Female cyclists with their male partners

Two Saturdays ago I must have encountered a traing ride of some sort. What was unusual was I encountered 20 pairs of cyclist each about 100 yards apart. Each pair was a male and female cyclist. When I waved I did not once get a wave from the male rider but the female rider would smile wave back and say hello or good morning. Mind you this was fine by me. Any one else ecounter this?

 

I often ride with my husband. If I am waved to I usually wave or nod back. I don't know if my husband does as well, but I would say he probably does, he is a pretty friendly type. When I am alone I find it to be fairly unusual that male riders even aknowledge me - I am quite small and may appear to be a child to some. Also we have a large and active cycling community here. If you waved to every other cyclist on the road/path in some places you would never have your hands on the bars - it would be impossible to aknowledge everyone!

 

I ride with my boyfriend, and I find that I get an even amount of acknowledgements and ingorings from males and females. I always at least say "hi" if I can't wave, unless of course I'm dying on a hill...then I am usually concentrating on the ground and not my surroundings!

 

I rarely am acknowledged by male cyclists. I don't think they think i'm a child though i'm small. I've noticed that the older men actually say hi more and the girls with guys never talk to me.

 

Hi,
I always acknowledge other cyclists.
There is a war between motorists city councils which always try to build more bypasses to favour motorists and people who try to use their bike against all odds.
Cyclists are essentially oddities and potentially dissidents and revolutionaries who deserve a mark of my deepest respect and appreciation...
Also, not only couples should cycle, but also entire families, young and old alike, whole villages, communities along with dogs, pigs and cattle, the whole lot...
Saying that, I am baffled as to why only women acknowledged you....
Could this be a cyclo-dating thing? Were the men older than the women and the women Russian... or Thai?
Did the men have daggers in their eyes as you politely doffed to their barely nubile brides to be?
We do see strange things on the road that time of the year...
f.

 

Well i'm a chick so i don't think its some kind of thing where the guys are thinking i'm going to ride off with their bride to be or at least i hope not.

 

Now, I'm the opposite. I'm a married man and rarely do I say hi or wave to a couple I pass while riding. I don't want the guy to think I'm waving at his girl. Even though I may be checking her out. Although, I'm pretty sure the guy already knows this.

I normally wave or head nod everybody else I pass. This is also dependent on any extra oxygen I may have at the moment.

 

This touches a pet peeve I have. I regularly ride an excellent paved bicycle trail along the American River. Those riders who aren't focused on going as fast as they can will at least nod as you pass them. The peeve I have is when an ovetaking cyclist whips by without a warning. I invariably strive to call out I am passing in a friendly way even if I'm sprinting along with ragged breath. I often get thanked for warning those who are riding easily. The ones who zip by invariably are young 20-something riders who want to look like they are somebody. Usually I'll put on the power ever so gradually and eventually I'll pass the hot shot, and keep on pushing until the hot shot is so far back I can't see him. I'm 52 and certainly not a racer but I do ride to improve my health.

I think a lot of cyclists are sociable enough. There are regular stops on the trail where people will pull over and conversations will start. It's part of the pleasant social culture of the cycling community.

To directly answer this post I've passed numerous couples and have not noticed that that male did not respond. Usually both would say hello back. I do think it's my approach, though, I strive to make my voice sound friendly even if my heart is pounding and I'm sweating like a pig and I'm trying to get my average speed up one more tenth of a mile per hour on that particular ride.

 

Strangely enough, I usually get passed by blokes who are at least 20 years older than me...
I guess it gives me hope for the future.
Mt pet peeve is having cars or trucks following me at a snails pace.
Sometimes, I'll just let them get on with it, but it can get scary if there are turns or other roads forking out and junctions.
Occasionally, I just have to hit the breaks and sometimes see them stopped beside me sometimes for several seconds.
I was recently reading a post by Origanic claiming she once found herself boucing off the wheels of a truck... Mind you, she was, for some reason, riding on the motorway...
I guess there should be some clear dos and don'ts that should be established for everybody...
For instance, Lincoln city council has just started fining cyclists who ride on pedestrian areas this year. This may sound extreme, but the problem was really getting out of hand and so I guess it called for radical measures...
What do you all people think?

 

Fabrice, you raise some interesting points here: where exactly do cyclists stand with regard to the law, their own safety, car users (and the heavy mother truckers...)?

I tend to take the law into my own hands and ride where I think it's safest (for everybody) - if it's the pavement so be it. If it's the road (because the cycle lanes are dangerous) then what the hell, if it's a footpath (NO CYCLING) but it's the only real alternative to a 3-lane road then that's my route.
Check out some of the letters published during a recent debate I had over cycle lanes with Leicester City Council at www.wheelism.co.uk (in the New Walk section) - very funny indeed, but rather saddening that in this day and age we should be having to deal with such narrow minded, backward looking attitudes.....

