Humph.

Just been out on the road bike for the first time since the summer of 2015 (young kids means I’ve spent most of my cycling messing around on mountain bikes in the woods with my sons – it’s been epic).

I must had nodded, smiled, said hello or raised a few fingers off the hoods towards at least 30 riders – not a single one acknowledged it. Not one.

When did that change? Can’t decide if the sociopath in me is happy we don’t have to acknowledge each other any more pretending to be friendly, or if people are just **** rude now?

Change? From what I’ve seen over the years its not changed. Although they do seem less grumpy when I’m on the road bike.

or have I missed something?

since 2015 probably a couple of hundred threads with similar titles

move along please

Whereabouts are you? Without knowing that we can’t revert to type and join you in slagging off the miserable ****s as well as the riders you’ve met.

Round here (West/North Yorkshire and The Dales) pretty well everyone gets the nod. There’ll be exceptions if the rider’s having to deal with traffic or whatever but in general we’re all pretty friendly.

Sorry Gee, I’ll go away into a corner and read all of the posts I’ve clearly missed… 🙄

Newcastle/Mitford/Belsay loop.

Bit of a mixed bag round here. Some days everyone gives a friendly gesture, others everyone coming other way is a miserable sod.

Can’t say its changed noticably though, always been like that.

I enjoy the roadie INR (Imperceptible Nod of Recognition) however I have started waving like an idiot and shouting “HIYAH” at groups who take themselves too seriously to nod back.

Yes – I am a child.

I enjoy the roadie INR (Imperceptible Nod of Recognition) however I have started waving like an idiot and shouting “HIYAH” at groups who take themselves too seriously to nod back.

Yes – I am a child.

😆 This is the correct approach.

New roadies – miserable, joyless ***** or have I missed something

Nope, roadies live a miserable existence. What you see is thier “real life” experience out in the open.

Feel free to join in.

I enjoy the roadie INR (Imperceptible Nod of Recognition) however I have started waving like an idiot and shouting “HIYAH” at groups who take themselves too seriously to nod back.
Yes – I am a child.

This is the correct approach.

Also works with walkers when riding the mountain bike 😀

They need to ‘suffer’ too much.

The big wave with the ‘Hiya!’ Is perfect……often coupled with a great big girlie ‘Woohoo!’ With both feet off the pedals.

What I notice around here,West Lancs,is if I’m out on the road bike I get the nod. If I’m on a road section on the MTB & meet roadies I often get blanked.
As a result of this when I’m on the road bike & see someone on a MTB I make a point of acknowledging them.

Like many on here, mid-forties approaching and been riding on the road for nearly 30 years (nowhere near as fit or hardy as I should be given those numbers)…

I’ve never been on a ride where every single person failed to acknowledge a little nod or similar. Quite happy to not do it to be fair, but such a notable contrast in a couple of years.

EDIT: It was perma-drizzle earlier, maybe everyone was just fed up.

The more ‘serious’ the rider the more likely they are to say hello IME. I used to ride with a few elite/pro roadies who’d make a point of massively exaggerated waving, was quite funny.

It’s the MAMILs on Boardmans who think they’re too cool to do it. Usually whilst racing in a sportive, or at least still sporting the number so everyone knows they raced such an epic event!

Whether they say something or not… WGAS?

AA men don’t salute anymore either.

I passed a couple of ‘serious’ looking roadies (Rapha and Morvelo kit – you know they’ve spent the dosh so must be serious 😉 ) on my Vagabond the other day.
The one in front started a wave/nod of hello, and then realised not withstanding the drop bars it had big knobbly tyres on and stopped himself while quickly looking away 😆

Round here it’s a bit the other way round- roadies normally give the nod or finger, sometimes even if I’m on an mtb 😆 , off road most people are friendly, but the local mtb club is (imo) a po-faced lot, ploughing through the countryside at warp 9, a bit reminiscent of London Dynamos for a point of reference.

Newcastle/Mitford/Belsay loop.

Usually find people pretty friendly around that way. In fact I can’t remember the last time anyone didn’t wave.

a man on a road bike nodded back at me so hard yesterday i thought he was going to fellate himself

Was out in the Surrey Hills off road yesterday, almost without exception we were blanked by the enduro clad big bike riders – was it because we were wearing bib shorts, knee warmers and road jerseys?
On the road I’ll do the little nod or the flappy fingers, but yesterday when you’re waiting politely to let a group up and out of 20 only 2 manage to say thanks and the rest won’t even acknowledge that we were standing out of their way… Makes you think that stereotypes are just that, eh?

Normally on MTB I’ll give them a big cheery wave as they ride past. I’ll have to remember the feet off the pedals thing.

I got overtaken on the MTB a few months ago by a roadie group who did say hello and made some good natured facetious remarks about suspension and peaks on helmets.

Two miles later I passed them as they were collectively fixing a puncture.

In a moment on uncharacteristic spontaneity I muttered “hare…….tortoise”

I generally get a nod back but find those riding in club size groups less likely so say hi back and understand if someone burying themselves in a training effort don’t acknowledge me

We waved a lot this morning and got a few back. I was more concerned with not losing a wheel though as 20miles from home it was gonna make the difference beteeen getting back in one hour or two 😆

😆

a man on a road bike nodded back at me so hard yesterday i thought he was going to fellate himself

Gotta be a cartoon caper right there!!!

^ JoB, no need for a cartoon – the picture in my head is disturbingly graphic 🙂

Where I ride I reckon about 90 percent of roadies acknowledge each other with a wave, nod, finger raise, smile or a hello. I’m antisocial at the best of times so a nod is enough for me. The more serious looking the riders (including groups), the more likely a greeting. That said, I couldn’t care less either way.

Depends on the the day of the week I think. Monday to Friday cyclists (& runners) seem to be a lot friendlier than the weekend riders.

Most riders round where I live (lakes) do acknowledge each other (with nods/finger raises).
Only exceptions to this seems to be one particular club when they are out in their team gear and strangely enough the participants in the Fred Whitton today – to be fair they were probably deep in the pain cave when I was heading against the flow just after Fangs Brow!

The only time they are happy is when 2 abreast holding up the traffic.

The only time they are happy is when 2 abreast holding up the traffic.

🙄

oldtalent – Member
The only time they are happy is when 2 abreast holding up the traffic.

oohhh it’s like a troll but what if it’s not?!?!?!

Sorry Gee, I’ll go away into a corner and read all of the posts I’ve clearly missed… .

He must be a roadie at heart. Miserable **** on the bike and behind a keyboard

Miserable lot up north? Most give a wave round our way down south. I’m a fairly serious roadie and I’ll wave at anyone on a bike I spot, even those with wicker baskets on the front 🙂 Don’t get the hump if they don’t wave back though.

Don’t worry, only had the hump temporarily: MotoGP and a bottle of Black Sheep has brought me round and stopped it from ruining my weekend 😉

I only wave at rapha clad riders(clearly the upper echelons of society)

Never ever acknowledge folks in mismatched/non co-ordinated kit 😉

Newcastle/Mitford/Belsay loop.

Ah that explains it, it’ll have been a load of posh self important sods from Ponteland and Darras Hall.

Ah that explains it, it’s The North

FTFY

😉

nowhere near as fit or hardy as I should be

Sounds like you’re too fat – maybe no-one realises you’re actually a cyclist?

seems to me every one of them is a wannabe pro, and acts like there to cool for school,

I wave or nod but if i get no acknowledgement i don’t get upset about it. There’s no rule saying the wave-ee needs to wave back to the waver.

As the old maxim goes, “just because we both ride bicycles it doesn’t mean i have to like you”