Mountain Biking Snobery

Frank Drebin

I couldn't find a forum dedicated specifically to mountain biking so thought this would be the best place for this.

I do a fair bit of mountain biking around the Dublin and Wicklow areas and have noticed a sort of 'school yard' attitude with mountain bikers.

Mountain bikers tend to look one another up and down and are particularly rude to other mountain bikers. Particularly bikers with the more up-market bikes and equipment. Many do not return greetings and are out rite obnoxious.

What is the deal with this?

We're all up there to have a bit of fun. Enough with the 'my bike is better than yours' pissing contests.

Is this a territorial thing? Are the Dublin mountain biker gangs marking their territory? Or are the Wicklow Way biker locals not happy with non locals?

can someone shed some light on this?

C3PO

Frank Drebin wrote: »

I couldn't find a forum dedicated specifically to mountain biking so thought this would be the best place for this.

You can't have tried very hard Frank!
www.epicmtb.com
www.madmtb.com
www.mtbireland
..... to name just a few!

With regard to your main point I can honestly say that my experience has always been the opposite of yours! Not sure what you expect from other mountain bikers but I would suggest that you consider joining a club and getting to meet people that way!

blorg

I've found the opposite too, the clubs have been very friendly towards me, a dirty (spit) roadie!

thebouldwhacker

I guess any sport which grows so rapidly as cycling (all disciplines) has will inevitably grow without people realising what it is they are doing re culture specific norms. I make a point of saying hi to all cyclists as much as possible however this gets different responses from different people. Some wave back, others give a blank stare while others look as if I have just given them the finger. I guess cycling can be such an individual sport sometimes people forget, or do not realise that for the longest time cyclists have a bond of sorts which allows for conversation, greetings and friendliness between cyclists who have never met each other. I tend to ignore such bores who have put themselves on their own pedestal as I know their attitude is one which is not in the spirit of the sport and if that's how they want to be then I'm better off not interacting with such fools.
I have gotten to meet some really great people through cycling. Lately while touring I pulled up in a village in the middle of no where when this guy from NY came over for a chat. He was big into bikes and we ended up having a great chat about all types of cycling. He was blown away by cycling in Ireland, not sure what his picture was but when I mentioned Surly bikes he was laughing, 'how the hell have ye heard of surly over here?' turns out he knows a few guys working with them. He was from San Fran originally and I mentioned that I'd love to ride the 'repack' (where mtb started) and again was amazed that anyone outside California would have heard of it. You really can have some great times with poeple just coz you cycle. On the oppside side I was out riding recently and gave a big old wave to a guy going the oppside direction and he just stared and blanked me, he was full kit and carbon, I was just out in my grubby training gear on a trek 1.2, I guess he didn't reckon I was worth a wave. I met him again half an hour later when I flew past him and dropped him, deep down I know this pi$$ed him off no end. The bike/gear does not make the cyclist.

Personally I think if your on a bike you have the opportunity to be a member of the cycling community, if you are a prick on a bike then your saying that you have no interest in this comradeship. So be it.....

Dermot Illogical

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

On the oppside side I was out riding recently and gave a big old wave to a guy going the oppside direction and he just stared and blanked me, he was full kit and carbon, I was just out in my grubby training gear on a trek 1.2, I guess he didn't reckon I was worth a wave. I met him again half an hour later when I flew past him and dropped him, deep down I know this pi$$ed him off no end. The bike/gear does not make the cyclist.

That sounds familiar. I'm new to this whole road cycling malarkey myself, but always nod or wave (old motorcycling habit) and have been disappointed with the results so far. I've been blanked about 50 times so far for 2 or 3 results. I'm starting to think it's possibly due to not being dressed in brightly-coloured lycra. Or my legs are too hairy?

super_sweeney

are you sure its snobery and people think perhaps that maybe you think they are someone else or even waving at someone else and dont want to look like an idiot waving back or saying hello to someone who was not waving at them to start.

i have found myself upon occasion being waved at and wave back only to be found looking like a tool cause it was not intended for me.

just my opinion

easygoing39

When on my mountainbike up on the trails every mountainbiker always says hello back to me.But dont get me started about about my fellow roadies,alot never wave or nod back,so much so,that sometimes I dont bother until the other lad nods 1st.Its much friendlier up on the trails.

