Please Stop Asking If I am Okay

[rcannon100]

[rant mode on]

Alright, this beats a subject that we have visited before. But it has become REALLY ANNOYING.

I go out for a 30 mile ride. I push doing intervals. I take a break beside the trail.

And within seconds five people have stopped to ask if I am alright and if I need help.

STOP IT!

Okay, let me paint just a little more of the picture. No flat tire. No chain break. No damage to my bike. No accident. No blood. No torn clothes. There is not one hint, not one bit of evidence, nothing to suggest that I am having any difficulty whatsoever.

Yet if I stop beside the trail, obviously there must be something wrong with what I am doing. There has to be. If I sit on a bench on the WOD, or if I take a break in the shade, or if I stop to take off layers….. “Are you alright? Do you need help?” Something I am doing must be wrong after all I get bombarded with inquiries.

Oh yeah, can I also mention that this did not happen 2 years ago when I was not quite a gray beard. But now that I am a gray beard, if I dare to stop beside the trail – I must obviously be having an F’ing heart attack or something. I must be enfeebled. I must be in desperate need of assistance.

Really. Every single time. Multiple idiots trying to earn their good samaritan badges.

It patronizing. Its annoying and an intrusion. Its an aspersion that there must be something wrong with what I am doing.

The young guy doesnt get asked. The person who is just walking without a bicycle doesnt get asked. The person walking a dog doesnt get asked. And so on.

Please stop. Please earn your good samaritan badge somewhere else. Take two seconds before you bother someone and LOOK to see if there is anything about them that suggests that they need help.

Topic

[huskerdont]

I’ve been working on my curmudgeonly skills for a couple of years now that I’m in my 50s and can justify it, but I’m nowhere near this level yet. Something to aspire to I suppose, but you’re setting the bar awful high.

[scoot]

@dkel 165259 wrote:

This is a problem. I carry lots of bike tools with me on rides, but crank tools aren’t among them. He’ll have to go to the LBS for that.

The only tool needed to fix this sort of problem is the tool atop the saddle.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@rcannon100 165247 wrote:

And it happened again.

“Why are you asking?”

“Because you are sitting beside you bike.”

“What about sitting next to my bike makes you think I need help.?”

“Look I am just trying to be polite. “

Nooooope.

I mean, you’re not wrong Bob, but jeez…

[FFX_Hinterlands]

I noticed that no one has posted to this thread in a few hours. Is everything OK?

[Crickey7]

Dickie once offered this type of assistance to me when I was laying on the ground 3/4 of the way through a C&O/W&OD circuit. I was alright (just a bit fagged), and so was his asking.

[bentbike33]

@rcannon100 165247 wrote:

And it happened again.

“Why are you asking?”

“Because you are sitting beside you bike.”

“What about sitting next to my bike makes you think I need help.?”

“Look I am just trying to be polite. “

Nooooope.

What you need to do is take your smartphone along for your rides (or if you don’t have one, or prefer not to, then a small object that looks like a smartphone from a distance). Pull it out of your bag immediately after you stop, and (at least pretend to) fiddle with it until you are ready to go again. You can even pretend to have a conversation (being of the generation who still uses such devices thusly). No one will ever bother you again.

[lordofthemark]

@bentbike33 165286 wrote:

What you need to do is take your smartphone along for your rides (or if you don’t have one, or prefer not to, then a small object that looks like a smartphone from a distance). Pull it out of your bag immediately after you stop, and (at least pretend to) fiddle with it until you are ready to go again. You can even pretend to have a conversation (being of the generation who still uses such devices thusly). No one will ever bother you again.

This also works if you ever feel a need to talk to yourself aloud for a while.

[dbb]

lordofthemark;165287 wrote:

this also works as you talk to yourself

ftfy

[MFC]

@bentbike33 165286 wrote:

What you need to do is take your smartphone along for your rides (or if you don’t have one, or prefer not to, then a small object that looks like a smartphone from a distance). Pull it out of your bag immediately after you stop, and (at least pretend to) fiddle with it until you are ready to go again. You can even pretend to have a conversation (being of the generation who still uses such devices thusly). No one will ever bother you again.

Or maybe use some sort of flag.

[dasgeh]

@MFC 165289 wrote:

Or maybe use some sort of flag.

We should get him a flag for the back of his bike that reads “I’m fine. Now get off my lawn” or similar

[dkel]

@dasgeh 165290 wrote:

We should get him a flag for the back of his bike that reads “I’m fine. Now get off my lawn” or similar

“Recluse in training”?

[drevil]

I designed a jersey for you…

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15455[/ATTACH]

[anomad]

How about a safe word we can all agree on?

[AFHokie]

@drevil 165292 wrote:

I designed a jersey for you…

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15455[/ATTACH]

Where can i get one of those? Asking for a friend…

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

[Left Field]

@anomad 165294 wrote:

How about a safe word we can all agree on?

Grouch.

[Author]

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