I got my first "Good Morning!" - chuffed.

[Cheule]

Cycling through Styvechale in Coventry - up a gentle hill passing Mantilla Drive on the left - when a cursory glance over my shoulder indicated another cyclist fast approaching.

I tried to increase my speed but was no match for him, he passed me like I was fixing a flat tyre! As he did so he said "Good Morning" in a loud and cheery manner, so much so I nearly fell off

I managed to blurt out the same before he was out of earshot, which took all of a second and before long, he disappeared over the hill.

To whomever you are my good sir, thank you, you made my morning!

 

[Cyclopathic]

Cycling through Styvechale in Coventry - up a gentle hill passing Mantilla Drive on the left - when a cursory glance over my shoulder indicated another cyclist fast approaching.

I tried to increase my speed but was no match for him, he passed me like I was fixing a flat tyre! As he did so he said "Good Morning" in a loud and cheery manner, so much so I nearly fell off

I managed to blurt out the same before he was out of earshot, which took all of a second and before long, he disappeared over the hill.

To whomever you are my good sir, thank you, you made my morning!

That is very encouraging. I do try and nod or say hello to other cyclists where it seems that it wouldn't be an encumberance (if someone is concentrating on traffic, panting for btreath etc..) but i have to say yhat the response level is underwhelming. Most of the time I simply get blanked, sometimes I get a weary nod or eyebrow raise back and only very very occasionaly do I get a friendly halloo. If I didn't know better I'd conclude that cyclists are an insular bunch of people who take themselves far too seriously. I am desperate for this not to be the case and will continue to give a nod and a hello whenever I think it appropriate.
Has anybody else got experience of what I'm talking about or is it just me? Perhaps I am comming accross as someone to be avoided. That I could believe.

 

[Brandane]

That is very encouraging. I do try and nod or say hello to other cyclists where it seems that it wouldn't be an encumberance (if someone is concentrating on traffic, panting for btreath etc..) but i have to say yhat the response level is underwhelming. Most of the time I simply get blanked, sometimes I get a weary nod or eyebrow raise back and only very very occasionaly do I get a friendly halloo. If I didn't know better I'd conclude that cyclists are an insular bunch of people who take themselves far too seriously. I am desperate for this not to be the case and will continue to give a nod and a hello whenever I think it appropriate.
Has anybody else got experience of what I'm talking about or is it just me? Perhaps I am comming accross as someone to be avoided. That I could believe.

+1, you are not alone!

I find that when I go out for a leisurely cycle on my Tricross, wearing shorts, T-shirt and no helmet, then a high percentage of fellow cyclists tend not to return any sort of acknowledgement.

Go out on the road bike dressed in more cycling type gear (no lycra though, just not my thing), including a helmet , and the roadies tend to acknowledge me, but not many others.

Don't take it personally; there are knobs on bikes just the same as every walk of life.

 

[aberal]

That is very encouraging. I do try and nod or say hello to other cyclists where it seems that it wouldn't be an encumberance (if someone is concentrating on traffic, panting for btreath etc..) but i have to say yhat the response level is underwhelming. Most of the time I simply get blanked, sometimes I get a weary nod or eyebrow raise back and only very very occasionaly do I get a friendly halloo. If I didn't know better I'd conclude that cyclists are an insular bunch of people who take themselves far too seriously. I am desperate for this not to be the case and will continue to give a nod and a hello whenever I think it appropriate.
Has anybody else got experience of what I'm talking about or is it just me? Perhaps I am comming accross as someone to be avoided. That I could believe.

I have the opposite experience. Most cyclists will nod or say hi back, to the extent that when I occasionally get blanked, I get annoyed. It may depend where you are cycling though - I do most of my cycling on quiet country roads and wouldn't really think of saying hello to fellow cyclists when I'm in the city.

 

[sdr gb]

I nod & wave to people regularly (even mountain bikers

). I've found that I get the the most responses to my waves and hellos when it is raining.

 

[barongreenback]

Said good evening to an elderly gentleman slogging up a hill the other day on his bike (fair play to him, he must have been in his 70s and wasn't all that slow up a very steep incline!). He returned the salutation then asked for a push!

 

[Cheule]

I failed to mention on my original post that the other biker was a Roadie and I was on my heavy as a skip MTB. Which makes his salutation even more memorable - and welcome

 

[Seigi]

On my daily ride the cyclists are more than often very polite and friendly, it's only the teenage cyclists that seem to look at me like I'm some sort of alien for giving them a nod or wave.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Cycling through Styvechale in Coventry - up a gentle hill passing Mantilla Drive on the left - when a cursory glance over my shoulder indicated another cyclist fast approaching.

I tried to increase my speed but was no match for him, he passed me like I was fixing a flat tyre! As he did so he said "Good Morning" in a loud and cheery manner, so much so I nearly fell off

I managed to blurt out the same before he was out of earshot, which took all of a second and before long, he disappeared over the hill.

To whomever you are my good sir, thank you, you made my morning!

It wasn't me, I'm on the other side of Cov and on a rest weekend so haven't been on my bike today, there's a lot of Cov Road Club lads that side of town and it might have been one of them. Its nice that we are a friendly bunch but sometimes, if there's a lot of us out, I feel I should fit a waving hand to the handlebars.

 

[Deb13b]

Other cyclists don't tend to acknowledge my existence as I'm zipping along on my retro bike in my normal everyday clothes, precisely for that reason - it's not a "real" bike, it's JUST a pashley and it only has 3 gears. I hate bike snobs. 

 

[wheres_my_beard]

I failed to mention on my original post that the other biker was a Roadie and I was on my heavy as a skip MTB. Which makes his salutation even more memorable - and welcome

I had a comparably pleasing experience when I used to ride a crappy scooter to work; i was strugglng along an A road doing my max 34mph when a gnarly looking chap with an awesome beard and tattoos on a MASSIVE harley with HUGE monkey bars comes roaring in the other direction and gives me a very cool nod. I almost fell off in amazement.


It's always nice to get aknowledged by other road users, especially if they are getting around in the same way as you.


I am going to make an effort to nod, or say a cheery hello, or good morning as much as possible now ( I can look like a right miserable so-and-so, when I'm riding, I imagine.)

 

[kedab]

It's always nice to get aknowledged by other road users, especially if they are getting around in the same way as you.

i agree, for the first time ever this very evening - since i started my commute months ago - there was a cyclist coming the other way along the a142 section. i was so surprised i waved like a special person and shouted what was not necessarily the cheeriest of hello's at her

 

[cloggsy]

I say 'Good morning,' 'Good Afternoon,' or 'Good Evening' to every cyclist I pass (without fail!)

I don't always get a response... But ce la vie...

"Speak to people as you wish to be spoken to yourself" as my Nan always used to say...

 

[cloggsy]

I hate bike snobs.

+1

 

[RoyPSB]

I find most roadies reply with a nod round this way (Bagshot, Surrey). Can't say the same about the MTBers - not sure they acknowledge any such etiquette.

I tend to go out fairly early at the weekend so very few people around at all - plenty of greetings / smiles with all sorts of people - walking dogs etc.