Saying Hi on the Bike Path

sally wrote:
Jorg Lueke wrote in news:d08d390f-0483-4db2-88b1-
:

When passing by another biker on a path do you:

Vocalize a Greeting?

I always say hi when I am passing someone from behind. That is less likely
to startle them than just riding by. Startled riders can be unpredictable,
i.e., swerving into your path.

I use my "ring-ding-ding-ding" bell a few seconds before I catch up. The
bell is automatically interpreted as "cyclist overtaking" by most
cyclists and many pedestrians. The air horn is reserved for headphone
wearers who do not respond to the bell.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”

Tom Sherman wrote:

When passing by another biker on a path do you:

Vocalize a Greeting?

I always say hi when I am passing someone from behind. That is
less likely to startle them than just riding by. Startled riders
can be unpredictable, i.e., swerving into your path.

I use my "ring-ding-ding-ding" bell a few seconds before I catch
up. The bell is automatically interpreted as "cyclist overtaking" by
most cyclists and many pedestrians. The air horn is reserved for
headphone wearers who do not respond to the bell.

Overtaking another bicyclist is a sensitive act. I slow down, roll up
to the other rider and say a few words to not give the impression that
this is a race, the racing aspect is a given for many riders. I am
not in such a hurry that I need to dash past slower riders.

In reverse, I sometimes see what I experienced in my youthful days,
that riders put on an extra burst of speed for the passing maneuver, a
speed that fades as they get about 50 yards ahead and return to their
actual travel pace. That is a gesture I wish not to emulate. On
mountain climbs this is more obvious because there isn't much margin
for such riding and eventually the stronger rider takes the lead. You
can't draft on the hill.

Jobst Brandt

DennisTheBald wrote:
On Aug 21, 11:32 am, " wrote:
On Aug 21, 12:20 pm, " wrote:



On Aug 20, 10:46 am, Jorg Lueke wrote:
When passing by another biker on a path do you:
Vocalize a Greeting?
Gesture a Greeting?
Stare at the other biker to se if they are going to say or do
anything?
Stare stoically straight ahead?
Pay no attention to what other people are doing?
or...
IF they are wearing a helmet, they get a nod, a wave, a smile and
sometimes all 3.
When they have no helmet I don't even notice them.
Lewis.
*****
As someone who rides in a ball cap, this post made my day. Anyone who
would make a post like this, especially with the capital "IF", is IMO
a capital twit and I'd rather be splattered with dog poo than your
attitude.

yep.
sounds like it was posted by one of those self obsessed gits in
spandex, you know the sort - they haul their bikes around all week and
the back of their SUV and then ride in a big clump with themselves on
Saturday.

Hardly a description that fits Lewis. This is a guy who rides barefoot
after all.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”

aka Jobst Brandt wrote:
Jorg Lueke wrote:

When passing by another biker on a path do you:

Vocalize a Greeting?
Gesture a Greeting?
Stare at the other biker to see if they are going to say or do
anything?
Stare stoically straight ahead?
Pay no attention to what other people are doing?

or...

Be a social being and say hello, just as one should when meeting
persons while hiking, or operating a self propelled vehicle when not
in the midst of throngs of others.

I wait to see what the other person does - gives them a choice to ignore
the recumbent rider.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”

In article ,
writes:

I suppose, taking long tours in the Alps has exposed me to more
pleasant fellow humans on all sorts of conveyances or on foot than
most local riders experience.

In the Alps, there must be all kinds of languages
for passers-by to express or receive greetings.

I'm absolutely amazed by how well two people can
non-verbally communicate in the absence of a
language common to them.

A long time ago I heard the suggestion that only
about 20% of inter-human communication is verbal.
The rest is, to put it colloquially: "vibes."

I find it rather beautiful. But I don't like to
verbally talk very much.


Salut,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

On Aug 21, 9:18*pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:
DennisTheBald wrote:
On Aug 21, 11:32 am, " wrote:
On Aug 21, 12:20 pm, " wrote:

On Aug 20, 10:46 am, Jorg Lueke wrote:
When passing by another biker on a path do you:
Vocalize a Greeting?
Gesture a Greeting?
Stare at the other biker to se if they are going to say or do
anything?
Stare stoically straight ahead?
Pay no attention to what other people are doing?
or...
IF they are wearing a helmet, they get a nod, a wave, a smile and
sometimes all 3.
When they have no helmet I don't even notice them.
Lewis.
*****
As someone who rides in a ball cap, this post made my day. *Anyone who
would make a post like this, especially with the capital "IF", is IMO
a capital twit and I'd rather be splattered with dog poo than your
attitude.

yep.
sounds like it was posted by one of those self obsessed gits in
spandex, you know the sort - they haul their bikes around all week and
the back of their SUV and then ride in a big clump with themselves on
Saturday.

