I live up north and it gets dark about 4:30 up here. you might not be able to see their faces on the way home.

Nah I’ll just shine a helmet light in their faces, I’ll take any gestures they might in reaction to that make as a friendly wave…

just for contrast.. Out on my MTB yesterday, stomping along a little road section I encountered a roadie coming from the other direction..

We both chuckled with glee as he muscled his bike over the detritus that had been washed across the road by recently receded floodwater..

Obviously I muttered ‘bellend’ through my gritted teeth as our eyes met, and I’m sure that I heard him mutter ‘****’…

but for a beautiful, brief moment the animosity was suspended

@ my post above and pebblebeach. I feel a bit a nob as that was harsher than was intended. Apologies.

Holds out hand……

I live up north and it gets dark about 4:30 up here. you might not be able to see their faces on the way home.

The sun goes down in the south as well you know lol. This isn’t norway.

peeblebeech…
Genuinely sorry to hear of your loss, but is Singletrack the right place to spit your venom ?? It was just someone making an observation…

I nod to other cyclists on the commute, sometimes they nod back, sometimes they don’t. The world keeps-a-turning.

@pebbles, can’t tell if you’re serious or not about anything in this thread… Think you need to take a look around though, maybe mellow for the rest of us a bit?

I think this whole wave and not get one back stems from wanting to be ‘in the club’ mentality. I feel a bit of brotherhood when I see another cyclist and if I were to offer a wink, wave or a hi, if I didn’t receive acknowledgment then I would feel somehow let down. Strange, eh?

I’ve not posted here for a while…

Feels like groundhog day.

What about CRC? How are the delivery times?

I was brought up to acknowledge people who spoke to you, OP is right miserable sods the lot of them.

As the man on the radio said earlier… “if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.”

Just to round it off:

I’d say the commute home was less glum, I only encountered two other cyclists and of those one gave a nod back.
I’m choosing to take the standard STW statistical approach to the topic:

Commute in: 83.33% Grumpy / 16.66% Cheery

Commute Home: 50% Grumpy / 50% Cheery

My glass is still half full…

I always give a cheery good morning/afternoon/evening to other cyclists (can’t help it, riding the bike always puts me in a good mood!) and there are only 3 “regulars” on my commute who don’t return the greeting. One guy looks like a stereotypical “too cool for school” stoner type who always wears jeans and a wooly hat and I accept that for him to acknowledge the joyful salutations of a hi-vis wearing, helmeted, lycra-legginged freak would make him an instant social pariah amongst his circle. So I thought I had broken through one day when instead of an exuberant greeting I gave him an almost imperceptible nod instead (perhaps only half a degree of inclination) and he actually cracked a smile for a split second. Never managed it again though.

Commuting is a bit different really isn’t it. If you are out on a ride and you see some one doing the same a smile or even a grunted morning wouldn’t hurt.
In the same way that i wouldn’t pass a cyclist with a mechincal without checking if they needed anything.