sour faced roadies

So i’ve been riding the roads abit of late, mainly because of bogged down trails and just wanting to get out on the bike and cover a few miles.
I’ve always said hello and all that to folk on the rough stuff and generally get a good response but when saying hi or even giving a nod to passing roadies I’m regularly ignored. So what’s the deal? is there a secret nod or somat? I am riding a CX bike maybe this is it, any thoughts from the roadies on here?
BIG KISSES 😉

Grumpy people are grumpy

It must just be you. I was out on my bike yesterday (also CX – Cotic X in disc version) and had loads of nods and freidnly hellos. Do you look like a dick?

Very similar situation to,yourself – I posted a roady etiquette question earlier and the answers were enlightening.

Huge generalisation alert – It’s a lot about how you look. Roadies are quite snobbish about your bike and clothes. If you’re not a ‘roadman’ of a decades experience who knows the rules of riding in a big group etc etc some think you shouldn’t be on the road.

I couldn’t care less, I ride my CX with slicks wearing longs and a soft shell and my peaked helmet (oh the horror)!

Got the lycra on and everything, even got ignored by a bloke in bright pink lycra! there may be abit of ‘dickenness’ about my persona tho

Clanton you sound like one 🙄

It spoils their aerodynamics…..

it can be dependent on what you’re riding/wearing. Response rate is far higher when I’m on the road bike in lycra than the mtb in baggies, and I’m fairly sure that if I was on a BSO in jeans riding with my knees out and a bag of shopping on the bars I’d be totally ignored.

Mind you, some roadies don’t respond just because they’re trying so hard they have tunnel vision and can’t think of anything but how much their legs hurt.

EDIT: beaten to it…

Never had that issue, generally every person I say hello to responds.

I love race cycling books, love the whole history and etiquette of road cycling, love the Tour know who won it and all that.
I buy the whole looking good thing, but ultimately you are riding a bike on shit roads full of cars.
The reality doesn’t live up to the romanticism.
No wonder they look glum.

Roadies went to the better secondary modern in town, in my experience.

Even got the disapproving looks while on a coffee stop in hebden bridge-the most open minded place round here.

Did have mud on me shoes tho

It’s not just a British roadie thing….Here in Switzerland the ratio between those that say hello and those that don’t is high.

I won’t say it’s every rider, but it’s enough to notice.

Oh well, I always give a nod and a smile, if it doesn’t get a response I’m not going to let it ruin a ride……

……but don’t get me going on the drafting….that really gets my goat!

Edit…

I couldn’t care less, I ride my CX with slicks wearing longs and a soft shell and my peaked helmet (oh the horror)!

Ah, yes, that’s me, there lieth the answer.

agree how you look seems important as whether you are deemed a ‘proper’ cyclist, I rode to the shops on Saturday on my (decent) road bike in jeans/t-shirt and passed loads of roadies going the other way, most just ignore you, not that I get that upset about it

I used to commute on road on an MTB and got very few smiles or nods. I seem to get more now i’m on a road bike though, proper road bike though not a pretend MTB 😉

Although I do still have a helmet with a peak! must get a new one…..

Yeah, I’m going to keep saying hi and just toughen up!

(wipes tears away) sniff

I admit my tone was a bit OTT – I apologise. I am under pressure and seriously sleep deprived due to a sick 18 month old.

that said this sort of thread really annoys me. I ride a mountain bike, a CX bike and a road bike depending on my mood and conditions. I really find this idea that roadies are less friendly both false and bizarre – it is just an attempt to create an “us and them” divide. Almost all my mates have road bikes and mtbs, this division is totoally arbritrary – they ARE THE SAME PEOPLE.

I have turned up at loads of car parks in the Surrey Hills and been blanked by “rad, cool gnarly dudes” with their bling machines. i have ridden the South Downs way on a beautiful sunny weekend and passed 500 + MTBer’s over 2 days and had about half return my nod and smile.

So to the OP – there are some sour faced roadies. IME the same proportion of sour faced mtb’ers. Don’t let it get to you.

Also – in countries where there are lots of riders about very few nod and smile – if they did to everyone they met their heads would fall off! This obsession with greeting every cyclist you pass is a British thing. Probably because we are a minority sport still.

Ive found almost all Mtb’ers say hi, or even stop for a chat. Whereas 99.9% of the roadies Ive seen ignore me even when I say hi.

Perhaps my mountain bike is only visible to other mountain bikers ?

It’s not a roady thing it’s a person thing, when I’m on my HT MTB certain types of roady will ignore me, when I’m on my rigid SS I get looks of scorn from some people on full sussers, when I’m on my full suss some of the pro look XC jey boys look at me with disdain.. On the other hand most of em don’t.
just people being people..

I think things have got a lot better over the last year or 2. Like many others I ride both on and off road, and say hello/nod/smile to pretty much everybody on a bike (especially those I’m passing), and most people return it.