@ Frank Drebin,you didnt do much "detective" work on the web if you couldnt find the Epic or MAD mountainbike websites!!:D

adamski8

RPL1 wrote: »

You can't have tried very hard Frank!
www.epicmtb.com
www.madmtb.com
www.mtbireland
..... to name just a few!

easygoing39 wrote: »

@ Frank Drebin,you didnt do much "detective" work on the web if you couldnt find the Epic or MAD mountainbike websites!!:D

Jasus lads i'm sure he was refering to no mountain biking forum on boards.ie so cycling was the most appriopriate!

redzone

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

I guess any sport which grows so rapidly as cycling (all disciplines) has will inevitably grow without people realising what it is they are doing re culture specific norms. I make a point of saying hi to all cyclists as much as possible however this gets different responses from different people. Some wave back, others give a blank stare while others look as if I have just given them the finger. I guess cycling can be such an individual sport sometimes people forget, or do not realise that for the longest time cyclists have a bond of sorts which allows for conversation, greetings and friendliness between cyclists who have never met each other. I tend to ignore such bores who have put themselves on their own pedestal as I know their attitude is one which is not in the spirit of the sport and if that's how they want to be then I'm better off not interacting with such fools.
I have gotten to meet some really great people through cycling. Lately while touring I pulled up in a village in the middle of no where when this guy from NY came over for a chat. He was big into bikes and we ended up having a great chat about all types of cycling. He was blown away by cycling in Ireland, not sure what his picture was but when I mentioned Surly bikes he was laughing, 'how the hell have ye heard of surly over here?' turns out he knows a few guys working with them. He was from San Fran originally and I mentioned that I'd love to ride the 'repack' (where mtb started) and again was amazed that anyone outside California would have heard of it. You really can have some great times with poeple just coz you cycle. On the oppside side I was out riding recently and gave a big old wave to a guy going the oppside direction and he just stared and blanked me, he was full kit and carbon, I was just out in my grubby training gear on a trek 1.2, I guess he didn't reckon I was worth a wave. I met him again half an hour later when I flew past him and dropped him, deep down I know this pi$$ed him off no end. The bike/gear does not make the cyclist.

Personally I think if your on a bike you have the opportunity to be a member of the cycling community, if you are a prick on a bike then your saying that you have no interest in this comradeship. So be it.....

Here here , well said Mr Boulderwhacker, roadies are a strange kind of lifeform. I was out with a mate recently for a spin and we would say hello to all cyclists, some wave back and some keep the head down. He mentioned that when he is on his hybrid that nobody returns his greeting, so to prove the point the next day we went out we took the hybrids and guess what , we were blanked by all. Now that says something !

Pyr0

I was pass a fair few cyclists on my way to work on a Hybrid, some wave or nod the head which I admit does take my by surprise by I always return the gesture. Although some just tend to stare at me in a very obvious fashion as they go by

yop

Do any of them call you "Shirley"???

Ya you can get that, what I have noted even in the year that cycling now seems to be "cool" so your getting a number of knobheads getting on their bikes. Putting a jersey on them and a few spins under their belts and they are all a bunch of Stephen Roche's.

I would be surprised though as I find most cyclists give u the nod.

studiorat

I guess it could be 'cause sometimes there's so many people up on tree rock and lead mines etc. You'd get a pain in the hole saying hello to everybody. And as for greeting other cyclists on a commute, well that's just weird.

Further out from from the city where you aren't bumping into a cyclist every five minutes I'd usually say hello.

Jawgap

blorg wrote: »

I've found the opposite too, the clubs have been very friendly towards me, a dirty (spit) roadie!

Cats hiss, spit and are generally not very nice to other cats.

Humans find cats cuddly and quite a few will often taken in stray or lost animals.

To MTB'ers you are the equivalent of the kindly human........:)

gman2k

Reminds me of this....

fenris

In my experience mountain bikers tend to be very friendly when out an about, it is the nature of the sport to take notice of other riders particularly when you are off the beaten track, this is a good thing if your mates are looking for you or you get busted up.

People check out other peoples bikes - pretty normal cyclist behaviour and part of the figuring out if shiny bits make you faster / better, while knowing in our heart of hearts that getting fitter and a haircut is more likely to yield results!, it is not a personal slight or "looking down" respect comes from ability to use the bits not ownership of the bits.

There are relatively few things that you can do to piss off other mountain bikers, riding the wrong way along a trail is one, messing with trails e.g. making goober lines or "jumps" on existing maintained trails is a big no no. Most good trails are voluntarily maintained by local clubs - they don't happen by accident. Apart from that a bit of cop on goes a long way.

Lumen

redzone wrote: »

to prove the point the next day we went out we took the hybrids and guess what , we were blanked by all. Now that says something !

Sell the hybrid?

c0rk3r

Read this on Fatcyclist.com a few days ago. Pretty apt

Fatcyclist wrote: »

My Proudest Moment: Trailer Park Cyclist Vs Cervelo Guy
04.22.2011 | 6:25 am

A Note from Fatty: Today’s guest post comes from Tim Joe Comstock. It’s an awesome story, beautifully told.

I live in a trailer park in Florida. Not a nice retirement-villa-on-wheels trailer park where the elderly neighbors swap recipes and check in on each other and play shuffleboard in the fading twilight of a rosy pink sunset kind of trailer park.

