Thumbs up and thumbs down from the Taupō District

Cyclists aren't all heads down and thumbs up. Photo / NZME

Thumbs up

Thumbs up to Kaine at Tūrangi New World who helped find my wallet after I misplaced it in the supermarket. Kaine is always so polite but today he was a wizard so thanks so much from the bottom of my heart.

Thumbs Up to the kind lady who came and spoke to me as I was packing my groceries after having a very rude lady spoke to me the way she did. It was very much appreciated, thank you.

Thumbs Down

Thumbs Down to the lady [customer] who was rude to me in the checkout queue in Pak’nSave on Monday, there was no need whatsoever for you to talk to me the way you did. I just asked for the divider, so I could put my groceries on the conveyor belt. There was space on the conveyor belt for me to do so.

Thumbs down to the aggressive man in the oncoming vehicle furiously honking his horn, swearing, and giving us the finger on Acacia Bay Rd, and the social ... cyclist on the footpath in a red top with long, black and white striped sleeves, travelling at a slow speed trying to give instructions on how to ride to others who clearly have much more experience road racing and riding than you do.

The fact that both of you a) do not understand the speed we are travelling at and b) that this makes it unsafe to be on a footpath with other “social” cyclists such as yourselves, and dogs, prams, gravel/potholes, driveways and roadworks assures me that you are the least qualified people to be commenting in a situation like this.

Ignorance of this kind is exactly the reason road racing cyclists travel on the road, and not footpaths - it is the result of an assessment regarding safety - ours, yours and everyone else around us. Please keep your ignorant opinions to yourselves - you both looked really silly and no one else had a problem with the situation. Clearly they understand that a 7kg bike with only 2 square centimetres contact with the ground, travelling in excess of 40km/h is much safer on the road - carbon wheels are likely to break on impact - did you know that?