Those rude roadies

[OldDogDan]

Gosh, they hurt my feelings fellas. After riding three hours off-road Sunday, my buddy & I were looping back to our cars on a long paved uphill when we were passed by half a dozen roadies in ones and twos. I'm a guy who always greets others on the trail, and there was not even an "on your left" or "how's it going" from any of them. They were resplendent in matching baby blue lycra with swamis.org emblazoned across the buttocks (the only view I got -- I was too darn tired to even turn around and look at them. Hey, didn't they see those podium shots on the internet about why lycra shorts should only be black...?) OK, maybe not outright rude. Just indifferent. At least no cars ran us off the road. Come to think of it, other than that, I had a great ride, even if I did slide into a deep rain rut. Twice. I wanna do that ride again!


(hey, this was meant to be humorous...)

[Waldo]

Sounds like the behavior of the Swamis roadies matches that of Swamis (aka: Swarmis) surfers. Not to start an STR vs Swamis flame war or anything

edit: Nothing against roadies, really. Nice and not-so-nice folks ride all kinds of bikes.

[Drum n MTB]

I was riding home from work one day on a HT MTB and a roadie came up behind me at a red light and I said "how's it going" and all I got from him was a silent stare. But, I've had plenty of other roadies be pleasant when I see them on the road.

[Kevedge]

i dont think thats just roadies. there are plenty of mountain bikers that think they are tough shit and "too cool" to say hello to people. when i first started riding i said hello to everyone, and hardly ever did i get a reply.

[jonathan_sykes81]

Fu(k'em, roadies are typically d!(k5, but as mentioned earlier so can other MTB'ers. I generally greet all trail users(plus walkers and roadies when on the road) with at least a hello, how ya doing? most walkers/hikers are nice. I still take great pleasure in passing a roadie on my MTB even if I do have to bust a lung and my legs to make it appear easy, but that's just me.

[Tedroy]

You must be older than the dirt you ride on!

[Endo Verendo]

I'm guilty. Not speaking for all roadies, but sometimes I'm too busy watching the road for things that can kill me. Sorry.

[SheDevil]

This is an interesting topic I think. Most of it comes from one person not walking in anothers shoes syndrome. Some roadies I ride with have never ridden a mtb, and vice versa. We're all on bikes but the dynamics of the two are hugely different. Road riding is usually at such a fast pace, that general conversation doesn't happen when you're doing it right (ie for fitness)...besides the fact that if you're say...riding 50 miles one day, and you set your goal, you really put the hammer down and go for it. Road riding is a very encompassing feeling and some rides you're working the entire ride.. muscles, lungs and all of it. It's much less of a social thing, which when on the mtb is totally opposite.
It really is a different world...but I'm lucky (at least I feel it) to know the benefits of both.

[Padre]

Maybe they were too busy trying to stay alive after having to enter traffic to go around you and your buddy?

Regardless, I've met plenty of rude mtbers...usually they are the overly-sensitive ones.

[PacMan]

I thought only chicks had stuff written on the buttock region of their clothes??




I ride road too, so I'm not hating, just saying.

[el_d00der1n0]

Originally Posted by PacMan

I thought only chicks had stuff written on the buttock region of their clothes??




I ride road too, so I'm not hating, just saying.

dude, you're supposed to save this stuff for the guys' forum.

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by el_d00der1n0

dude, you're supposed to save this stuff for the guys' forum.

Oops, sorry. Noted.

[DeeZee]

Originally Posted by OldDogDan

Gosh, they hurt my feelings fellas. After riding three hours off-road Sunday, my buddy & I were looping back to our cars on a long paved uphill when we were passed by half a dozen roadies in ones and twos. I'm a guy who always greets others on the trail, and there was not even an "on your left" or "how's it going" from any of them. They were resplendent in matching baby blue lycra with swamis.org emblazoned across the buttocks (the only view I got -- I was too darn tired to even turn around and look at them. Hey, didn't they see those podium shots on the internet about why lycra shorts should only be black...?) OK, maybe not outright rude. Just indifferent. At least no cars ran us off the road. Come to think of it, other than that, I had a great ride, even if I did slide into a deep rain rut. Twice. I wanna do that ride again!

you had nice shaved legs they would have said hi.............oh boy would they say hi

[SheDevil]

FYI...there's not one gay cyclist in the Tour De France.

[hoser]

Had plenty of bad vibes from roadies. Been passed by a passel of before and had a few yell out my name as they passed and waved. But thats down here in the south

[MTBMaven]

Some roadies don't even give an "on your left" to other roadies. I ran into two sets of tools in HB just before New Years. First set was at the apex of the short climb up Golden West Mesa after Bolsa Chica. I had seen these two guys coming but was slowing down near the top and started to look over my shoulder to see where they were and BAM there he was. Totally surprised me. No on your left...nothing. Whatev wanker.

Then like .5 miles later some over weight dude in a nice looking kit and some boutique bike decides his little rest stop is over, passes me huffing and puffing, get like 50' in front of me and decides it's time to clean out his nose. Snot goes flying everywhere...I think some got on me too but I tried not to think about it lest I throw up. Wanker #2.

In the end I passed them all and I was on mile 50 or 60.

I have been given many head nods and two finger waves from roadies on the other side of the road. However in general do find that roadies tend not to say hello as much as MTBers unless you are on an organized ride. As mentioned already I think higher speeds are one issue. I'm more often than not riding by myself and looking for solitude. Plus I'm usually listening to an audio book these days and concentrating on that.

[OffRoadie]

I'm don't usually say "on your left" if passing. I usually just move over and give a larger amount of space. I'll only say "on your left" if I'm passing tight. To me, yelling "on your left" is like a car honking as it goes by. It's unnerving.

[andy aka rut]

Interesting

How often do you say Hi to people in the grocery store? At the gas station? In line at the coffee shop??

Why pin-point roadies?

In SoCal it is more common to not say hello to a stranger than to be friendly and say hi. Tumbleweed and I have a compitition with how many hello's we can get back from others. Most of the time we both do pretty well. I try to say hi to everyone.

[DeeZee]

and has been discussed over and over again. In general (not all) roadies are uptight bitter little guys. Most of them take road riding very serious. Maybe it has to do with sharing the road cars.
I can usually tell a roadie that also m-bikes because they bring that “tude” with them on the trails.
If there is a group of riders all wearing matching lycra and jerseys on the trail 95% of the time they are a-holes and I do not bother saying hi. I mean on a weekend ride what do they do call each other the night before to see what the other guy is wearing?

The nicest m-bikers are usually the n00bies that are so new they think that biking should be fun.

[mp3]

I think it's the person not the type of bike. Sometimes I don't get a reply when I say hi to another roadie at a stop light. I'm starting to think that hi means "race ya" in roadie speak. On the other hand, when I'm out training hard and come up on another mtber I simply pass unless I have enough breath to say hey, on your left, how's it going....