Please Stop Asking If I am Okay

[ShawnoftheDread]

Maybe you should lie on the side of the road less often.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Also, stop clutching your chest all the time.

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[rcannon100]

@ShawnoftheDread 177538 wrote:

Also, stop clutching your chest all the time.

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[Drewdane]

I don’t stop, I slow down, assess the situation as best I can, and ask if people have everything they need (as opposed to asking if they’re okay, which could be viewed as presupposing). I do it regardless of age, gender, race, etc. It’s a simple courtesy, that’s all.

Not all problems are readily visible, and I’m not psychic. I don’t *know* that you don’t have a mechanical. I don’t *know* that you aren’t in distress. I don’t *know* that you aren’t lost. I don’t *know* that you’re just taking a breather.

[Drewdane]

@rcannon100 177509 wrote:

This week – it was 80 degree weather here at home – having attacked a CCT segment – I was sitting in the shade, having a drink, resting, reading stupid social media stuff. I was on a grassy knoll with by bike lying down properly and nothing else remarkable.

Two different people asked if I had crashed. One dude in a car swerved off the road and onto the shoulder – yelled out the window “SIR ARE YOU OKAY??” At that moment I had my bike up and was putting by gloves back on. I shook my head, hopped on my bike, and took off.

I dont know. With enough people asking me if I am okay and whether I have crashed….. maybe I should check into a hospital. I mean, maybe Bokonon is trying to tell me something.

OK, I agree that’s excessive.

[rcannon100]

So on the way home this jerk asked me “are you okay??”

So I gave him a puppy……

[Vicegrip]

Snuggle time. To put the 11 week old “Puppy” into perspective the guy in the background is a Big 85 pound Boxer.

Based on my experience in getting a puppy I say everyone needs to ask Bob “R U OK?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17832[/ATTACH]

[Vicegrip]

Sunny afternoon, hammock, calm breeze, dappled light, good book and a pup. Life is good for the Dear Daughter and the pup. (who opened her eyes just as I took the shot.) Stella put her front feet in the hammock and spent 30 seconds quietly trying to work out how to get the rest of herself in. Dear Daughter hauled her up and in and went back to her book. Stella got her sea legs while checking the place out then plopped on her back and went to sleep. [ATTACH=CONFIG]17834[/ATTACH]

[ian74]

@Drewdane 177700 wrote:

I don’t stop, I slow down, assess the situation as best I can, and ask if people have everything they need (as opposed to asking if they’re okay, which could be viewed as presupposing). I do it regardless of age, gender, race, etc. It’s a simple courtesy, that’s all.

Not all problems are readily visible, and I’m not psychic. I don’t *know* that you don’t have a mechanical. I don’t *know* that you aren’t in distress. I don’t *know* that you aren’t lost. I don’t *know* that you’re just taking a breather.

I used to do this too, but now I just throw CO2 cannisters at cyclists parked on the sides of the trail as I rocket past them.

[Vicegrip]

@ian74 177759 wrote:

I used to do this too, but now I just throw CO2 cannisters at cyclists parked on the sides of the trail as I rocket past them.

Toss N2O canisters and make a smile!

[Lt. Dan]

@ian74 177759 wrote:

I used to do this too, but now I just throw CO2 cannisters at cyclists parked on the sides of the trail as I rocket past them.

At 20 mph, just drop them about 50 yards before your intended target- I mean, person needing assistance. They should bounce/skid the rest of the way and stop within a few inches of them- good to go!

PING! PONG! WHACK!!!

[Vicegrip]

Pull the pin first and you only need to be close.

[dasgeh]

Today, a dude stopped to ask if I was ok because I was STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT. Seriously?

[scoot]

@dasgeh 177848 wrote:

Today, a dude stopped to ask if I was ok because I was STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT. Seriously?

I was once pulled over by a police officer who turned on his flashers after driving up behind me while I was stopped to wait at a red light. I can only guess that my choice to use a bicycle instead of a car was an indicator that I might either need help or be up to something suspicious. In any case, the stop was non-confrontational and the officer very quickly ended it and returned to his car upon determining neither of these to be the case. Although I did then have to sit in front of him for another two minutes because we both missed the brief green cycle.

[Nadine]

Well this is a relief to me actually. I don’t stop to offer help when I’m riding alone and a man is pulled over – but I feel bad about it because strangers have pulled over to offer me help, and I’ve taken them up on it at least once. And I moved here from the Boston area, where strangers mostly ignore you if you talk to them….. So I think it’s nice that people offer, and I’d like to be one of the good guys ….

But the statistics were 1 in 3 women raped in our lifetime when I was raped in the middle of a beautiful afternoon in the 80s. My son says it’s 1 in 5 now, so here’s hoping the, uhm, white house role model doesn’t roll us all the way back… My rape was pretty low grade – 15 minutes and the guy wasn’t even nasty (like he’d seen too many car ads on TV with sexy women standing beside the car, and figured he was entitled to one…)

So anyhow, I know most of the guys pulled over on the side of the trail are just out for a ride, but how easy would it be to lure someone….? So I usually don’t, unless it’s a woman or a guy who somehow looks less threatening. Just not worth the risk.

Which brings me to this:

@rcannon100 161399 wrote:

[rant mode on]
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.
……..
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.
.

I wonder how many people avoided stopping to offer you help before and now find you to look less risky. My back story would apply more to women than men, but guys hurt guys too, though not usually via rape.

Also I don’t think you can compare yourself to pedestrians & dog walkers – because the main thing people are offering help about is gonna be mechanical issues with the bike.

[emoji1] Nadine

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