I passed this chap up a climb, I'd been reeling him in for a while and he was moving reasonably quickly. We let on and I went in front, I heard him snick the gears and knew he'd picked up my wheel. We then rode about 2-3 miles into a headwind with me setting a fairly quick pace. I didn't mind, quite happy for him to be there.

As we dropped down into a village (where I was going to turn off and start a big assed climb), I relaxed and stopped pedalling to have a bit of a rest as we went downhill. I heard him change gear and he came alongside, looked at me and then went in front, quickly.

As he pulled away he put his right hand down by his thigh, palm facing towards me, and opened and closed his hand quickly a couple of times.

Was it…

a) Haha, I've dropped you.
b) Thanks for the tow.
c) Jesus, that was slow.
d) You ride like a Belgium champion, weaned on the roads and raised on the cobbles, I am not worthy.
e) What a complete bell end.

F) Here's a handful of drawing pins – enjoy the walk home!

g) I just spaffed my load in my lycra

g) wow I got hand cramp 🙂

'these are my imaginary drawing pins that I'm dropping on the road in front of you'

Probably suffering from pins a needles in his hand. Getting some feeling back..

watch out for the pothole?
EDIT I do what vings said so maybe best to just ignore (but watch out for potholes)

so not d) then?

Hurry home, this

is just about to start on UK Gold?

Opening a closing the hand is usually used as a signal that you're braking, usually the rider in front would reach behind their back and open and close their hand so the rider behind knows they're about to brake or slow down.

Maybe he was suggesting you should have warned him if you knew he was following closely and you were about to slow down to avoid any risk of him hitting you.

It's a bit cheeky if he just jumped on a strangers wheel unannounced but i'd guess that's what it was. Even just stopping pedaling unexpectable is enough to cause a crash if riding closely, you'd expect to be warned if you're on a club run but it's not something you can really expect complete strangers to do.

"Hi, I'm European" would be my guess.

Mate of mine went (motor)biking round somewhere like France or Italy or some such a couple of years ago, told me when he came back that over there the equivalent of the biker comraderie 'nod' that we have in the UK was an odd wave pretty much exactly as you describe. Perhaps the same greeting applies to road cycles as well.

mauja might be there actually. I knew he was there and he knew I knew he was there because I'd glanced back at him as we crossed a junction. Maybe he was trying to tell me something. He couldn't have missed that I wasn't a real roadie though (baggy shorts, hairy legs, SPD's, helmet visor) but I was going awesomely quickly.

Dunno.

mauja > is this the done thing?

I've been driving cars forever and have a few years motorbiking under my belt, but I've done no road cycling other than as a means to an end. My belief based on this experience is that irrespective of their braking / hazard avoidance / spontaneous human combustion, if you run into the vehicle in front then it's your fault; you were either too close, not paying attention, or both.

I appreciate that road cycling is a different discipline, so is this generally accepted not to be the case? That you're supposed to worry about friends / strangers slipstreaming you? Totally alien to me if so.

Genuine question by the way, not trolling.

I would say it meant there was a hole, gravel etc at the left. We do it all the time on club runs. Not necessarily that hand signal but more just a hand in the direction of the hole

I've only just learned the 'watch out for a big pile of horse sh1t' signal.

Normally hazards, in my roadie experience, are identified by either just a pointing finger, or a hand clench followed by a pointing finger on the relevant side…

Cougar – it's pretty typical in my experience, not when you're just out for a social ride but if you're riding quickly in a close group then most road cyclists would warn the rider behind of hazards such as potholes, braking, passing parked cars, etc. If you're following closely enough to get a good tow then it doesn't leave much time to react without any warning. Most clubs/groups will probably have their own variation on the signals but they tend to be pretty common gestures.

Never seen that in all my life and I've never been with a club that signals it's intention to slow down either. The most common known sign for your intention to slow down is to go slower.
IMO there are far to many **** hand signals now.
All you need is finger down left or right for an obstacle, and left hand finger on small of back for moving out.

