kiwipat,
I have often wondered the same.
I ride both, a road bike and a time trial/tri type bike on the road but not at the same time.
When I ride the road bike, I notice I receive more “waves” than when I’m on the time trial bike. But, my waves/greetings are sometimes not acknowledged. For as often as it happens, i.t seems to be more than just the person was not paying any attention. More like I’m looking at you, I make eye contact with you, but I don’t recognize you so I am not waving back. Maybe its some gay thing? Are they afraid that if they wave they will be perceived as inviting a personal relationship?
When on the time trial bike, I receive much less acknowledgement. I think there is some small measure of snobbery. But the larger issue, in my opinion, is that people who don’t ride this geometry, expect that when waving, a rider lifts his hand off the bar and gives a hand/arm motion that in some way demonstrates a wave. On a tri geometry bike, a wave most often is simply lifting the fingers off the aerobar extensions. I don’t think most roadies recognize this or even notice this most times. They don’t even see/recognize the gesture.
This being said, I can’t tell you how many times people will ride past me and don’t say on your left to let me know I am being overtaken by them. I am an above average cyclist in ability, 20-22 mph ave on moderate pace solo rides. If you are passing me, you are either having your one moment of glory and then you fall back or you are a very capable and experienced cyclist. You should know better, besides the simple issue of common courtesy. In these instances, I think it is more an issue of snobbery than courtesy or safety. It appears, from my experience, that when you get that good, you don’t want to acknowledge any relationship to a recreational cyclist regardless of how experienced that recreational cyclist is.
I think its a blast to be out on the time trial bike riding at an easy pace and have two or three fast “elite”/snob cyclists who try and pass so fast that they are confident that one, they will not be latched onto as in grabbing their wheel to draft and two, they are basking in their glory that they are so much better than the cyclist they just blew by even though they are riding road bikes, and lastly, they were so good they don’t have to bother themselves with road courtesy/etiquette, a simple “on your left”. I’ll pick up my pace and ride behind them for a couple miles. Not drafting, but letting them know they have not dropped me either. They will usually try and ride faster, I’m thinking to put the “hurt” to me if not to drop me. I’ll let them continue for another mile or two and then I will put on the afterburner and “on your left them” as I come around them at 2-3 miles an hour faster than they are riding. This isn’t my one moment of glory. I’ll keep that pace for the next 5 miles or so and whenever I look in my mirror, they are gone. I like to think they were humiliated and went home, but it was probably just a good time for a “nature break” as Phil Liggett calls it.
Please don’t flame me for this, I already know how disfunctional this behavior and mind set demonstrates I am. Its just a personal form of amusement.
I always let the person ahead of me know I’m coming with an “on your left” call. I also try to go wide around them as well. I’m surprised by the number of cyclist who say thanks or that I’m one of only a few who ever do this and they really appreciated the call.
For the “snobs”, I usually say, “on your right”, as they pass to let them know I’m on their right so they do not wander into my path and endanger me as they carry on their idle conversation as they pass me. They often turn their heads and glower at me. They are so annoyed. Who do I think I am? I wonder if they ever figure it out.
I guess there is one possibility I have have not contemplated up to now. That is that this behavior by the most most capable cyclists could be a side effect of PED use. You know, the personality changes that occur as a result of an imbalance of certain hormones and steroids, etc.
Perhaps I should be a little more generous and a little less critical of other cyclists?
Safety is the issue and courtesy and human decency comes a close second. As cyclists, we try to convince others that we are a better class of human beings. We are more in touch with life because we are non motorized. But we really aren’t. We are just fooling ourselves and not convincing the others. Our true nature comes through for others to see. We demonstrate it daily as we ride through the red lights and stop signs as motorists who are stopped look at us and ask themselves what makes us so special.
And we have our bumper stickers about same roads, same rules, same rights, but we demonstrate that that isn’t applicable to us. We’re cyclists, we don’t have to observe those same rules. Only cars and trucks do.
As a class, we are the same jerks who drive in the cars. We have simply given away the gasoline engine. It shows.
I think we still have a very long way to go.
After about 5 minutes of prodding for some “companionship”, I hammered it and left him in the dust (trying not to show how hard I had to work to get away from him - I was hurting).