So the question is if you passed a lone female carrying her bike would you ask to her plight?
It’s very easy when presented with a blatantly loaded question on a forum to say “of course we would all have stopped and helped your wife”.
If I pass someone who’s clearly stopped or struggling with a mechanical issue I at least ask if they need any tools or help.
But if I’m riding along the road and I see someone carrying a mountain bike on a trail approaching it…? Maybe it looks like they’ve got a mechanical, maybe it looks like they’re carrying the bike for another reason. I dunno. It’s not like carrying a mountain bike is a sure sign of a dead bike.
Maybe I don’t even register them: maybe I’m concentrating on trying to rip my own legs off to get to the cafe before it shuts, maybe I’m glancing at the GPS or thinking about which route to take, maybe a hundred other things that would mean anything off the road doesn’t make a dent in my consciousness.
What I mean is that, sure, consciously deciding to ride silently past someone who evidently needs help is a dick thing to do. But it might not have been that evident (I wasn’t there, you weren’t there, and even though your wife was, she was only seeing it from her perspective and with the privileged knowledge that the bike was unrideable) so don’t write off human nature on the basis of one anecdote.