veganbikes

So someone should give away money because someone else decided to not carry their own spare like an adult? No sorry. He offered help and certainly if the guy had come back and said "look, sorry I don't have money now or I only have a card maybe we can bike up to the local brewery or bar and grab a beer" then I would have given him the patches and maybe rode up to the local watering hole and since I don't really drink beer probably just sat and chatted maybe grabbed a hard cider or a pineapple juice or sparkling water.

Sometimes giving something to someone is all good but usually it will be service rather than goods unless I know the goods are going to be used for more good but bike path racers generally not so much. Plus if he had gone out to a place he might be stranded and had no way of getting out of a puncture or minor bike things then he probably shouldn't be riding out that far. Granted this guy was in the city so that wasn't a worry. But the OP tried to warn him of the glass and tried to help so he did his job.

Kedosto

unterhausen

I carry a spare 25mm tube to give away. But that's because I have them and don't use that size tire any more. Not sure I would buy a new one to give away, but then again, people that use that size tire seem to have a lot of flats. I also carry glueless patches which I would have no problem giving away. I like to have a patch kit, and if you open the glue it dries up fairly quickly. So that's a $5 loss on a person that ignored the warning about glass. There are limits to my charity.

speedevil 

I wasn't there, and can't see/read the attitude of the flat guy. He could have been angry with himself, and in the moment found it difficult to show appreciation for a fellow cyclist stopping to help. This could have gone a completely different way, had the guy with flats started with - "I'm trying to fix this but I'm doing something wrong, can you give me a hand? I'd appreciate it. I didn't understand what you were saying when I passed you earlier."

Seriously, who wouldn't at least try to help in that situation? Unless of course, the guy with the flats is Alejandro Valverde and the other is Simon Yates and they're racing to win the Vuelta.

Since I'm not going to be racing in the Vuelta, I'd do what I could. And it still might not be rideable, depending on the damage to the tire/tube. But at least we would have tried, and the flat guy would have learned how to be better prepared on his next ride.

TimothyH

I don't help people because I expect something in return. I help because it is the right thing to do.

What someone should have done or decided to do or how they got into a situation isn't important to me. What is important is that a person needs help. We can talk about what they should do after we get the situation cleared up.

This is how human beings are supposed to treat each other.


-Tim-

Gerry221

Guy might be an ass for riding over broken glass, despite attempts to get him to avoid it. Also, might be an idiot for going out on a ride with no emergency kit.

But, I woiuld not leave a fellow cyclist stuck, if I was able to help. On rides, I have provided patches, tubes, pump, Co2......and I have needed these from time to time.

I would have helped the guy.....but also gave him some advice while doing it.

Colnago Mixte

Helping other riders out adds extra inches to your cyclist's "halo". It's worth doing it for that reason alone.

Fix the tire, and tell the poor SOB to "Go, and sin no more."

Add a cyclist "blessing" as they ride away, for extra style points.

Maelochs

Based on this thread, most posters are much nicer to people in RL than they are to one another online.

Personally i find platitudes to rarely suit practice. Usually the situation calls for something other than a generalized absolute .... and that is where it gets tricky. For instance ... how many of you would have stayed to patch both this guys's tubes and pumped them up if you had to get home, grab your luggage, and get on a flight with your family? How many of you would have missed a train or bus and gotten to work an hour late yo help this guy? How many of you would have missed a child's performance in a school play?

For that matter ... how many of you people give away all your money---I mean ALL you r money---to charities, to help those in need? Yeah, I know .... there are so many comforts ... air conditioning, heat, nice cars, expensive bikes, expensive back-up bikes, expensive mountain bikes ... plus saving for the future, and ..... well when it comes down to it, it is great to preach generosity and charity but ALL of us have limits to what, when, and how we will give stuff away. You are preaching the virtue of giving ... but All of you would say"No." is some situations. So maybe instead of mouthing platitudes and pretending sainthood, how about we are generous To The OP and admit all of us would, in one situation or another, also ride away. How about a does of honesty and reality? or just compassion for the OP?

It is hard to understand why such decent, caring, giving people are so ready to tell others how wrong they are for having different value systems.

mcours2006

I probably wouldn't have offered the kit. It would have left me without one, but I would have offered to help if the guy was a bit more pleasant. Yeah, you help because it's the right thing to do, blah, blah, blah, but if the guys is being a jerk about it, then no. And I wouldn't feel one iota of guilt for leaving him high and dry.

Retro Grouch 

That's pretty much what I think too:
Don't expect other people to act and do everything perfectly.
Don't judge other people based on their actions while under stress.

grayEZrider

In retrospect you've posted this thread to get input and rethink the possibilities of what your "best effort" may have been. Kudos for that too. It's also helped me to reconfigure what I carry around (some but not enough), so thanks to all for the input on this. We all learn (if we live through it!).

