I learned yesterday that there actually isn’t really a ‘cycling community’ like the idealistic notion that exists in my mind..

Took the kids out over to the next town along the coast yesterday along sustrans 2.. Child seat and trailer were the mode of transport and we had ourselves a spiffing time..
On the way back along a couple of miles or so of disused railway line I got a puncture, which was a pain in the arse as I wanted to get home pretty sharpish as the grandparents were very shortly due to be gracing us with their presence.. With this in mind and adding to the fact that the kids were tired and hungry I did the macho thing and called Mrs Yunki to come and extract us by car from the next road access point..

The thing that bugged me though, as I pushed the heavily loaded wagon up the track, was 8 or 9 cyclists that passed without even acknowledging us, let alone enquiring to see if we needed assistance..

This isn’t a busy commuter trail in the inner city either, this is friendly, wave and smile and stop to chat Devon, and I wasn’t exactly a fixie **** with a broken nail or a scruffy yout’ with my mates in tow.. I was a cyclist struggling with two pre-school children and a loaded bike
Maybe we looked like we were having fun, or perhaps every cyclist that passed was an STWer that recognised my face and was stifling a malicious snigger..?

Whatever the cause, I felt a bit miffed for a second or two (and obviously again now)

The fellowship of the wheel is slowly dissappearing.

For what it is worth I would of shouted out to see if you wanted help, I would have also donated a tube (hopingyou would rreimburse me at some point)

That’s pretty lame, if there’s someone stopped I always ask if assistance is needed, generally they’re all good but you never know. Were the people passing ‘cycling enthusiasts’ or average joe pootling on an Apollo or something similar?

Thats Strava for you 🙄

Must be the new school of cyclists. I always ask if someone has a mechanical at the side of the road/trail. I’m always willing to give an inner tube and have actually received a few in return when I have had problems. All about good karma ‘innit?

I would say that nearly all of the folk that passed me were cycling enthusiasts, with a couple of lycra’d roadies and two almost certain STW candidates, one on a green Cotic roadrat.. (if that was you then hang your head in shame)

Which is why I was so disappointed..

I did have a tube FWIW, but that’s not the point

I always stop to see if someone needs a hand or a patch. People think i’m mad most of the time, but if I was stuck miles from home with no repair possible I would appreciate the gesture!

What did you expect them to do? I wouldn’t dream of giving my spare tube to a stranger – why on earth would I risk finding myself marooned to help someone that’s gone out ill-prepared?

That’s pretty lame, if there’s someone stopped I always ask if assistance is needed, generally they’re all good but you never know.

This

Ive given away about 10 tubes in the last 6 month, always happy to help a fellow cyclist out. I do get odd looks when i offer to help stopping on the trails etc..

I like to think someone would help me out, and tbh when i was stuck at afan a couple of riders did help me out when i split a rear tyre, and had already used my spare tube. Put it down to karma, its good to help another and on the trails sometimes you get a free cake at the end of the trail.

Which is why I was so disappointed..

I would be too, I guess there’s some pretty selfish/rude people out there..

I usually slow and ask if they’re ok.

I actually fixed a guys puncture once. Middle aged guy, expensive road bike and lycra who didn’t have a clue how to fix a puncture 🙄

Also given directions\their current location on a map to some lost looking people out in the forest before too.

Well.. exactly

It’s the done thing to stop to enquire if there is anything that you can do to help isn’t it..?
I always do

Obviously Shibboleth wouldn’t but it’s a well known fact that the shibmeister is an utter cock and will get karma’d into a nailed down packing crate and set adrift in the Atlantic before too long 😀

one of the by-products of the rapid increase inpopularity of cycling is the incremental increase in the number of anti-social egoes doing it .

Obviously Shibboleth wouldn’t but it’s a well known fact that the shibmeister is an utter cock and will get karma’d into a nailed down packing crate and set adrift in the Atlantic before too long

Yes, but I get to keep my gleaming white bar tape clean and my spare tube remains reassuringly coiled up in my back pocket. 😉

I always stop and check if people need help. I’m always disappointed at the number of people who are shocked that I’ve asked.

I’d hate to be ignored if I had a mechanical and was stuck, what goes around comes around.

If I see someone stopped or pushing a bike I always stop and check that they’re ok. Most people would around here.

I wouldn’t have stopped either.
You might have wanted me to give you something for free.

Seriously, you guys are such a bunch of martyrs! What the hell can go wrong with a bike that needs 2 people to fix?

Riding without a spare tube and patches is just irresponsible. Riding without the knowledge to repair a mechanical is irresponsible. Why the hell should one person’s ineptitude and laziness spoil or jeopardise another cyclist’s ride?

fair enough, if I saw a rider who had crashed, I’d stop to help – I have on more than one occasion. And if a rider asked for help, I’d stop. But I’ve got better things to do than get myself covered in oil because some numpty doesn’t know how to put his own chain back on!

Will someone think of the children…

Personally if there were children involved I would have stopped to see if I could have helped BUT taking your dependants on a bike-ride a couple of miles from home without the means to make basic repairs to your mode of transport is bad enough in itself but then whinging on here cos the “bastards” didn’t come to your rescue is just out of this world.

Yer a star yunksy baby you really are.

I’ve had two strangers give me their spare inner tubes, and I would definitely do the same for someone else. I always stop and check, it takes no time at all and you feel good abut yorself after. Win win!!

singlespeedstu – Member
I wouldn’t have stopped either.
You might have wanted me to give you something for free.

and we all know how averse you are to that kind of thing don’t we you notorious miser..

