Changing gears
I’m no means encouraging segregation. However, there are groups of people that I battle to even start a conversation with, due to their behaviour.
I got my new bike not so long ago, so I decided to do what anyone would do go for a ride, from Blue Lagoon to Ushaka Marine World. I choose to go in the evening because there’s less traffic.
As I approached Suncoast, about three kilometers into my ride, all I heard was a “psssssssssssssssssssssssssst” short and quick. My rear wheel was flat on its rim. I just got the bike and I was theoretically testing it as you can imagine my disappointment
Why worry though, there are a lot of cyclists along that route, someone will stop and assist? I counted no less than 14 riders, who looked at me and just carried on going.
It hit me like a lightning bolt that, I have to walk back three kilometers to my car. As I walked, more and more cyclists rode pass me, none turned to ask if I was okay. One who still had that thing that pumps blood in your body, turned around, and said “You have a flat?” Yes, I said! He turned around and carried on riding like nothing happened. True story!
Like I said, I am in no way encouraging segregation, but every single one of those riders who went pass me, was a cyclist (road bikes with upside-down goat horns shaped handle bars). They just zipped pass me in their little bicycles that weighs less than an empty box of matches.
So when people hear me talk about cyclists they think I’m trying to be funny or I just have baseless dislike for them. I don’t! I have had a taste of how incredibly anti-social they can be. Of course I’m generalising big time, but some of those Lance Armstrong wannabes and look-alikes are cut from a different saddle.
In my experience, in many off-road trails around the province and the country a true mountain-biker will not pass another without saying a word or not acknowledging them.
The unwritten law of riding is that, you ask if the other rider is okay. Do they need a pump, or a spare tube, do they need a banana, water, an energy bar, medical help in case of snake bites or bee attacks, etc.
So this is why, I always explain explicitly to the uninitiated that, there’s a huge difference between mountain bikers and cyclists. It’s the attitude!