 

I'd like to see Leicester City Council trying the same thing as Lincoln...
I mean, first, they'd need a law to stop motorists using cycle paths as parking spaces...
I must say, I've always cycled on New Walk (you're not a cop, are you?), which is regarded by many as the most serious crime one can commit...
No, seriously, Leicester isn't as bad as many other cities.
Laws do exist regarding cyclists and cycling, but they are mostly not followed (it's at the cops discretion to give you hell or just ignore you) and common sense is normally supposed to prevail...
Mostly due, I imagine, to the fact that you're more likely to be run over by a chav on a sqeaky mountain bike or a betracksuited kit on a little bicycle than a tourer or someone who uses cycling as his almost exclusive mode of transport like myself and many on this list.
Another problem in Leicester and Nottingham are pedestrians and motorists who bully cyclists. These are mostly untouchable because it's mostly not worth getting glassed or stabbed and because the cops are usually reluctant to getting involved...
Bitter, moi?...

 

You'll like this.....a friend was cycling up New Walk recently when he passed a cop on a mountain bike (and no, I'm not a copper!). The nice policeman told him to get off his bike, but he just rode straight passed him. The cop made chase up New Walk, round on to London Road and then into Highfields Street. My mate just kept pedalling until the cop gave up....woohoo! - the Law administered according to ability.

On your other point, he was also chased all over the city by an insane driver (with a baby on the passenger seat) because he'd complained to the driver about being cut up on London Road. This nutter left his car and chased my mate along the ring road on foot!

The world is a strange, strange place.

 

You mean he raced the cop across London Road? That must take b***cks of steel... I'm always scared goind along it, so acorss...
This is the funniest thing I've read on this list...
I've also been chased by some insane driver a few years ago. Is it Raw Dyke, when you pass the cinema and go away from town kind of towards Clarendon Park Road? Anyway, at some point, the road's got 3 or 4 lanes and this bloke in a beat up Ford Sierra kept on accelerating and decelerating behind me. There's a cycle lane on that road, so it's not like I was anywhere where I wasn't supposed to be. At some point, the road goes up. The guy was right behind me, going absolutely manic. At some point, I think he gave up because his wife/girlfriend/etc was starting to scream as well. Eventually, he just passed me and gave me the finger.
Don't know how I escaped certain death as my only bike at the time (I was a student) was a 3 speed Emelle with a frame entirely filled with solid lead...
This is totally out of the thread, isn't it?

 

Yeah, I think we've wandered off topic.

Before I get back on topic though, if you think that's funny, you must check out some of the letters at http://www.wheelism.co.uk/index.php?topic=20050405224734521 regarding cycling on New Walk. At one point I actually tried to join the Friends of New Walk (FoNW) in order to change things from the inside, but didn't get very far.

Now, where are all these female cyclists I'm supposed to be waving at?

 

Pure genius.
Shall we start a new thread?
What shall we call it?
I mean, New Walk was a segment of a roman Road, so the Gods know what rode on that road as our ancestors were ...well, shall we say, less analy retentive than we are?

let me know..
f.

 

I've started a new thread then. It's called Roads the Romans Rode. Very apt.

Now the rest of you can carry on waving at each other.....

 

When I'm out riding, whether it be alone or with my boyfriend, I ALWAYS wave at others on bikes. If they look pro or not, if they look friendly or not, if they are male or females of all ages. I feel a sort of bond with others on their wheels. I think it's just polite and it makes me feel great doing so!

 

Indeed,the Youth's Educator for Home and Society, 1896, published a similar article on Ladies and cycling:
Might be slightly off topis,but it's so excellent I couldn't resist reproducing some of it here.
If you want to, you can get the whole text at:

http://www.history.rochester.edu/ehp-book/yefhas/chap28.htm

...Enjoy:

"the gentleman accompanying the lady holds her wheel; she stands at the left, places her right foot across the frame to the right pedal, which at the same time must be raised; pushing this pedal causes the machine to start, and then with the left foot in place she starts ahead very slowly, in order to give her companion time to mount his wheel and join her. When their destination is reached the gentleman dismounts first and appears at his companion's side to assist her, and if she be a true American woman she will assist herself as much as possible.

To dismount in the most graceful form one should gradually slacken speed, and when the left pedal is on the rise throw the weight of the body upon it, cross the right foot over the frame of the machine, and with an assisting hand step with a light spring to the ground.

In meeting a party of cyclists who are acquaintances and desire to stop for a little conversation the gentlemen of the party dismount and sustain the ladies' wheels, the latter retaining their positions in the saddle.

Above all else a lady should at all times maintain an upright position, and on this account should be provided with a machine on which the handles turn upward rather than downward. The stooping posture assumed by so many ladies on the wheel is not only coarse and decidedly ugly, but exceedingly harmful, and will, in a very short time, tend to curvature of the spine, compression of the lungs and their consequent diseases. Many riders claim that one rides much more easily, when facing the wind, to bend forward, and thus break its force, but it were far better to ride a shorter distance than to risk the ills of which we have spoken. Indeed, no woman' should ever ride after a feeling of weariness is experienced; the strain on the nerves and muscles is great and should never be protracted after Nature gives the warning."

 

By "moterway" it appears that you think I was riding my bike on some sort of highway where drivers go 100km per hour. In that "story" I was actually riding on a simple city road that had an enterence to a highway build right off of it. I just wanted to clear up any misconfusion I don't ride my bike on "moterways" or "highways"

Sandie

 

Sandie, you should. It doesn't half upset the car drivers. Just stay out of the outside lane (they'll need some room to overtake you if you slow down).

Keep it wheel.

The Wheelist.
www.wheelism.co.uk