OP – Just out of interest why didn’t you have tube etc? I always have tube, patches, multitool, levers and a pump with me.

I would have stopped and checked you were alright but you’d have gotten a self adhesive patch rather than a tube.

Having stopped and helped a few people out before, some have been pretty ungrateful…

and we all know how averse you are to that kind of thing don’t we you notorious miser..

8)

On a side note.

I once went out with only one spare tube and had a double puncture. front a rear wheels both running over a bit of wood with a nail sticking out.
As I was putting my one spare tube in another biker came past.
I gave him some cash for his spare tube and off he went.
I then fitted his spare tube to find it had an even bigger hole in it than the one i’d just removed…

My solution.
Just convert all your bikes to tubless. 🙂

Yer a star yunksy baby you really are.

It was 15 miles from home thanks and you are clearly so busy trying to stop your spotty white knees from jerking that you haven’t got time to read what’s written.. 🙄

wipe that froth from your mouth sonny jim, you’re scaring the children 😀

OP – Just out of interest why didn’t you have tube etc? I always have tube, patches, multitool, levers and a pump with me.

Oh I did, I did…

It says so a few posts down from my first.. It was just more practical under the circumstances to get a lift home from the better half..

As cycling gets more popular the sense of community gets lower IMO, I may not give you my last tube (but I probably will if needed) but ill stop and give you a patch and show you how to do it if needs be, but many wont..
Cyclings the new Golf don’cha know, with all the ‘oim considerably richer better than yow’ attitude that goes with it…

So you just couldn’t be arsed changing your puncture, you’d already decided to call the missus for a lift, and these guys are bastards for not wasting their time by making an offer of help that you didn’t want???

Jeebus… And I thought I was hard work… 🙄

It says so a few posts down from my first.. It was just more practical under the circumstances to get a lift home from the better half..

Maybe they thought you were just having a rest. 😉

No I think he was just bemoaning the fact that no-one stopped to see if they were ok or needed help. Only takes a moment to ask someone if they’re ok.

I usually give a shout but was it obvious you needed help?

It’s not uncommon to see people pushing up a track with a child seat. Maybe people assumed you were knackered?

The thing that bugged me though, as I pushed the heavily loaded wagon up the track, was 8 or 9 cyclists that passed without even acknowledging us, let alone enquiring to see if we needed assistance..

When I used to cycle to work I got a puncture one morning. I didn’t have a spare tube so I was pushing the bike to work. There’s an absolute oddball weirdo that works in the same building as me but for another company that cycles to work. He cycled up behind me, paused and looked at me pushing the bike then shot off without even offering any help.

Prick.

i’d have stopped, most folks would. But I wouldn’t expect them to, and I definitely wouldn’t call them a bastard for not.

Shibboleth – Member
What did you expect them to do? I wouldn’t dream of giving my spare tube to a stranger – why on earth would I risk finding myself marooned to help someone that’s gone out ill-prepared?

If you crashed I’d pee on you 🙂

I always ask if someone is OK when they are pushing a bike. And what would you have said, anyway? You had the means to repair but decided not to. I’ve been in that situation out on the tandem with two kids in rural Oxfordshire. You just get on with it, All part of the adventure for my two boys.

Oh, and get some Schwalbe Marathon Plus. I have two 20″ brand new ones going spare. Half list price to you if you want them?

What did you expect them to do? I wouldn’t dream of giving my spare tube to a stranger – why on earth would I risk finding myself marooned to help someone that’s gone out ill-prepared?

I stopped on the NY Moors when I saw a couple of people stopped by the side of the trail.
They had punctured and had everything they needed to repair the puncture (tube/levers/pump etc)

Apart from a way of getting at the spare tube that was tightly zip tied to the seat post.

Luckily my super masculine Leatherman manicure set scissors came to the rescue 😀

(They literally couldn’t have had a more under prepared person stop though, I don’t carry any tools or spares at all. The only reason I had my super masculine Leatherman manicure set was because its clipped to my car keys !)

But I wouldn’t expect them to, and I definitely wouldn’t call them a bastard for not.

I think maybe that was my problem, I’d already got the polite and friendly rebuttal forming on the tip of my tongue.. the cheerful grin was already in place..

It seems that I just need to lower my expectations of the world and it will become less disappointing.. Whoulda thunk it!

I will always enquire if someone needs assistance 9 out 10 times they’re ok… we came across 3 yoofs at Swinley the other weekend who had managed to rip the derailieur off and bugger the chain on one of their bikes and had no bike tools at all between them. Fortunately we did and split the chain and removed the dangler so they could at least coast and push back to the car park… we only let ourselves down when it came to trying to give them directions… they might still be trying to find their way out now !!! 😉

I would have asked if you needed anything

however I wouldn’t be surprised if I was trying to fix something and people cycled past me, unfortunately

I’d have asked too.

But, in a sense, this reduction of “cycling community spirit” can be seen as a positive. In the past, cycling was so niche that there was a real sense of community. Now, there are so many more people doing it that that simply isn’t the case so much. It’s a shame that the community aspect is fading but it is because cycling’s much more popular now.

Or to put it another way, I wonder if you’d been in Amsterdam if people would have stopped. It’d be a bit like a pedestrian expecting other pedestrians to stop because their shoelace had broken (maybe and I’m sure there are better examples 🙂 )

I always ask, I did last Saturday whilst out on the road bike. People are so underprepared is quite funny.

Love the look of appreciation when they can get going again

Marvellous