Why didnt you chase him down and ask him WTF?

I was too knackered. 😉

samuri.
Epic fail on the other riders part. Rule one in 'Sunday Racing Bull***t Division' when overtaken do not change gear or let the overtakee hear said change as it is akin to lowering your pants and offering yourself up.
Also when overtaking you must adopt a 'Poker face' or the 'Indurain' Once past you can go for the 'Armstrong Death Stare' but only if feeling strong. If you are overtaken after submitting an ADS you must offer yourself as your the opponents bike parking device for the day.

sounds like a "let me know if you're going to slow down/brake/stop pedalling" sign to me. As above, a bit cheeky given that he'd latched onto your wheel unannounced.

He did give me, "The look" for sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7THIhZEP4QM&feature=related

Hand cramp!

Wht are MTBers so worried about what roadies think, do, say

As a roadie and a mtber, it seems that mtbers have this inane search for acceptance by the roadie community?

only hand signal ive had from a roadie mate of mine was heading home late one night on the mtb.

we were on the road and he passed me to take a turn in front, after a few minutes he put his hand behind his back and appeared to waft a fart.

i realiesd he had not actually farted and recognised some weird roadie hand signal, i assumed it was him prompting me to take a turn in front again…… as i pondered he pulled out right, to avoid the parked car. i got lucky.

Cant roadies talk?

That's about right, no need to flap the hand though. Though when drafting you don't expect to get hand signals as you just follow a good wheel.

Cant roadies talk?

No need.

When i was a youth I was driving along some lanes in Wales when a roadie coming the other way gave me a look then a weird slow down signal. I was in a really old Mini Clubman and was only doing about 45mph so thought **** him, who does he think he is asking me to slow down etc etc, came round the corner to find a river running across the road! Resultant, me hanging off edge of ravine only held my a strong hedge with both front wheels bent under!! 🙄

99% sure he was probably making you aware of a long set of pot holes or some type of hazard on the road thats spread over a few metre's. if its just a single pot hole you normally just point to it.

unless you braked sharply i doubt this would have been the reason he gave you a hand signal. he would have probably said something there and then if you'd braked sharply.

yeti guy – Member
Hand cramp!

Wht are MTBers so worried about what roadies think, do, say

As a roadie and a mtber, it seems that mtbers have this inane search for acceptance by the roadie community?

😆 😆

As I said, clearly another **** hand signal.
No mater how many potholes the front rider can see, it's just hand down and you stay inline behind easy.

mafu26 why on earth would a rider in front give a hand signal to someone behind who is braking too hard, more to the point how do you know someone behind you is braking hard.
Far too much is made of signals nowadays

mauja – Member
Opening a closing the hand is usually used as a signal that you're braking, usually the rider in front would reach behind their back and open and close their hand so the rider behind knows they're about to brake or slow down.

Maybe he was suggesting you should have warned him if you knew he was following closely and you were about to slow down to avoid any risk of him hitting you.

was reference to this

mafu26 why on earth would a rider in front give a hand signal to someone behind who is braking too hard, more to the point how do you know someone behind you is braking hard.

please, i'm not that thick!

the only had signals i've ever come across are to move out, pointing out potholes and slow down. don't think you need any more? not actually aware of any more.

please, i'm not that thick!

Well I don't know you do I 😉

Yeah that's about it, left right and on back/arse. Did a 100K ride out of that London and some of the hand signals just had me thinking WTF! It was like mobile ****ing charades.
Actually the only vocal one we use is 'Clear' when exiting a junction.

I think the opening and closing of the hand as you described meant that he wanted to grab your Gonads, he must of been pretty disappointed when you turned off!

think it means i've got a tight brown star just waiting for you to play hide the sausage

A fair few of these 'alternative' explanations made me chuckle! 😀

He was saying "goodbye".
All this thread and no one has stated the bleedin' obvious!

it was the "cough and drop" signal surely?

He was hitting on you.