Gadge and I were riding along a path by the river. It is part of a long distance path and is legal for cycles, pedestrians and horses.
We caught up with a jogger. I scooted past without incident.
A few seconds later, there was a clatter and a yelp. I quickly dismounted and turned round to find Gadge still rolling towards me, and some 5 metres from his unicycle. The jogger caught my eye and gave me a grin but didn’t break step.
Gadge then told me that as he had come along side the jogger, the jogger had first sped up and had then jinked to the right just enough to cause Gadge to swerve and lose balance. There was no obstacle to cause the jogger to swerve, so it looks like it was malicious.
Gadge usually rides with elbow pads, knee pads, but for once he had not bothered. His left elbow was quite badly grazed and was dripping blood.
I was all for catching up with the jogger and remonstrating, but he must have turned off because I lost sight of him.
I regularly ride among lots of people and some of the negative reactions are hard to fathom. Never from women who clearly find it all pretty stimulating, but a few men seem stuck in that most insecure groove of, “Wow! that’s really pretty cool, but damn, I can’t do it. Best not to let on I’m impressed at all and if he can do it and I can’t, he must be a w*nker”. So, from time to time I hear macho crap like, “I’ll put a stick between your spokes and we’ll see how clever you are then smart arse!”. Same goes for men lunging at you to try and unsettle you - nobody’s gone quite as far as your jogger yet. The male culture down here can be disappointingly focused on testes, so maybe its just a Kiwi thing (bet the Aussies are no better:p).
Best, which equals worst, was having a milkshake thrown at me from one moving car and a beer bottle from another. As they were both full and riding can be thirsty work, it was a shame I couldn’t manage to catch them as they flew past…
For two or three seasons, as I was Juggling 3 clubs on my unicycle while riding a 3+ mile loop (for cycling, jogging, etc) around my local park, I was daily lapped by a cyclist.
Every time he passed me, without fail, he would yell “asshole.”
On occasion when he was riding with others, his fellow cyclists never joined in and seemed to suggest to him that his conduct was unnecessary, to no avail.
or
Jemina Pearl - I Hate People Lyrics
Artist: Jemina Pearl
Album: Break It Up
Another lonely night
I think if I’m lucky i’ll get into a fight
I hate everything I see
It’s a different city with the same old scene
A waste of space
Then what a suprise
Through the dull conversations and glazed over eyes
There you were in all your glory
I could tell that you wouldn’t bore me
Oh I
I hate people
But I
I like you
Oh I
I hate people
And you
You do too
I was walking
Around wanting to die
Thought I wouldn’t make it through the night if I try
But I saw you standing there
In your torn leather jacket and dark brown hair
You were different
From all the rest
my eyes saw only yours and that big mess
As I pushed past the people to get to you
I saw in your eyes that you already knew
Oh I
I hate people
But I
I like you
Oh I
I hate people
And you
You do too
I thought that we could get together
I thought that we could have some fun
Just the two of us
Alone together
Hating everyone!
Oh I
I hate people
But I
I like you
Oh I
I hate people
And you
You do too
I’ve never had a problem, lucky me. But nowadays I do call out to let people know that I am comingup to them. Just a simple excuse me, 실래합니다. If people know you are there they aren’t so likely to get in the way.
It’s quite funny reading comments from around the world. I just don’t get negative reactions at all, most people ignore me but if I say hello as I go past 95% of people say hello back. Volunteered comments are invariably positive.
I occasionally get teenagers/slightly older people sort of pretending to jump and push me over (With malice, not as a joke) It’s like they think I’m so unstable that the mere thought of someone pushing me over might make me fall
I just tell them to F*ck off and carry on. If someone did what that jogger did I’d probably make sure to take him down with me I’m sorry for representing our beautiful sport in such a negative way but some people really deserve it!
I hope you see the jogger again so you can pitch him over
Billy the Mountain: an altogether different take on “I Hate People” is by the Anti-Nowhere League. I won’t post the lyrics here as they may offend, but I can’t stop anyone following this link:
People don’t understand that I don’t do it for attention. In fact the opposite. I’d rather avoid the attention. I do it because it’s more fun, more interesting and a better workout than biking.
That’s because if they were you, they would be doing it for attention.
I find that most people are nice, it’s more a case of ignorance and poor impulse control that leads people to be not so nice.
For the most part I find people to be very friendly when they see me riding, only occassionally will I encounter someone who is indifferent to the point of “ignoring my presence”.
Why would anyone ride a unicycle for attention, that just seems wierd, unicycling is way to hard, I’d take up sword swallowing or something flashier.
I do a lot of public riding. I commute on my 36, and ride to places at my work campus on my 29. Since I took up riding again I can’t think of one time that I’ve gotten a real negative reaction, only positive and indifferent.
Indeed - the one older woman who said “show off” to me as I rode past (as mentioned on the quote thread) was far outweighed by all the people at the festival I was at who seemed really interested and positive. I stopped to talk to a few of them - I like to think they had a far better experience from meeting me than did the woman who was rude.
I’m sorry for representing our beautiful sport in such a negative way but some people really deserve it!