's gonna be really scary is when I get one of those polka-dot jerseys (when I get money)

fubar5

Ha!!! Maybe I'll get one of those jerseys(when I get money) too, and we can share experiences together.

LittleBigMan

I thought this was going to be a thread about riding in the cold?

HardBall

My wife made me explain why I was laughing out loud like an idiot. Good one!

Joe Gardner

lol, I just had to mute a customer as i read that post

UncaStuart

If I may put forth my, ahem, scientific hypothesis:

It is not dingaling deficiency (to use the technical term) that evokes this behavior, but rather a brainwave interaction effect. That is to say, I believe that between the ages of 16 to 24, male **** (just-barely-)sapiens emit a particular brainwave. In most cases, for a male in isolation this effect lowers the IQ by an insignificant amount. However, place that male within 4 feet of another 16-24 year-old-male and the brainwaves interact in an insidious manner to lower the joint IQs by 40%. Add a third male and and the interaction of waves produces an IQ that is just barely perceptible with sensitive equipment. When two or more such males are encased in the steel body of a motor vehicle, there is a magnification resonance effect of startling proportions. Or so my studies have shown in a number of years riding both a single bike and a tandem (although I have found in some cases the additional metallic composition of a tandem has had a limited efficacy in reducing the brainwave interactions of the aforementioned males). Additionally, if any male in this age range has had demonstrated contact with a bicycle seat, it has been shown that this can act similarly to an innoculation, and said male's brainwaves are prevented from interacting with uninnoculated brainwaves.

My next step is to introduce tinfoil skullcaps to see if sufficient interruption of the brainwaves can affect behavior. To ensure the skullcaps are used, they will be tied into an ignition lock-out system. No skullcap, no juice to the sparkplugs. To date, Detroit has not shown sufficient support of this project, and in fact is lobbying Congress to discourage such scientific exploration. This is an outrage!

--Doug
(who is hoping, at 53, that enough brain cells are dying off so that soon he will not remember some of those embarrassing moments from when he was 16-24. Ack!)

ViciousCycle

I'm half-tempted to start carrying a miniature pair of tweezers in my pocket. The next time one of those young gentlemen starts giving me flak, I would fling the tweezers through their open car window directly at them. And then I would say, "Here, this will help you find your tiny penis!"