Parkyy16

There's plenty of threads recounting bad experiences from drivers. I want to hear some positive ones since I experienced one yesterday.

I was at a red light, stopped at the front. I was on the right lane and there were a few cars behind me, wanting to either go straight or turn right.
The guy directly behind me, in his Honda Fit, rolls down his window and yells "Hey, you! You look like me from 26 years ago!" and gave me a thumbs up. I looked back, smiled, and gave him a thumbs up. After the light turned, he passed me and he honked his horns a few times and waived. I'm gonna remember that one for a while.

What are some positive experiences you've had while on the road?

10 Wheels

Day riding down a country road. I saw an Armadillo and laid my bike down to take a pic.

Guy driving a Pick Up stops and asked if I needed help.

pdlamb

I've learned that if I stop at the side of a rural road, I need to pull out either a camera or a bottle of sunscreen pretty quickly. If I don't, someone in the first half dozen cars to pass me will slow or pull over to ask if I need any help.

BillyD

There's good and there's bad in most all situations. We tend to remember the bad more since we are more affected by them . . . . because they are so dang unnecessary.

CAT7RDR

On my last ride I came to a stop on a summit and passed out from heat exhaustion. A passing motorist stopped and offered me an energy drink and a ride home. Said he was also a cyclist and had a recent case of heat exhaustion.

Troul 

first warmish day out with shorts while on a long ride, received a complement for having "hey, nice thighs!".

I'll take what I can get.

Koyote

Too many good interactions to even recall. People stop to offer help if I am fixing a puncture. I've been given rides home after crashing and damaging the bike. More people have yelled encouragement through their car windows than trash-talked me.

And there are the people I've met by stopping to chat. Favorite: I'm riding along in Amish country (about five miles from here), and about 100 feet off the road, in a field, I see a plow, connected to a pair of draft horses, just sitting there. A little ways away is a pair of legs sticking out of the tall cornstalks. I thought it was probably nothing, but could be some old Amish farmer having a cardiovascular event. So I called out, "Hey, are you alright? Can you hear me?"

A teenaged kid jumped out of the cornstalks, grinned, and said, "Yeah, I'm just looking at the clouds!" We had a nice chat about Amish vs English farming techniques, and I've seen him a few times since. Met his dad, too. Though the dad thinks his kid is a bit lazy.

ClydeClydeson

My wife and I were fixing a flat on the side of a country road and a lifted pickup truck roared by. It had giant 'C' stickers in the window to indicate support for the Conservative Party of Canada. My prejudice was that these are coal-rolling rednecks and we were lucky to be off the road when they passed.

The truck made it about 100m past us, then slammed on the brakes, went into reverse and roared back toward us.

'Here we go!' I thought.

The truck pulled up beside us and the window rolled down and the driver said 'I almost didn't see you there - do you need any help?'

woodcraft

I had a school bus pull over to let me pass on a winding descent.

Koyote

Having lived in rural USA for a long time, I think such folks are just accustomed to helping each other. When you are way out in farm country, and your tractor is stuck in a field, you don't call Triple A...You call your neighbor.

indyfabz

Yep. I tour in rural places. If I stop for a break by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere more often than not a motorist will ask if I’m ok/need help.

Most amusing time was when I stopped in the dark shortly after leaving camp. I was worried I had left something behind so I bent over the front of the bike to check a pannier. Guy in a pickup stopped to ask if I was ok. After he pulled off I realized that as he was approaching from behind it probably looked to him as if I were puking or about to pass out.

Koyote

My most amusing was a guy in a pickup pulling alongside me as I rode in some light snow flurries...He ran down the window, raised his voice, and said "You want a ride?" He must've figured that no one would ever choose to ride in that sort of weather.

I lived on Colorado's Front Range for a long time, in kind of a cycling mecca -- lots of people riding on any nice day. And it seemed like we were all part of the landscape, like the motorists didn't really notice us because there were so many cyclists -- in other words, it was more hazardous. And if I got a puncture or breakdown, even other cyclists would mostly sail right by without even shouting "You alright?" Motorists certainly would not stop. Rural areas have always felt much safer to me, for many reasons.

indyfabz

A farmer in Poe, IN stooped to talk to me and another guy in my cross country group during breakfast at a diner. After he left for work we asked for our check. The waitress told us the farmer had picked it up.

I’ve been offered rides, food and beers while touring. A campground host in Glacier National Park gave me oatmeal cookies fresh from her RV’s oven. A woman at a CT campground gave me half a home baked pie.

Troul 

I have been offered food of many assumed delicious types. If I were to have taken the offers, my rides would need to be 4x as long! I know it probably doesn't sit well with those that offer, but I do try to reassure them with a respectful thank you, but I must pass.

Ghazmh

I’ve bumped into other Bikeforum members, I’ve met other like minded cyclists, I’ve enjoyed the scent of Spring in the air while songbirds provided the soundtrack.

Phil_gretz

First off, every day riding is a positive experience for me.

Among the notables, once I was slowly passed by a larger pickup on a single lane undulating country road. Climbing out of the saddle, the truck pulled alongside and rolled down the passenger window. They said "on your left", and passed. I laughed.

indyfabz

I probably would have laughed myself into a crash.

I was descending Monarch Pass in CO behind a cattle truck, which I could not see around. Driver was nice enough to wave me around, but I stayed put. The shoulder was crappy, so railing the truck allowed me to safely take the lane. I remembered something I had read about riding behind cattle trucks and kept my distance in case one of the bovines went No. 1.

indyfabz

If only I had a dollar for every time I have experienced that.

But in all honesty, I don't get it. Why do so many motorists believe Cliff Bars can make you sick or injure you. I have taken to hiding my bar behind my back when I see a motorist coming.

indyfabz

The real politeness test comes when you have been asked about your trip for the third (or more) time in a day when all you want to do if finish the ride, take a shower and make dinner.

Troul 

i've had that happen. I turn the zombie automated response on. It usually stops after a few hours.

Fahrenheit531 

I've had numerous quick chats while stopped at lights. Also had someone stop and offer aid up to and including their freshly-purchased sandwich when I was completely blown up by the side of the road. On the whole I've had far more positive interactions than negative.

indyfabz

I met a fetching townie at a laundry-mat in a small, MN town where I happened to have gotten a room that night. Yadda, yadda, yadda I never heard from her again. Many years later I learned that she had been arrested with her boyfriend for allegedly cooking meth.

Troul 

^ welp, that sums it up.

kaos joe

On a 4 day loop around the Finger Lakes with 1 buddy. HOT, out of water, on a deeply rural country road. We come up to an isolated house where a young woman is sitting in a chair on the porch reading. We ask if we can fill up from her garden hose. Visibly uncomfortable, she stammers that it's not possible, water is turned off throughout the house, her father is working on the plumbing. Art & I exchange knowing looks, assuming she just can't be bothered. She then calls in through the open window..."Dad, how much longer?" The reply comes "Give me 5 minutes, I'm finishing the one under the sink right now."

Another day, same trip, same poor water management, same request at a different farmhouse. The resident loaded us with all the ice water we could carry.

Koyote

I'd like more info on the "yadda yadda yadda" part of this story...