Good Morning! Hey There!
Good Morning! (quietly) hello
Good Morning! Mornin'
It was a great Wednesday. Friendly cyclists responded to my Good Morning! with their own greetings. Every single one had some sort of reply.
That was a rare day. Friday was typical. Two of nine riders encountered on my way to work responded to my hellos. It's a shtick I have, greeting bicycle riders.
Good Morning
Mornin'
Hello
Howdy
Hey There
It's not like there are so many of us. My commute doesn't cross one of the bridges into downtown Portland. Those routes have hundreds of cyclists passing through each hour. Just a few miles east of the cycling crowd a reverse commute rider like me will encounter only a handful of cyclists each day. To almost all of them I call out a greeting. A few reply.
Would you? Do you?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Velocopedian Information & Inspiration
Support the blog with any purchase from Amazon.com
Other Sites of the Veloquentia
- Alice B. Toeclip's (AKA Jacquie Phelan) Blog
- Beth's Bike Love Jones blog
- Brad Hawkins' Biking With Brad
- Christopher Johnson's Pondero Blog
- Elden's Fat Cyclist Blog
- Jason Crane's Fort Orange Cycling
- Jason Nunemaker's Non-cycling Writing
- Jason Nunemaker's The Cycle
- Jill's Up In Alaska Blog
- Kent's Bike Blog
- Matt Chester's MC Ti Fab
- Michael's Meme Patch
- Scott's Large Fella On a Bike Blog
- Tammy's No Try Blog
- Tarik's Moscaline Blog
- Vik's The Lazy Randonneur Blog
Labels
- "fury with syringe on top" (1)
- "Peter Rich" (1)
- "syringe spear" (1)
- "Taliah Lempert" (1)
- "tour commentary" "Amgen Tour" (1)
- "Tour of California" (1)
- "yellow devil" (1)
- alice b. toeclips (3)
- art book (1)
- Baja bike touring Vik the lazy randonneur Eleanor Meecham (1)
- Beth (2)
- bicycle porn (1)
- bicycles (2)
- bikers (1)
- bmx (1)
- book reviews (1)
- Brad (5)
- children's books (1)
- Christopher (10)
- coffee table book (1)
- commuting (3)
- corn (1)
- Dad (3)
- doping (1)
- dumpster diving (1)
- guid book (1)
- Illinois (1)
- Iowa (1)
- Jacquie (2)
- jan heine (1)
- Jason (4)
- Jason Crane (4)
- Jason Nunemaker (11)
- Jill (4)
- Kent (3)
- Lance Armstrong (1)
- major scores (2)
- Mark (1)
- Matrix (1)
- memories (4)
- Michael R (6)
- old bikes (2)
- Otto the aluminum bicycle (1)
- philosophy (3)
- stress (1)
- struggle (3)
- summer (1)
- Tammy (1)
- Tarik (5)
- The Dude [LFoaB] (1)
- ToC (1)
- Vik Tikit Bike Friday folding bike (1)
- wine (1)
- winter (1)
11 comments:
I'll often smile. I may or may not call out a greeting... depends on how I'm feeling and how busy things are. Madison roads and bike paths can be awfully busy. And on a frazzled day, I may need most of my brain cells just to handle the traffic.
I try to say something. Sometimes I am thinking too much or simply not in the mood.
One time I was riding up a big hill. As I passed another cyclist, I wanted to say something encouraging. I was more tired than I thought because what came out was something like, "Goot jab onca he."
That guy never responds to me anymore.
I always try to say hi to passing cyclists. I commute over the West Seattle Bridge every morning, and I understand that there are lots of bikes on the roads these days, but I'm lucky to get 1 response out of the 30 or so bikes I pass every day. It's actually a bit discouraging.
But of course! I did this morning, and do every day. Anything from a smile, a nod, a wave, a toot of my cheerful little horn, up to a full fledged "Howdy." I see a lot of the same people every day, so I get lots fo responses, too. Val
I'm often in a lot of car traffic where it's too loud for someone coming the other direction on the other side of the street to hear me but I always wave. And if I do pass someone going the same way, I wave and say hello.
For the wave, I guess I get about a third of the people responding: the percentage has actually gone up as more non-hardcore cyclists have gotten on the road these past few months. When I pass, I guess about half respond. Maybe a bit more.
Always! And I always offer to help those stuck on the side of the road. It must be rubbing off on my son, b/c he is now the loudest greeter of all, especially when on the back of the X.
MaryBeth
I ride quite a bit here in Seattle. I usually try to say hi or good morning to other cyclists as I pass them (especially on the Burke-Gilman Trail), but I usually just get a scowl. I actually got yelled at a couple of times. It's really weird. And yes, discouraging. Seattle's just a cold place, I guess.
It's much different in PDX, though. I was there over 4th of July weekend, and the riders down there are much friendlier.
Glasgow, UK .In the morning ( 6:30/8:00) I greet walkers, runners and cyclist with a "good morning" and a smile. I ride along a canal (20 miles), by the towpath; all the walkers and runners always greet me back :o).
Sadly, I cannot say the same about cyclist: some of them ( the most "racing" looking ones)tend to ignore it ( assholes!).
In the afternoon ( 17:00/18:00) it will be a "hi there" or a nod with a smile.
I like to believe that the cyclist commuters are a group of people who are rolling the snowball of transport/lifestyle revolution and I'd like to believe that cycling to work is an "evangelist" activism by example.
Cycling is suppossed to remove the barrier that a car is for interating with our fellow human beings.
Even if I am wrong, " good morning" and a smile can make the day of many people ;o) !
i'm amazed at how sullen most lycra-clad roadies seem while riding. i usually just nod or give a small wave cause i've been burned so often. my daughter (9) gets so happy on her bike that she starts waving and shouting "HI! Good morning!" to everyone she sees. Even sullen roadies find it hard to resist her sunny enthusiasm.
I had a bit of a rant about this on my blog:
http://ibikenz.blogspot.com/2008/05/butt-service-aka-why-are-all-roadies.html
I'm an ex motorcycle rider who always acknowledged other cyclists on the road but was getting a little disheartened at the lack of replies to my greetings.
I did a little trial on my local road loop and got no responses from all 21 lycra cowboys that passed by!
I don't bother saying hello to road cyclists anymore. It's too depressing.
I often tip my helmet as if I were tipping a top hat and I always smile.
Post a Comment