cycling salute

[tchak attack]

On my last few rides I came up with a new way to greet oncoming cyclist by giving them a "soldier salute" (four fingers straight out thumb bent inwards to the forehead). I've found the response is greater then a flick of the wrist as you pass each other; there is no time to react with the wrist flick. With the salute I hit them from a close distance so there is time to respond. A hi, a good morning, a good afternoon, a what's up, a nod of the head, or my favorite a smile Any one else use this technique, or how do you greet fellow cyclist the are riding towards you?

 

[jetsan]

ive been riding motorcycles for years now and we all do the nod, except for harley riders caus there soooooo cool. only been on the roadbike (pushy) for awhile now and the nod seems to be the same, or a nice heya.
have to say that the amount of carbon and sponsor worn gear seems to diminish the hello factor. wankers i say.

 

[huhenio]

Nod, wave, whatever.

 

[mattjf]

I've got nothing special I do. Depends what else I am doing. Sometimes nod, sometimes wave, sometimes wrist flick. If I'm drinking, for example, I'll nod.

-Matt

 

[jetsan]

If I'm drinking, for example, I'll nod.

-Matt

yeah its hard to wave with a glass of wiskey in ure hand.

 

[Chance3290]

yeah its hard to wave with a glass of wiskey in ure hand.

Get with the times people...CamelBak!!...I use it all the time...hick.

Most of the rec riders smile/wave or return a smile/wave. Jetsan is right thou, the high-dollar, shaved legs, young speedsters seems to have little time to acknowledge us lesser life forms.

 

[wheelist]

I've tried everything: saluting, waving and nodding. And like the rest of you get a similar response depending on lycra/carbon factor.

The best way to overcome this is to wave early at the speedsters. When they don't react then shout as they go by:

"Oi, you ignorant ****, politeness isn't a disease!"

I've only been punched twice.

 

[LIKESBIKES716]

I'm a nod guy just in case the guy i'm passing is rude and doesnt say hi back. with a nod you feel less dissed if you dont get the hi back.

On my last few rides I came up with a new way to greet oncoming cyclist by giving them a "soldier salute" (four fingers straight out thumb bent inwards to the forehead). I've found the response is greater then a flick of the wrist as you pass each other; there is no time to react with the wrist flick. With the salute I hit them from a close distance so there is time to respond. A hi, a good morning, a good afternoon, a what's up, a nod of the head, or my favorite a smile Any one else use this technique, or how do you greet fellow cyclist the are riding towards you?

 

[tomacropod]

I'm a nod guy just in case the guy i'm passing is rude and doesnt say hi back. with a nod you feel less dissed if you dont get the hi back.

I always nod and say hi, I don't think I've ever had anything in return from a "serious" rider. Wankers. I beat them up the hills too, say hi as I'm passing them on one of my fixed gears, still get nothing. At least it's satisfying in that direction.

- Joel

 

[K50]

hahahaha....yeah that's hilarious..I guess it's hard to smile when your nuts are constrained so much and you're bent over so far on a team road bike. Yeah most of the Hard Core's don't say hi, they just look at my jersey like "who the hell is this guy?"I give the nod. and to the ladies I turn around and pursue. hehe..Giggidy!

 

[EoinC]

I stop, light a ceremonial fire and offer my first-born as a sacrifice. There are so few riders over here that the first-born is still doing well and looks like he might make it through to a ripe old age.

 

[limerickman]

My hands are always on the tops, so when I see a rider on the opposite side of the road I raise my right hand to acknowledge their presence and I do say
"hello".

Passing a guy (or worse someone passing me !), I will always say hello.

 

[Dr.Hairybiker]

ive been riding motorcycles for years now and we all do the nod, except for harley riders caus there soooooo cool. only been on the roadbike (pushy) for awhile now and the nod seems to be the same, or a nice heya.
have to say that the amount of carbon and sponsor worn gear seems to diminish the hello factor. wankers i say.

What a load of **** that is... I've been riding Harleys for more years than I care to admit, and believe me, everyone has an attitude for the Harley guy. I wave and nod at everyone, I don't care what they're on. Anyone riding a Harley who thinks they're too cool to wave or be cordial, is just another a**hole. And you can be one of them on any make/model bike. You catch a lot of **** when you ride a Harley, you can trust me on that one.

