I was on my usual club ride this past Saturday when I hit a small piece of concrete which ripped a hole in the side wall of my tire and tube. No, I didn’t pack a spare that day, for what ever reason. While I’m walking and waiting for my wife to come haul me home, I started counting the cars that passed me. I live in Texas, the land of the pick-up truck. Something like 75 cars/trucks passed me before my ride got there. None of the 75 even slowed to ask if I needed assistance or a ride.
I came to a couple conclusions; either there were no cyclists that live on our route or there are a bunch of un-caring people in the world. What’s been your experiences in this same situation. And, yes, I know I should have had a spare, no beating me up for that oversight.
I doubt many people were even paying attention enough to even think about it. I don’t think it is about not caring just not paying attention. I also think that most people are not interested in picking up a stranger.
especially lycra clad strangers…they might be hiding something in them shorts ya know…most people are just plain ignorant…sorry…just my take but for the most part if they don’t already know you…they aren’t going to go out of there way to make the effort to do so. Sad state really. The future of the world looks pretty grim some days. And then somebody like Gates donates hundreds of millions of dollars to medical research in Africa and life just doesn’t seem to suck quite so bad.
I once wiped out right at a busy intersection. I went over the bars, ripped my shorts, bloodied up my shin and not a single car stopped to see if I was okay. I just think it’s the group mentallity. If you were on a less busy road where cars had to go by slowly someone may have stopped.
At least you didn’t have people honking at you or throwing cans or other crap at you, something I’ve run into on some roads I’ve ridden. When I’ve been driving, if I pass someone that isn’t trying to wave me down, and looks like they’re walking with a purpose, I keep on going assuming they’ve got things under control. Could be the case here, or the drivers are caught up in their little tin-box worlds.
I had a similar experience on saturday with much different results. I left the house in a hurry and had not packed my flat kit - I looked at it, thought about it, and decided that I just wanted to go and did not take it. Nor did I take a cell phone. I got about six miles from the house and flatted out. I pulled my bike over on the sidewalk (this is a residential area) and was immediately offered help by two ladies walking. They offered the use of their cell phone and also directed me to a local park where I could access another phone and wait for help, all after first asking if I was hurt. I now know why I choose to live in the community that I do.
I was on my usual club ride this past Saturday when I hit a small piece of concrete which ripped a hole in the side wall of my tire and tube.
Was this a group ride? If so, that does not say much for the attitudes of that group that left you stranded out on the road (that is unless this is in reference to Houston’s Saturday morning Kirkwood ride!). Although our race team training rides can get fast and furious, there is an unwritten rule for us that regardless of who it is, when someone has a problem, we stop to try and fix the problem or make sure the person has transportation!
considering it was a club ride no one was near to lend you a spare?
I’ve had mixed responses from the public, one time in Tucson, got two flats in a row (first the rear, then front) so I was in the middle of nowhere, I think two people stopped. (I was with some buddies who went back to get a van)
Then there was a time I ended up walking home when a piece of broken porcelain went right through my front tire. Not far ~ 10 minute walk but I was walking in my socks - nobody noticed.
A couple of weeks ago I fell at the intersection right in front of a police cruiser. All he did was swing wide around me. It wasn’t a hard fall, but it’s not like he even rolled down a window to see if I was okay.
Sad commentary on the people who live in your area, but it could be that they had no idea you had stopped due to bike trouble. When I was fresh out of college, I rode my bike from Vancouver to Calgary solo. Just outside of Penticton, I had every ball bearing drop out of my cassette, rendering my bike inoperable. I sat at the side of the road for 30 minutes trying to thumb a ride before a guy stopped to give me a ride. He was only going to the next town but thought I’d have better luck there. No such luck though. He came back by where he dropped me off after an hour and saw me still there. He said he had a similar expereience years earlier and that he learned that if you take off your front tire and hold it up in frustration while sticking your thumb out, you’ll get a ride faster because people can relate to flat tires much better than mechanical issues they can’t see. In 5 minutes I had a ride, from a cyclist in fact who had seen me earlier too but figured I was just resting. She took me to the local bike shop in the next town, who swapped out my cassette for only $20, and I was back in business.
I can say that every time I have been stuck it seems that within 5 minutes someone stops offers help, a phone, a ride and once a cop car had a 700c tube and pump in his car (cop rode MTN bikes and carried diffrent tubes in his car). I now, carry tubes in my car and have on more than one occasion stopped and helped out someone.