Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Cycling Etiquette....A conundrum

It's a funny sport cycling is. It is one of the few (as well as running) where it is an unspoken rule that you say hello (or at least acknowledge) other cyclists out on the road. Of course you get the odd few who don't, and there have been times when I have "missed" other cyclists when I have been head down and not attentively looking at the other side of the road. So a funny thing happened this past Saturday, as has occurred a few times over the many years of my cycling; a large group were out riding and it appeared that they were part of a cycling tour group (as are popular in this area of Maryland). As such there were many differing abilities within the group and this led to them being spread over many miles, this is where I came across my conundrum. If I was to follow "the rule" I would be constantly saying hello or acknowledging cyclists for a substantial period of time and wouldn't be able to fully concentrate on my own ride for that morning. However, if I didn't acknowledge the other cyclists, I would then be deemed as "one of those" that ignores people and "thinks they are better than others".

In the end I sort of fell in between and tried to say hello to as many as possible while still concentrating on my own ride. I apologise to any that I missed.....I'm not one of "those", I promise!

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