Steve Brown

Dan,

Great question. And as a compulsive wheel sucker I might be
qualified to answer to some degree. My first thought is always, free
ride. If you look like you are able to ride with someone on your
wheel, and somewhat in your own space, then you probably did not care
someone was back behind you. No asking to ride along or bother, just
taking advantage of the draft. Usually thank them for the pull.
I never want to invade someone's space. So I appreciate the
perspective.
On the social contract side, my rational has been that if someone
rides by me and does not acknowledge me I am not butt hurt. But I
take that as a sign that you really don't care who else is on the
road and so why should you care if someone is behind you as long as
they are safe. If someone rides by me, gives the acknowledgment and
rides off, I would take that as a signal that they want or need to be
left alone.
I am thinking that there should be a signal so that we can all
identify each other, social riders vs soloists and so no one is
offended. I have met some wonderful people by chance encounters. I
don't do a lot of team rides, so riding can be a social event for
me. Maybe on that side, I am also conscious of overtaking riders.
Never want to be considered an elitist roadie inconsiderate of the
little people.
And as such I have never had anyone latch on to my wheel.
I know now that I will forever more be aware of the taking a wheel
unasked. By the way, is there a proper way to ask to draft or is it
that if you have to ask you should not.

Steve Brown

On Jan 29, 2010, at 12:24 PM, Dan Silvernail wrote:

> I'm glad that the record has been set straight. Up until today I
> would just get completely bummed out when someone didn't return my
> little chin raise whenever I'd pass them. Sorry to anyone that I
> yelled "Unsociable pr**ck" to. (I kid!) (I'm just as guilty as
> the next guy of not extending a full-on warm embrace to anyone on a
> bike that I encounter. I wave and not and that's good enough)
> Hell, while I have the floor, here is something that eats at me and
> I want to know why people do this: why, oh why, do people just
> have to speed up and "get on my wheel" whenever I pass them? It
> doesn't matter if I'm commuting through downtown or on a training
> ride up on Skyline. Whenever I approach someone while out riding,
> I'm at the point where I feel the need to "attack" them instead of
> rolling past because if I just roll past (saying HI to them as I
> pass), 8 out of 10 people on bikes will stick right to my rear
> wheel. Why? I don't have this problem when I'm out walking or
> running. I mean, if you were walking your dog and passed a slower
> walker and they picked up the pace and started walking step for
> step 6" back of you, what would you think? I'd turn the dog loose
> on them! That's what I'd do! (well, not really, my dog is a
> chicken ass who'd just beg for a cookie). Anyway. Next time
> someone wants to draft off of me, I'll tell them to take out an
> OBRA licence and go up to PIR and race. There, it's OK to ride
> someone's ass.
>
> Rant over. Let the weekend begin!
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Erik Long
> wrote:
> Yeah, dude. Some people just aren't social animals. Often when a
> rider goes riding alone, he does so specifically to ride alone - in
> fact, that's almost always the case. There are other factors - the
> guy could be riding on a very limited schedule, possibly in the
> middle of a structured workout, who knows.
>
> If you're on a group ride, you can expect more of a social event.
> There's no reason to take offense just because a lone rider didn't
> smile and wave from the other side of the road. This is a silly
> reason to get bent out of shape.
>
>
>
> Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:10:25 -0800
> From: tackyglueit@gmail.com
> To: sbrown@stevebrowncompany.com
> CC: obra@list.obra.org
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Ask A Roadie
>
>
> you're a clown. maybe the guys dog just died. the world is bigger
> then you.
>
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 10:45 AM, Steve Brown
> wrote:
> Dear Ask A Roadie,
>
> I seem to need some help regarding the secret handshake.
> Even though I am fairly sociable when I riding, every once in a
> while someone will simply ride by with their head down. I always
> thought that even if you wanted to be left alone, at least
> acknowledging the overtaken rider was the polite thing to do. One
> thought is that these are tri's who have taken off the aero bars
> and are not real roadies.
> I have a cool bike, wear a cycling hat with the bill turned up
> under my helmet, and wear red aero covers over my booties or shoes.
> Are these riders just showing me "they are the man". Should I
> latch on to their wheel, and then sprint by to show them I am the man?
> What am I missing?
>
>
> Steve Brown
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