“I thought someone had stolen one of your wheels”
a genuine comment from a tour coach bus driver waiting for his next tour group.
I was unlocking my KH36, locked up outside the Marriot Hotel in downtown Sydney. I had left it there for 2 hours while getting a medical assessment for work in the building next door
Two comments in fairly quick succession, on a paved cycle track :
- oncoming rider: “that looks hard!”;
- overtaking rider: “Is that as easy as it looks?”
I suppose both can be taken as a compliment?
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Friendly guy walking his dachshund calls out, nicely, “what happened to the rest of your bike?”.
I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment. Been close before, but now my time had come.
I replied “where’s the rest of your dog”.
Most comments like his are not friendly, they are usually meant to be derogatory and self inflating by the caller. But this guy was just having fun and we both had a laugh.
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Today’s stand out nasty comment got a bit under my skin.
“He’s lost his wheel to live!” (will to live, play on words)
Probably got deeper under my skin due to having had a hard slog of a ride, with progress going backwards skill wise - rather than forwards….
But then as I pushed on - big guy, bearded MTB type said with firm eye contact as passing me:
“That’s great mate!”
It’s amazing when a simple and direct and friendly affirmation of what we do is said. It really helps.
Most days I can live with and smile past the looks and somewhat silly/annoying barrage of “you’ve lost a wheel”… today it was very busy on the paths and I’d reached my limit of hearing non-meaningful or stating the obvious comments.
But it helps when someone is direct with what they think. I’d take that or no comment at all (like I wasn’t there) any day of the week over the oddly snarky stuff that sadly finds itself entering my ear canal 
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I’ve never heard that variation before and tbh I actually kind of like it. Although a friendly delivery makes all the difference.
It’s funny how some people who comment “WYOW” will kinda realize how stupid it is if you respond very flatly. Like I’ve had a couple commenters who seemed to realize it’s not original at all after the fact.
Always reminds me of this Simpsons clip: Do you come with the car? The Simpsons - YouTube
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A day after, I like it also as it is a clever pun / play on words.
It struck an unpleasantly on point chord yesterday as I had just lost the will to live with my riding. But the commenter wasn’t to have known - and just as you say, sometimes people realise how something sounds after it is said — as much of these comments can come from a knee jerk, unthinking place…
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Reminds me of the flack Danny Macaskill copped for his Danny Daycare video.
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On today’s ride a MTB coming towards me speaking on his phone “There’s a guy coming up the hill on a f____g unicycle” short pause “a unicycle”. As he passes me I get a “very cool”. From me “thank you”.
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I live in a very small town and as I was riding along a trail today a kid rode past on an e-bike and said “I heard about you, but I did NOT think you were real!” 
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West Philly in the house Nice!
I was riding on some mountain bike trails at a local park (I can only ride some sections, mind you) when an older gentleman biker rides past me and says, “geez, isn’t this hard enough already?!” That made my day 
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Strange one today from teenager walking the other way, who asked, “Hey lad, would you like a biscuit?”
He was holding out an open packet of Oreos. Maybe it was his way of saying ‘Would you like another wheel?’
[Biscuit (UK) = Cookie (US)]
I can understand someone with a packet of Oreos being keen to get rid of the revolting things 
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maybe he spit on it and decided to give it to the strange unicycle kid.
A worrying thought - but if so I’m glad I didn’t accept his kind offer!
I was walking with the dog along that same regular unicycling-the-dog route yesterday and passed a bunch of lads (possibly including the generous one who offered me an Oreo before). They were not very subtly talking to each other about us, and one said “He’s not trying hard to kill himself today - but that’s a very lovely dog”.
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“Mommy he’s going to fall. Mommy he’s going to fall.” Came from a very concerned toddler while I was practicing.
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“Dude. That’s so cool.” is one I get often enough. However this was said by a middle age gentleman passing the opposite way. It stuck out to me more as it was said matter-of-factly. No awestruck overtones when said little kids or teens. His comment left me with a big case of the feel-goods and a big smile for several minutes.
“I could never do that.” as I was remounting my 36er on a difficult part I couldn’t ride. Wanted to say “Neither could I. Maybe in a few months.” but didn’t think of it till later.
Also got the “Where’s the other half of your bike?” comment finally. Responded with a “needless training wheel” comment and got a good laugh.
“I love it. A unicycling unicorn.”
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I was goofing around in front of my house, and three young kids, maybe 8-9 years old, rode by. A couple of seconds later one of them crashed and ended up on the ground (I think he turned his head to look at me, and lost his balance) and his buddy said:
“C’mon! If he can do one wheel, you can do two!”
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“You may see me riding around on one of those in the future.” said after me convincing him to give it a try.
It started off as.
Him: “No way I can ride that.”
Me: “Gotta give it a try at least. ¿I mean when else are you going to get the chance?”
The feel goods after potentially increasing the number of unicycle riders by one.
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