I wave like a fool on my bicycle to any other cyclists. I live in a pretty rural area, so I don't see a lot of other cyclists, but when I do I always smile, wave, and say something. I think sometimes I'm almost too enthusiastic, they look at me like I'm crazy......

 

[K50]

What a load of **** that is... I've been riding Harleys for more years than I care to admit, and believe me, everyone has an attitude for the Harley guy. I wave and nod at everyone, I don't care what they're on. Anyone riding a Harley who thinks they're too cool to wave or be cordial, is just another a**hole. And you can be one of them on any make/model bike. You catch a lot of **** when you ride a Harley, you can trust me on that one.

I wave like a fool on my bicycle to any other cyclists. I live in a pretty rural area, so I don't see a lot of other cyclists, but when I do I always smile, wave, and say something. I think sometimes I'm almost too enthusiastic, they look at me like I'm crazy......

lol yeah it sucks being where there's no one else around that shares your passion. I always find that when I'm visiting family in small farm towns..they don't even have bike stores there...let alone one club or one team.

About the harleys, yeah people often do have an attitude towards them...the same with cyclists. In my post I stated road cyclists, but that's a stereotype that isn't always true. I find the worst are the DH guys cause they think they're king ****, don't shave their legs, drink more beer than I do, and have a chest with no ribs showing either cause of muscle or fat. lol but there we go again, that's a generalization. But still, I haven't met a DH guy that I like so far in my life...Anyone that carries a shovel with their bike is NOT COOL. That's why trails get closed down boys...Maybe I'm just in a bad place for DH guys, but I can't stand the ones I've met so far..

 

[mtbnewbie]

I generally wave or nod. Sometimes I get a response sometimes not, doesn't really matter to me.

Off topic but I have noticed that around my area a lot of the recreational cyclists have their saddles set low. Usually at the same hight as when the bought the bike. The teens seem to like to get MTB where the frames are too small and they set the saddle down as low as it can go. Their knees are almost hitting their faces when they are seated. Anyone else seen a similar trend?

 

[K50]

I generally wave or nod. Sometimes I get a response sometimes not, doesn't really matter to me.

Off topic but I have noticed that around my area a lot of the recreational cyclists have their saddles set low. Usually at the same hight as when the bought the bike. The teens seem to like to get MTB where the frames are too small and they set the saddle down as low as it can go. Their knees are almost hitting their faces when they are seated. Anyone else seen a similar trend?

And I bet they all have the shaggy hair that's not long but not short. Yeah the new generation of 14yo kids are all like that here, too...Dirt jumping is all they ride from what I can see. Dirt jumping and shovelling up private property..Nicht besondes gut!

 

[El Loto]

The nod is commonplace on the roads around Aberdeen. Not so much in the city centre as there are a lot of Freds. Riders on road bikes and lycra gear all get the nod.

 

[WINGNUTT]

I started with the wave, then moved on to the wrist flick, then it moved to the nod. Now I'll either do the nod or do nothing at all. When you think about it, any sort of greeting to an opposing rider is kind of pointless. When I'm driving my car I never wave at anybody, same with when I'm walking, unless it's a neighbor or something - what is it about the fact we both happen to be on bicycles that means we should give some sort of greeting to each other?

 

[El Loto]

I started with the wave, then moved on to the wrist flick, then it moved to the nod. Now I'll either do the nod or do nothing at all. When you think about it, any sort of greeting to an opposing rider is kind of pointless. When I'm driving my car I never wave at anybody, same with when I'm walking, unless it's a neighbor or something - what is it about the fact we both happen to be on bicycles that means we should give some sort of greeting to each other?

To me it is the idea that we are part of a community. Riding a bike has a lot more passion attached than say driving a car or walking. It's an emotion we all share as cyclists.

 

[t4mv]

Waving, nodding, whatever, used to be much more prevalent 30 years ago because there really were less of us out there. It was pretty automatic back then. Same went for the specialty car set, and whatever else was in small numbers. Nowadays, if you're waving at people, you're like a stalker and people run away (OK, some of them ride away...). Nods seem to work OK for me; minimal effort on my part, and an added Hi if going in the same direction.


So, Harley riders...I'm not a real big fan, and here's why; all the pinheads in my area seem to wait until they are right !@#$%^& next to me on a climb to open up the throttle and roar away. Just once I'd like to round a corner and see one of these turds stuck to the front of car going the other way... (no offense to the previous poster who is also a Harley rider, I'm sure you're much more courteous than the Neanderthals riding around here...)