Hardly a description that fits Lewis. This is a guy who rides barefoot
after all.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

A barefoot helmet-nazi? Please tell me you're kidding! VBG

Tom Sherman wrote:
I use my "ring-ding-ding-ding" bell a few seconds before I catch up. The
bell is automatically interpreted as "cyclist overtaking" by most
cyclists and many pedestrians. The air horn is reserved for headphone
wearers who do not respond to the bell.

I have a bell on one bike, but I seldom use it, possibly because it's
not an ingrained habit, possibly because of the mounting position.

This morning I was thinking about it, bell, yell, or no tell. They've
all got their problems...

I don't like "On your left" because it can sound rude, like "get out of
my way", "Bicycle passing on your left" is too long, though sounds nicer
IMO. If you say it too far in advance you have to yell loudly, which
increases the potential to be interpreted as rudeness, if you say it too
close it startles them.

I've watched people who use bells, and they seems to completely confuse
pedestrians, they start doing the squirrel dance back and forth across
the trail. Besides, is the bell interpreted as any less rude than the yell?

I usually try to soften the potential misinterpretation by saying
"Hello", "Thanks", "Good morning", or something like that as I pass.

No tell has led to being chewed out, and I've seen people hit
pedestrians who suddenly side-stepped oblivious to the passing bike.

--
Work and recreation are not often effected at the same time.
One using a bicycle in business makes an exception to the rule.
- Dr. Edgar H. Earl, Rochester. (~1892)

wrote:

Overtaking another bicyclist is a sensitive act. I slow down, roll up
to the other rider and say a few words to not give the impression that
this is a race, the racing aspect is a given for many riders. I am
not in such a hurry that I need to dash past slower riders.

I actually don't do this for one big reason. There are a lot of idiots
here who draft without asking. I'm not racing, I'm either commuting
back and forth to work, or riding for pleasure by myself. I don't like
pacelining much at all, and certainly not with people I don't know.
Passing people at a brisk pace discourages this behaviour.

In reverse, I sometimes see what I experienced in my youthful days,
that riders put on an extra burst of speed for the passing maneuver, a
speed that fades as they get about 50 yards ahead and return to their
actual travel pace. That is a gesture I wish not to emulate. On
mountain climbs this is more obvious because there isn't much margin
for such riding and eventually the stronger rider takes the lead. You
can't draft on the hill.

I don't tend to have this problem on hills since people can't draft, as
you say. I just pass at my normal pace, say "on your left" pre-pass,
"Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening" (as appropriate) during the pass.
Sometimes I'll get someone who is somehow offended I passed them and
they'll race up the hill ahead of me for a while. But they don't try
and draft me.

--
Dane Buson -
I would like to electrocute everyone who uses the word 'fair' in connection
with income tax policies.
-- William F. Buckley

Tom Sherman wrote:
aka Jobst Brandt wrote:

Be a social being and say hello, just as one should when meeting
persons while hiking, or operating a self propelled vehicle when not
in the midst of throngs of others.

I wait to see what the other person does - gives them a choice to ignore
the recumbent rider.

Naw, I treat recumbent riders the same as I treat everyone
self-locomoting on wheels. All of us bike/trike dorks need to stick
together.

I've usually only see one recumbent on my way to and fro work. He heads
the same direction as me, so it's a rare day I see him. We chit-chatted
once when he helped me clear brush and fallen trees from the trail after
a windstorm. And another time on a snowy/icy day when we were just
about the only ones out.

And I certainly did envy his three wheels that day. I don't think I
fell that day, but it was a near run thing a number of times as I
recall.

--
Dane Buson -
.... there are about 5,000 people who are part of that commitee. These guys have
a hard time sorting out what day to meet, and whether to eat croissants or
doughnuts for breakfast -- let alone how to define how all these complex layers
that are going to be agreed upon. -- Craig Burton of Novell, Network World

"Rex Kerr" wrote: (clip) I don't like "On your left" because it can sound
rude, like "get out of
my way", "Bicycle passing on your left" is too long, though sounds nicer
IMO. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For me, "On your left, please," seems to work. Courteous, and not too long.