Originally Posted by Eric F

I have.

On a long moderate-grade climb, I had a guy come up behind me and sit on my wheel for a while without a word. I just maintained my pace until he decided he wanted to go a little faster, and he started rolling past me. I lifted my pace and sat on his wheel until I needed to back off when the grade kicked up. I thanked him for the wheel, and he wished me a nice day. We both went on with our ride.

Another time, on a long false flat, I could see a rider about 100 yard ahead of me, moving at a similar fast tempo pace. I turned up the heat a bit and caught up to him. I offered a greeting as I went by, and he jumped on my wheel without invitation. I pulled for a little while, and then he rolled ahead and pulled for a little while. Not another word was shared while we were both working hard and enjoying going faster than we would have on our own. A bit further up the road, he turned off to continue his ride in a different direction.

Zero people were offended in either scenario.

Some of you folks seem pretty uptight.