I was cycling home on Wednesday when my front tube decided to deflate quite suddenly. I was about halfway across Sydney Harbour Bridge when this happened.

The area around the base of the tube valve had torn. It was quite annoying as I replaced the tube last week.

Luckily enough I bought two spare tubes last week and had them on me.

So here I am, on the bridge trying to remove the tyre from the weel so I can remove the tube and all the cyclists going past weren’t stopping to see if I needed help.

Well, one did shortly after I begun but I thought I was doing okay at the time.

Eventually someone else asked if I needed help but by that time I was pumping up the tube.

I was working on changing the tube for 29 minutes and out of 30 to 40, only two people offered assistance. Most just went past ignoring me. Some stared as they were passing.

The best part was as I was about to get back on my bike, some lady went past and rather disdainfully said “oh god”.Heaven forbid I might have had an issue with my bike that needed attention.

This is part of why I don’t like cyclists in Sydney.

Many are quite willing to complain about being put upon and being treated poorly by everyone else but are almost completely unwilling to assist each other or even show concern or interest.

They also seem to feel they are validated in their belief of their own superiority because they are cycling, based on how they behave on the roads and cycle tracks.

It appears there is a developing class system here, where a good portion of spandex wearers with expensive bikes will look at and treat others who have anything less with contempt.

I understand how great those generalisations. I know there are a lot of good cyclists in Sydney. However, I don’t have many fun experiences with cyclists here (especially compared to to cycling in othet places) and I get to see a lot of stupid things happen.

Oh well. It doesn’t stop me from enjoying cycling.