Good Morning vs On Your Left

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tristan Jackson on August 1, 2014 at 6:16pm

More than ok. Sounds polite to me. And, yeah, I feel the same way about good evening, but I'm not sure why. 

yaj 7.4 said:

Is it ok if I say both?  I usually say "Good morning, coming by on your left."  I have to admit, is sounds odd at night though, "Good evening" just doesn't roll off my tongue like Good morning does.

Permalink Reply by Tristan Jackson on August 1, 2014 at 6:18pm

Totally fair. 

XndeX said:

The only ones who get me yelling On Your Left are joggers with clearly visible ear buds.
Other times most others are paying attention and see me coming.
Some other times I will sing On Your Left in a manner to get their attention and not scare people.
Anyone with ear buds and headphones though I will be yelling cause I just don't trust them to pay attention.

Permalink Reply by Paul Fitz, Scrabblor on August 2, 2014 at 11:39am

I totally agree with you, Tristan.  I always say 'good morning' (or 'excuse me'/ 'howyadoin' if in the evening).  I sometimes ride with a neighbor who has a habit of hollering 'headsupheadsup!  on your left!' and I've found that it is met with a much higher level of aggression.

  I'm also a huge fan of bells all the time. 

Permalink Reply by Tristan Jackson on August 2, 2014 at 3:55pm

Thanks, Paul. 

Paul Fitz, Scrabblor said:

I totally agree with you, Tristan.  I always say 'good morning' (or 'excuse me'/ 'howyadoin' if in the evening).  I sometimes ride with a neighbor who has a habit of hollering 'headsupheadsup!  on your left!' and I've found that it is met with a much higher level of aggression.

  I'm also a huge fan of bells all the time. 

Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on August 2, 2014 at 7:19pm

I try a pleasant 'on your left' followed by a good morning/afternoon/evening. Just a hello seems to get people stepping in my path.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on August 3, 2014 at 6:36am

When passing me the overtaking cyclist must say, "The weather is quite hot on Mt. Olympus"

Upon which I will reply, "But when the rain comes it will be much cooler."

Then the passer must confirm, "The monsoon waits for no mountain."

If this sequence is not correctly completed a white van will come and pull up next to the offending cyclist and spirit them away into the side sliding door, never to be seen again.

Thus has the order of cyclists spoken. 

Permalink Reply by Tristan Jackson on August 3, 2014 at 7:52am

Or you could just politely say "good morning". But please do whatever works best for you, Zarathustra


James BlackHeron said:

When passing me the overtaking cyclist must say, "The weather is quite hot on Mt. Olympus"

Upon which I will reply, "But when the rain comes it will be much cooler."

Then the passer must confirm, "The monsoon waits for no mountain."

If this sequence is not correctly completed a white van will come and pull up next to the offending cyclist and spirit them away into the side sliding door, never to be seen again.

Thus has the order of cyclists spoken. 

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on August 3, 2014 at 10:40am

Sometimes newbie pedestrians will turn left and look around. I prefer "passing" because they then know to keep going in a straight line.

Permalink Reply by Rachel K on August 3, 2014 at 8:40pm

Normally I just ring my bell, but I'll say "on your left" every so often. I tend to get relatively in the zone when I'm riding so if someone were to say anything other than something directly related to passing, I'd probably turn or be left wondering if I knew the person. But that's just me.

Lately I've been having a lot of riders pass without any noise at all, which frustrates me the most because sometimes I will veer a bit or swerve to avoid a pothole or the likes (I'll try to go to the right but it's not always possible) and I've had some close calls. I definitely could do without rude screaming but at least a little something would be nice. (To clarify, I'm almost always riding on the street with traffic, I know that's going to be a little different than riding on a trail or a side street.)

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Quist on August 4, 2014 at 10:56am

I have had mixed results ringing my bell. Some people move over easily, others panic, others just seem bewildered... I tend to ring early and often, at least 10 seconds before overtaking, so the panic response surprises me. (Maybe I need a better deodorant?)

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on August 4, 2014 at 11:04am

Most people have the situational awareness of a half-eaten grape.  

The world is all about them and they have blinders on so they don't look to the side, pay attention to anything that is going on behind them, and look no further ahead than a about a dozen or so feet to the front.  It's like they are the only ones in the whole world who might be using the road/path/sidewalk or whatever/wherever they are.  If something intrudes into their little envelope of awareness they get easily startled and upset.  

Because, just them in the world...

Permalink Reply by Jamais716 on August 4, 2014 at 11:31am

Rachel K said:

Lately I've been having a lot of riders pass without any noise at all, which frustrates me the most because sometimes I will veer a bit or swerve to avoid a pothole or the likes (I'll try to go to the right but it's not always possible) and I've had some close calls. I definitely could do without rude screaming but at least a little something would be nice. (To clarify, I'm almost always riding on the street with traffic, I know that's going to be a little different than riding on a trail or a side street.)

This.  If you're passing in the next lane over with lots of room, then it's not necessary.  But if you're passing close enough that we could reach out and high 5 in passing, please give me a heads up.  

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