While it is a four letter word, bike is not a bad word. Enough with the “*” in bike and biker. I realize we all think we are somehow superior because we took the time to learn to ride on one wheel, but bikes and bikers are not our enemies.
A lot of mtnbikers, of which I am one, work on the trails we enjoy and fight for access in numbers that Muni riders could never generate. Additionally, I have never heard anything but positive comments from bikers.
If I am missing the point and there is some reason other than degrading bikes for using the * then I apologize. But if I am correct then all of our talk of growing the sport is not helped by an elitist attitude toward our cycling cousins.
And while I am on a rant about acting in a way to promote unicycles, “where is your other wheel”, while not original, is almost never said in a mean manner. We should be happy that people are trying to engage us rather than trying to come up with some sarcastic response.
I will probably catch some grief for this but we are not better people because we ride unicycles and those that will try to argue that we are just prove my point.
b*ke doesn’t bother me, it’s all in fun, but I wish we could come up with a replacement for “unicycle”. I always appreciated George Peck’s preference to simply call it a “cycle”.
I don’t go out of my way to put a * in bike. I hesitate to say “I’ve never done it” though. If I did it was more of a playful jab. I like the bikers, if not for them there wouldn’t be any trails to hit up.
That’s largely true. Now riding in and among the publ*c (see what I did there) will illicit all kinds of comments but comments from people on bikes are largely positive. That said I have run across the following bikers:
Guys that would run over their own mothers to shave a precious few seconds off of their strava best times. But those guys don’t care that we’re on unis. They care about making sure their jawline is rock solid as they whiz up on you so you’ll know that you’re going to be caught up in their gears should you chose to do anything other than get as far off the trail as you possibly can.
I’ve seen a small minority get a bit passive aggressive on local message boards complaining about muni riders and runners getting in their way… could be in the same group as 1) above though.
Since commuting on a college campus still represents the majority of my unicycling experience I have to say that I was extremely surprised at just how nice people can be. I have to constantly remind myself that it’s ok to ride with facial expressions other than an aloof scowl.
Hey, maybe that’s why the guy trying for a personal best keeps that tight jawline. His face is warning people not to engage with him about having the appropriate number of wheels or shouting about how heterosexual he is.
Starting a thread with a topic like this one certainly proves that unicyclists are not superior to others. I think you have proved your point quite well.
Did I miss something or did someone spike your coffee?
Most of us ride or road bikes, so it’d be wierd to be anti bike, though anti car would make some sense.
I sold all my bikes to make room and $$ for unis, though I did pick up a classic Surly 1 x 1 on the cheap; I have yet to ride it
Since I ride with bikers far more often than unicyclists; they outnumber us ya know, it’s kinda normal to have some banter of which we clearly get the sharper end of the stick, but that’s part and parcel for pushing the “wierdness” envelope.
OK, I am very heartened by the responses and as I said in the original post if I misinterpreted the intent of the * then I apologize. It is just something that kind of nagged at me since I started reading posts on this site, but your responses have indicated no or little ill intent.
Just consider me a little over sensitive and move on with your day.
This kind of comment demonstrates the point I was trying to make with this thread. Is it really necessary to be snide and sarcastic when dealing with others?
I apologize for wasting Mr. Harper’s time with such a thread.
It’s never been meant as anything than a joke. Then again, I can see how some would see it as a little insulting- personally, I don’t use it myself.
“where is your other wheel” is, to me (and some others), annoying when heard for the 1000th time.
Anyone who says that to me when I’m riding, is going to get, at best, ignored. I’ll happily ‘promote’ unicycling to anyone who shows interest in any kind of respectful manner, but I’ve zero interest in engaging with those who try to get attention via an unfunny and unoriginal ‘joke’ about missing wheels
