Old 01-29-15, 08:03 PM
  #48  
FBinNY 
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Location: New Rochelle, NY
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Bikes: too many bikes from 1967 10s (5x2)Frejus to a Sumitomo Ti/Chorus aluminum 10s (10x2), plus one non-susp mtn bike I use as my commuter

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IMO, we have to take it apart and look at the pieces.

The OP doesn't have the right to expect help. It would be nice if it were offered, or even if those who pass at least asked if he was OK. But this isn't the sea, and there's no unwritten law that requires offering help to someone stranded. By extension, it was also not the middle of noplace, or the desert or deep woods, so the only consequence of leaving someone stranded is that they'll be inconvenienced.

For my part, I'll slow down and ask if someone is OK, and if I can help I will, but in most cases I can't help because I have the wrong tube or pump or otherwise can't do much.

So, offering help is a good thing, but not offering isn't a bad thing.


BTW- based on observing over almost 50 years on the road, I suspect that cell phones play into this. Just about everyone has a phone on them 24/7, and people passing a stranded person might assume he too has a phone, and would have arranged help if he needed it.

Afterthought, what the OP should have had by way of spares isn't a factor either way. This is about passer conduct, and willingness to help a stranger. Those passing likely don't know the nature of the problem, and so are unlikely to think "I won't help someone unwilling to carry a spare tube".
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