The guy in full Hope team kit on a Van Nic roadie who overtook me *very* closely near Bamford (I was on my mtb), and didn’t seem to be even aware of my existence (even when I said Hi), well, bit of a dick, frankly. Especially if he is genuinely a Hope rider, as he’s not doing their image any good.

What a sad state of affairs.

I agree with Trimix. I accept I am generalising and that loads of cyclists (myself included) do more than one ‘type’ of cycling but IMO MTBers (apart from the DH pyjama wearing young ‘uns) take themselves less seriously and seem friendlier than roadies.

trying to say hello to people!

Shall we burn him?

I wonder why some peoples experiences are so different to mine. Maybe it is where you ride or something- my hunch is the closer to a big city the more grumpy people are- maybe.

Whatever bike I am on most people are really friendly. Yesterday I chatted to to guys on road bikes, not really roadies and a couple of pedestrians in a vilage where I was stopped for a break. I have seen a few people who I guess take themselves too seriously, but just as many of them have been off-road as in lycra.
Most of my riding is in Wales if that makes a difference?

C

I always nod or say hi, I get a bit of a mixed response. Most seem a bit unsure of themselves, and whether that should say hi – not unlike walkers really. The older guys seem more friendly, the young guns on their plastic rockets not so, but that’s not stereotyping everyone.

i ride a moutainbike and a road bike and the constant demands of my dramatic personality change when i swap between the two are exhausting

I used to have a roadie say hello as he passed me on a hill.
Could never work out if he was being polite or giving me a Derek and Clive.

khani – Member

It’s not a roady thing it’s a person thing

Yeap, with the experienced riders, I reckon its this, most of the time. Another reasons ime is people cycling with ear phones in.

For the rest, they look as if they’re genuinely struggling to the point of distraction and simply don’t hear me bid them a good morning / say hello.

Either way, its no skin off.

it’s no wonder they’re sour faced given the state of the roads in the UK. It’s hard enough negotiating all the potholes on a bike with soft chunky tyres and suspension never mind on one with no suspension and stone hard tyres, they must live in constant fear about the state of their arse.

Clanton, I don’t ride round nodding like a woodpecker. I just find unusual to ignore a fellow cyclist saying hi or even just a smile on a quiet road in the middle of no where! I say hi to other dog walkers when out with hounds, is that normal?

My 3yr old hold had an accident lastnight and climbed into my bed in piss soden pj’s and the 2yr got up 3 times, it’s nice to be nice.
Hope your kid gets well soon.

my hunch is the closer to a big city the more grumpy people are- maybe.

Greater London here and I reckon I get about a 90% success rate of return hello/nod/wave. It doesn’t really vary all that much if I swap between road and mountain bikes.

ultimately you are riding a bike on shit roads full of cars

This is the generalisation that gets my goat. There are thousands of miles of quiet country lanes out there that are a joy to ride on and aren’t full of cars. I hate riding on busy potholed roads with lots of traffic, so I choose not to. I also hate riding along flat, boggy bridleways at the side of fields, so I choose not to.

As for the OP, bear in mind that sometimes cyclists are busting a gut and – as someone pointed out above – might be a bit too “in the zone” for general chit chat. In my experience there is no road/MTB divide here. Some cyclists say hello and some don’t. Sometimes cyclists that usually say hello sometimes don’t; please don’t take offence when I do that.

ultimately you are riding a bike on shit roads full of cars
This is the generalisation that gets my goat. There are thousands of miles of quiet country lanes out there that are a joy to ride on and aren’t full of cars. I hate riding on busy potholed roads with lots of traffic, so I choose not to. I also hate riding along flat, boggy bridleways at the side of fields, so I choose not to.

Sorry I was being Surreycentric, a road bike over Exmoor could be pleasant I guess.

Sorry I was being PeakDistrictCentric, where a road bike nearly everywhere is extremely pleasant. I forget I live here sometimes 😳

Another way of looking at it is..
On the road I may be heading along at 20-22mph.. If you’re doing the same coming towards me, we’ll cross paths pretty quickly.
A smile/nod/hand wave may be gone in a flash, and we’ve both missed it…

Also, a brief “morning” may not be heard due to wind noise etc etc..

Some roadies are sour faced misery guts, but some aren’t!

DrP

I like riding my road bike, I also like carrots.

I don’t stand by the fruit and veg section of Tesco smiling and waving at every bloke who buys a carrot.

On a serious* note, it’s like riding motorbike’s in winter, the nod should be barely perceptible or simply raising the fingers off the grip as a wave. In all likelyhood they were probably looking further ahead than you, ‘waved’, then wondered why there was a delay followed by a full on Allan Carr Chatty Man, greeting a guest, double handed waving HELLLLOooooooooooooooooooooooooo. They probably brought their next interval forewards a few minutes just to be sure you didn’t turn arround and try and give them a hug.

*road cycling is always serious

If I was a roadie, I’d be grumpy too.

I am sure that my ‘struggling for air’ grimace ,must frighten other road users ,but I always wave or nod.
When you are really trying,there is no room for a smile 😉