Metieval

2 sides to every story.........

We have only heard 1 side.

livedarklions

Seems to me that the OP is handling this discussion quite well, and without the over-the-top histrionics you're posting.

I've been on both ends of the getting and giving help end of biking situations, and I've never encountered something like the OP is describing--someone who accepts help, but is kind of a jerk about it. So, yes, it does pose an interesting moral question--when do you stop going out of your way for something of a nasty person? If I'm honest with myself, I probably wouldn't have gone beyond the use of the pump before I quit on him, and I think I probably wouldn't even have mentioned the patch kit I carry if I had already felt put off by the guy. Offering to sell him the kit seems an odd choice, but maybe just because I've never seen anyone do it--truth be told, offering to sell it is probably a little more generous than just pretending I don't have one.

Anyway, the OP is a grown up and knows that posting an anecdote about his own behavior is an invitation for people to offer their opinion on that behavior, and I find your "I'm going to be super judgmental about people posting things that are judgmental" routine quite hilarious, but frankly, you're wearing out the bit by over-use.


BTW, I don't stop for any reason but that I'd feel bad leaving someone stranded, but a lot of these stops have actually turned out to be kind of fun. It's usually a rather pleasant conversation while we sort out the problem, and my repair skills are so meager, I'm always a little happy when I actually did something for someone they couldn't do.

Milton Keynes

Walk???? That takes effort!

woodcraft

As I read it, the guy with the flats had just used a co2 trying to inflate his punctured/slashed tire without patching it,

so had clearly demonstrated his incompetence. Odds that he could successfully use a patch kit are low.

Some people/situations are not very help-able.



Funny story from last weekend:

Group ride, pass several riders stopped roadside going the other way. Two guys are sitting, patching their flats. (Did not offer the ritual 'need anything?' BTW)

I comment that there could be a biathlon that included stops to change tubes during the race. The gal behind me says "that's not a real thing"

& I say well it could be. She says that she doesn't even know how to fix a flat, & that "If I get to the point where I'm not good looking enough to have a guy

fix my tire, I'll give up cycling."

Milton Keynes

Personally, my take on this situation is firstly that I never ride anywhere without both a spare tube and a patch kit. Secondly, if I see someone off their bike up ahead, the first thing I do is slow down to see what's going on, and if they need some help them help them. If they're waving their arms at me, I'll plan to stop. They either need help or are trying to warn me about something. Thirdly, if someone was down with two flats, I'd offer them the use of my patch kit and pump, or offer to fix the tire for them. I don't know what the dude expected to do by putting a second cartridge of CO2 into his tire if the first one didn't work. Don't know why he'd attempt to reinflate his tires anyway knowing that if your tire (or both of them) suddenly go flat, it's because there's now a hole in the tube and they need patched or replaced. So that, combined with the fact that the guy didn't even have a patch kit or spare tube, leads me to think that he wouldn't have known what to do with one if he did have them. Given his attitude, I can't feel too sorry for the guy.

smashndash

I think we've all encountered a situation where someone else needed our help and we chose not to do everything we possibly could.

I was noodling away from a group ride where I had given another guy my tube because his spare was a dud (and pumped up his tire because my pump was better) when I saw someone walking their bike. Pulled over. Turned out he had flatted. Don't think he had a spare tube or inflation. I would have given him my tube but all I had left was my unopened patch kit. I was hesitant to offer this since the glue dries up pretty quick. I asked him if he had a ride home and he said his wife was on her way. We were in a very populous area too, so I didn't feel too bad.

The nicest thing to do would have been to give him my patch kit. If I were to do that, I would have no problem patching his tube as well - I'm in no hurry. If we were out in the middle of nowhere I certainly would have done this. But we weren't.

What I've learned from this experience and this thread is that I should buy some glueless patches to give out or even use. I'm assuming everyone here recommends park?

mcours2006

Women have it easy, don't they?

woodcraft

Not that easy.

Women put a LOT of time, effort, & money into looking good.

Maelochs

wasted effort .... pretty much show up and be female, and guys will get all weird .... not always in a bad way, i guess.

Maelochs

Park makes pretty much the best everything, but i have used Scabz successfully too.

Paul Barnard

I reckon this was a good learning opportunity for the jackwipe that flatted.

Kedosto

That settles it. From now on, all I'm packin' is a wig and lipstick.


-Kedosto

I-Like-To-Bike

What "that pic"? Where is the funny image?

KraneXL

First, next time there is something on the road/path, just point to it. Second, if you intend to help someone, help them. Otherwise, keep riding. You didn't.Now that makes no sense. You only heard from one of them.