Miserable Roadie Rant

On the way to work this morning, climbing up the steepest part, roadie comes past me downhill in the other lane of the cycle path. I nod to him, because it's brass monkeys outside, and there have been few other commuters daft enough to brave it all morning.

Clocking my lack of lycra and the fact I'm on an "Old moutain bike" (bought from here), he ROLLS HIS EYES at me in disdain; like "How dare you consider yourself a cyclist pushing that?"

Listen mate, let me break it down for you. What you might find easy compared to your daily Ventoux-esque epic jollies, I find somewhat harder. I am 42 and 15 stone - It's sapping enough for me to push a mountainbike on Big Apples up that f*cking hill without some pencil-thin humourless clown in shoes that cost more than my bike metaphorically spitting in my face.

I bet he'd be sacked from teaching blind kids because he kept giving out "F"s for handwriting.

LOL, I feel better for getting that off me chest already.

They are a miserable bunch - I thought this was an old thread of mine resurrected.

I'm a fairly solitary cyclist as it is and when I pass these groups on a £4.5k Focus/Trek etc I am always amused at the looks or comments on whatever I happen to be riding.

The majority just seem miserable and cant quite get it in their heads that other people exist and ride.

If you had been riding a BSO, fair enough but just making waspy comments brings them no friends and fecks the the cycling image even more.

J i m s t e r":3tpj8klp said:

he ROLLS HIS EYES at me in disdain; like "How dare you consider yourself a cyclist pushing that?"

Click to expand...

How do you know thats why he rolled his eyes??

He could just have been checking out your ride, and being a man can't multitask (ie look at a bike and nod at the same time).

Someone nods at you, you nod back - thus has it ever been in our neck of the woods.

You want to clock my bike, you look down at the bike.

You want to metaphorically spit in my face for getting close to your unobtanium science project, you roll your eyes at me.

thinking about it you could have clubbed him to death with his own bike - head in place of saddle as a warning to others....

Think this one has been done before.

To be honest some of the most boorish and miserable cyclists I've come accross are those who rock up at trail centres on weekends on their 4.5K cabron-alloy-all mountain-hucking-super jumping machines.

all gear no idea seems a phrase most applicable

I'm a roadie!
Sadly I sorta know what you mean. If I'm on my modern(ish) roadbike, decked up in lycra, I get nods from other roadies. If i'm on a clunker with jeans & teashirt, I get ignored. If I'm going the same way as them on my clunker and I sit on, they kill themselves to try and drop me (which they do cos I'm crap, just good to enjoy their reaction when I'm there longer than they thought).

On the whole, the consistenly friendliest guys seem to be the funster MTBers - a few mates having a laff without specialist gear. The consistently most miserable ones seem tobe the middle aged & older, single tourist types who look as though theyre out trying to seek out purgatory and resent anyone with more than 5 cogs at the back.

Miserable gits is miserable gits.

> MTBers with monster FS machines who look down on me because I ride a rigid singlespeed, have no baggy shorts, no tattoos and am middle aged (ha! you will be too one day :roll: )

> Roadies who look down on me because my bike is over 5 years old

- OR- because I am on the tandem with my son...leisure cyclist.. :shock:

The worst was the to$$er who said "nice bike, pity you are so slow, I hate w**kers on good bikes". I told him that I had just had 8 months of chemotherapy (true) which made him feel a bit of a twat.

There, I feel much better now. Nurse, is it time for my medication?

You would think then anyone who clearly shares the same interest as you would be polite enough to muster a nod, smile or even a hello.

But no, life doesnt always work like that.