No.

The trailer park I live in is a really crappy side-of-the-highway trailer park where the dentally challenged neighbors swap drugs and have fist-fights in the shimmering glow of the pale moonlight and the occasional blue strobe lights of a police cruiser perks up the evening’s entertainment.

Not that I see much of this action, not really, because while the evening’s misadventures go on outside my window I am safe inside staring at a computer screen bearing images of sweet and shiny new bicycles that I can’t afford. And reading cycling blogs by people who live seemingly charmed lives of high-paying office jobs that leave them plenty of energy and money to spend their off time riding around wearing expensive clothing that I also can’t afford while they ride the above-mentioned out-of-reach bicycles.

But while I may sound bitter or disillusioned, I am not. Because I ride a bicycle too. The same roads my “superior” colleagues pedal on are open to me, also. And listen, man, I ride them. After thirty years of hard labor in the construction industry, after two marriages and houses and kids and lawyers, topped off with this never-ending “recession” and all the loss that results from loss: I ride my bike. A lot.

One day a few months ago at a convenience store I was admiring a pair of touring bikes parked outside. A Raleigh Sojourn and a Trek 520. A mild-mannered fellow in full kit, a guy about my own graying age, came out and I complimented him on his bike. We were discussing the worth of disc brakes vs. cantilevers when his wife joined us, glancing nervously at my baggy shorts, sleeveless t-shirt, scruffy beard and long, bandana-bound hair. And the beer in my hand.

I was halfway through my Sunday Century and I always stop at the same place for a beer; sometimes three, depending on the day, how I feel, and my financial situation. As she walked up her husband was offering me a ride on his Sojourn. I was just throwing a leg over when she said “Hold it.” She gave her husband a look I was all too familiar with (two marriages) and said “How do you know he isn’t some homeless guy?”

“Well, honey, he knows all about bikes, and he seems perfectly all right…” All of this while I sat there, bemused (to say the least) and a flood of emotions went coursing through my already fairly beat down soul. But one of my saving graces at this point in my misspent old age is I don’t get offended nearly as much as I did when I was still an upright citizen.

But I got off the bike.

To her credit, she caught what she had done and tried to lighten the moment by giving me a strained smile and saying, “Well, you’re either a really smart homeless person or…” and then she realized that there was no happy ending to that sentence either and so I just laughed and said “Have fun on your ride, guys,” and went back into the store for another beer.

Today, several months later, I was into mile 30 on my Saturday ride, just cruising along on my 1981 Schwinn LeTour, loving the day and day-dreaming on the empty country road that I like to use for my day-dreaming ride when a guy comes out of nowhere and passes me. I say “Hey!” like I always do, but he just goes on by on his carbon Cervelo.

I am accustomed to being passed by better-disciplined and sleeker riders wearing helmets and lycra and riding carbon, but this time…well, he shot me a disdainful glance as he went by, something else I am accustomed to, but he could at least have said “Hello.”

And then I heard the voice of Brian Becker, ex tri-athlete and a touring rider with more miles under his wheels than most of us will see in a lifetime. “NOBODY drops me without a fight.” So I feathered forward on my right down tube friction shifter and I knocked on the door of a place inside of myself that I haven’t been to in a long time. “It’s not the bike, it’s the engine…come on, boy….”

I’m sitting here in my crappy trailer park by the highway, watching the sunset, sipping a beer and gazing fondly at my old Schwinn leaning against the wall. I’m savoring the the moment when the guy finally caught up with me back in town, where I was waiting at a red light.

“Sheesh”, he said, “I kept looking back, and you were still there. I couldn’t believe it…then…”

Yeah, man.

studiorat

c0rk3r wrote: »

Read this on Fatcyclist.com a few days ago. Pretty apt

I like, "the dude abides".

Mec-a-nic

Frank Drebin wrote: »

What is the deal with this?

I don't think it's particular to mountain biking, or even biking.

When I used to do daily loops up Howth in the early '90s, we would get looks from road bikers in 'full prat regalia'. The looks went when we passed them on the ascent on our crappy hybrids wearing jeans and DMs....

I think there are so many people cycling these days (yah!) that we're down to just normal public interactions. Say hello to a stranger in most large towns and you'll get funny looks.

As for checking out bikes, I really hope they are just checking every bike out for the stolen ones

petethedrummer

Frank Drebin wrote: »

can someone shed some light on this?

Your bike must be rubbish.

redzone

Lumen wrote: »

Sell the hybrid?

Never , its where I came from , also its great for winter training.:)

Lumen

redzone wrote: »

Never, its where I came from

Your mother is a hybrid? Or you lived in a hybrid as a child?

There was an old woman who lived in a hybrid, she had so many helmet mirrors she didn't know what to do! :pac: