Maybe i’m wrong, but that last defined group people just out in cycle clothing on road bikes really does sound like a sneer. 🙁
I’m more than happy to fall into that group, i ride a nice little carbon bike, i own the appropriate clothing and & i enjoy riding.

If i’m being sneered at by a roadman for simply enjoying being out on my bike then i say that says more about him than me.

This might help

P.S. I break 68.4%* of these rules every time I’m out on my road bike.

*quite possibly a completely made up statistic

@muddydwarf, don’t think anyone is sneering, just an observation about how much time you spend riding in groups and what sort of group.

How well you can hold a wheel that sort of thing, you only really learn how to ride in a group by riding in a group.

But the wording wasn’t ‘cyclist’ was it? It was ‘someone in cycle clothing on a road bike’. The quite clear inference is that if you fall into that group you are not a proper cyclist.
As i said before, i’ve no desire to learn to hold a wheel, ride in a group or chaingang, i simply ride my bike. I like riding solo & i’ve done several 100+ mile rides without having to ‘sit in’ on anyone to get me round.

.. but none of the other categories said ‘cyclist’ either. I think you are being a bit paranoid (speaking as someone who almost entirely just rides his road bike wearing cycling clothes)

Muddydwarf reading what Oldgit has said, i do think you are reading to much into it, the first bit is back int he day when there only were “cyclists”, the second bit is now, and if you look no mention of cyclists of any form.

I read it as

Club riders,
Privateer Racers
Organised mates
and Singletons/Randoms

Nothing wrong with any of them IMO, Some days it is nice to bimble on your own and watch the world go by, other days watch the person in front of you crash and cause you to crash and loose loads of skin off your face 👿 on the way to the cafe!

Possibly, but i still see it as a sneer TBH. I’ve experienced the complete blanking by a small group of riders after i’d said “good morning” to them – they did however speak to my mate who was riding a little way in front of me. I could only conclude that because i was on my winter bike/flat-barred hybrid & he was on his old steel drop-barred winter road bike. The fact that we were 70 miles into a 100 mile was immaterial but it still irked me.
If those are the attiudes of so called roadmen they can stuff it.

If those are the attiudes of so called roadmen they can stuff it.

And were they club riders or were they organised mates etc?

. I could only conclude that because i was on my flat-barred hybrid

I’m surprised they didn’t kick you into a hedge 🙂

…but the important thing is that it hasn’t left you bitter 😉

😛 Its the sense of hierachy i find ridiculous, If i’m looked down on for being a civvie on a bike rather than some arcane, time-served elitist then so be it. At least MTB’ers tend to be chatty when you meet up with them randomly.
Having said that, the only people i’ve found who don’t let on/lift a finger/give a nod when i’m out on the road are members of a certain local club out in their club livery, everyone else i see has time to let on – including members of other clubs.

At least MTB’ers tend to be chatty when you meet up with them randomly.
Having said that, the only people i’ve found who don’t let on/lift a finger/give a nod when i’m out on the road are members of a certain local club out in their club livery, everyone else i see has time to let on – including members of other clubs.

Lordy. You should skip the bike ride and just go to a coffee morning!

Nah, i go to the pub!

At least MTB’ers tend to be chatty when you meet up with them randomly.

not in my experience, find mtbers far worse than roadies for ignoring outsiders.

Maybe i’m wrong, but that last defined group people just out in cycle clothing on road bikes really does sound like a sneer.

No not at all, just trying to portray a rider that’s as far removed from the other groups as you can get.

If we are going to generalise then yes there probably is a rider that’s reached that moment in his/hers riding that it’s all too serious.
Then there are Elites leading groups of kids, not serious
Or me taking out total beginers. And TBH I do sometimes think ‘Holy crap’ what have I got here, but then I’ll think fair play.
And being a roadie it’s a rare day when a mountainbiker signals back, but then I think they feel a little sheepish for being seen on tarmac.

Fair enough then, i apologise for my huff!

So what did I do wrong?

Become a roadie? 😛

I delight in overtaking them on my carbon XC, usually covered in mud. At least when I’m going past it forces the ignorant gits to “let on” to me.

Its the sense of hierachy i find ridiculous, If i’m looked down on for being a civvie on a bike rather than some arcane, time-served elitist then so be it. At least MTB’ers tend to be chatty when you meet up with them randomly.

Nah
You want sneers and blanking.
Last Saturday. First beginners mountain bike ride. Fat ladies in trainers, old boys on £99 Halfords bikes, rosy cheeked big lads all sorts of first timers. The sneering went off the meter. Except one group of pretty core guys that bimbled along with us for a bit giving advice and tips.
The beginers covered 13 XC miles on a busy day and only those great guys acknowledged our existence.

I’ve seen kids on complete piles of junk outride middle-aged weekend warriors on multi-grand uberbikes at Lee Quarry too often to sneer at them!
Lots of people know me as the ‘bike chap’ and i’m always being asked about bike stuff & asked to fix bikes. I get all sorts of cheap & knackered junk turn up, i do my best to fix it as cheaply as possible so they can ride it. I’m happy to take them out on my local trails and show them the routes etc, some will continue and upgrade, others will ride once a year & its all good. Just because i’ve spent ££££ on bikes doesn’t make me anything other than gullible!

From my blog, a roadie on an MTB annoying other [roadies]?

Just a big thanks to all those that organised, helped on and rode the event. I hope every mum dad and kid had fun, I know I did. Moments like racing along with the little kid in his wonky crash helmet and fury parka where magic, the look on his little face after ‘dropping’ his mum and dad was a look to match the famous ‘The look’
As this was just for fun I went out on my mountainbike, I couldn’t be arsed to make any concessions to the fact I’d be on the road, so the massive knobly tyres stayed on. As did the cow bell. On the cycle to the start I soon realised two things, massive squirmy knoblies running 35psi don’t roll on tarmac and a big old 29er isn’t aero no matter how hard you try, think shed with handlebars. That said it was comfortable and quick if you just kept ticking over.
So out on the road and into the headwind, oh dear! And out of the headwind, ah that’s better. I’m riding along with the core of the LBRCC guys and girls, happy to chat and just ride this thing. Sadly not far into our ride we’re passed by a group of club riders, and I bite. They slow on a gradual gentle climb and I pass them. Then I hear the familiar click click click and they pass again, I sit in….you ain’t gonna drop me. Soon roadie and MTB’er differences are put aside and we ride chatting together. Then comes the first little hill, the Aston Hill climb, I drop the slowest of the group I’m with, their club mates have to wait, I pass and don’t see them again.
Then I’m overtaken just after the top by a very well equipped group, but they slow so I pass. These guys seemed properly miffed by a guy passing them on a mountainbike. They pass again, and again they slow. I select my big ring and lift the pace and tow them. I’ll be very very honest, I’m showing off. They think I’m just a guy that doesn’t have a road bike, but I’ve trained hard all year, I’ve raced and raced and I’m fresh off a week in the Pyrenees. Eventually they split up, the strongest starts to talk to me, that’s when I tell him I don’t usually ride a mountainbike in this sort of thing, it’s just a one off. We ride into Tring and the rain. They slow in the wet so I press on leaving them behind.
From then on I hardly see a soul.
As I approach the last hill, Bison Hill I see Rob from the LBRCC he has already climbed it, descended it and on his way to the finish. I’m with a gaggle of riders on the climb, I sit in and pootle, unlike me they can haul their bikes up. Everyone is within touching distance until the descent towards Dunstable, they plummet out of sight whilst I have to pedal this monster just to get down the hill. I have a quick WTF moment as I pass Fiona of the LBRCC on the summit, turns out she took a wrong’un and got ahead. Off the hill it’s plain and very very fast sailing to the finish. I’m in a fast and tight bunch of various clubmen, I pass a few of the LBRCC fast guys that left me near the start, and roll into the finish. Robs at the finish, but I’ve passed the other LBRCC race guys and my ego has gone through the roof. Fact of the mater is that the mountainbike though being as heavy as a very heavy thing and as aerodynamic as a shed, has thirty gears all of which simply canceled out the hills and left me fresh as a daisy, with the exception of the sorest butt I’ve ever had, and that’s coming from someone with eleven 24 hour solo’s under his belt.
Congratulations to everyone taking the distance on for the first time, it was a tough course, and to all those mums, dads and kids mixing it with the uber serious Stravanistas. And more importantly I hope a great deal of money was raised for such a good cause.
Next year… 48lb 3 speed 1958 town bike?

Drafting a stranger is just tailgating, and the only option to deal with tailgaters on a bike or in a car is to gradually reduce speed.

give way if you’re coming downhill etc

Is that because it is really easy to get going again on a steep climb ?