Jon you see, cyclists are nice

My good friend Jon is a fantastic person to run with. We have enjoyed each other's company on the handful of runs that we have done with each other.  We seem to agree on just about everything.  Everything, that is, except cyclists.

Jon is one of those lovely people who simply do not appreciate cyclists and I just can't understand why.  He says it mostly from the perspective of being a car driver himself and he complains about the bad behaviour of cyclists and is often 'put out' when cyclists make better progress than cars through places like Harpenden.

On our run last week Jon could not help but notice how friendly with each of the cyclists were that we passed. Some of them would ping their bells for us to hear they were coming, others would simply say hello as they passed us.  Every single one of them was friendly and pleasant.

I couldn't help but comment on this.

"Jon you can see, they're all nice people, everyone of those cyclists"

We strode on a few yards.

"I can't explain it Doug.  Must be because they've read your cycling blog!"

Now that sounded good to me.  And then another group when past us a few minutes later and they beat us to it in terms of exchanging a greeting.

And Jon, there's more.  When I was running yesterday over a similar area it was almost exactly the same.  Apart from one single cyclist, who was clearly on a mission and "in the zone, man" was cheery and at the very least smiled.  Even a group of MTBs greeted me; they were at the side of the road waiting patiently while one of them fixed a puncture.

The highlight of me interacting with the happy cyclists of Hertfordshire was at the point of being really thirsty.  So when the next cyclist passed by I asked him if he could spare a little water.  Naturally and without any hesitation he lured me some water.  I commented on his new looking bike, a carbon Boardman and he said he was "just getting into it" as he sped off.

Drat I didn't get a chance to ask if he'd seen my blog.

So there you are, proof that cyclists are [generally] nice friendly people.  Take note.