Poor Guy on a Hill

What's the problem? He tried do his best on his dirt old bike while you
try to
sneer at him. You think he is silly because you were driving a car and
he were on bike.
You look silly and idiotic man!

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What's the problem? He tried do his best on his dirt old bike while you
try to
sneer at him. You think he is silly because you were driving a car and
he were on bike.
You look silly and idiotic man!

RedCloud troll still envious of White Penis Power, which him can never have,
but wants so much...poor sad troll.

GG

Leo Lichtman said:

I'd like to add this to the series on riders seen, as started by Maggie, and
continued by Claire Petersky. I was driving down the hill from my house.
when I saw this man riding a really beat-up old 3-speed bike UP the hill.
When I ride up this part of the hill, I generally drop down to the granny
ring on my mountain bike. It is pretty steep, and he was really working--it
showed in his body language, and especially in the twisted grimace on his
face. To make things worse, his rear tire was almost flat, so his rolling
resistance must have been enormous. And, in one hand he was carrying a red
plastic gas can. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting, in which every
element contributed to the story.

I felt sorry for him, and considered turning around and offering him a lift,
but I had to be somewhere, so I kept going. It was sort of like...pitiful
and funny at the same time.

Leo,

This story reminds me of my father in law. When my father in law came
to America from Italy, he did not drive. He went everywhere by bike.
He did not have an expensive bike. He had a very modest, inexpensive
bike. But he went everywhere with it. One day he was working in the
yard and he ran out of lumber. He got on his bike and went to the
local lumber yard and came home on his bike with three pieces of lumber
over his shoulder. To him this was a very normal thing to do. To
others, it was nuts. He would also ride and carry a gas can to the
station to get gas to fill the lawn mower his sons bought him.

He managed to accomplish all his errands on that bike. He worked in
NYC and used mass transit. So a car was never something he cared
about. He bought the bike to get around the suburbs after he moved here
from Little Italy in NYC. It was really a piece of junk, but boy did
he use it.

He eventually did learn to drive and he bought an old car. But the
stories of his errands on a bicycle are still told to this day. Some of
them are quite amazing. He passed on some years back at 87 years old.
He was quite a man.

Maybe people felt sorry for him too as he carried lumber over his
shoulder while riding his beat up old bike. But I never in my life met
a more happy, more content, more humble, and loving man. I miss him.
I only wish I knew his secret of happiness and contentment throughout
his life.

Sometimes we feel sorry for the wrong people. Sometimes the guy on
the $6,000 bike is the one with the most problems, discontent and
unhappiness. We never know.

There is a story in everyone. Sometimes what we see as sad, may be
just the opposite. :-)

Maggie.

Leo Lichtman said:

I'd like to add this to the series on riders seen, as started by Maggie, and
continued by Claire Petersky. I was driving down the hill from my house.
when I saw this man riding a really beat-up old 3-speed bike UP the hill.
When I ride up this part of the hill, I generally drop down to the granny
ring on my mountain bike. It is pretty steep, and he was really working--it
showed in his body language, and especially in the twisted grimace on his
face. To make things worse, his rear tire was almost flat, so his rolling
resistance must have been enormous. And, in one hand he was carrying a red
plastic gas can. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting, in which every
element contributed to the story.

I felt sorry for him, and considered turning around and offering him a lift,
but I had to be somewhere, so I kept going. It was sort of like...pitiful
and funny at the same time.

I remember once coming home from a ride, and you have to go over an
overpass which is a bit of a hill. Once I even saw a rasta guy smoking
a cigarette (yes, a cigarette!) while riding his beatup old bike but
he managed to get over the hill pretty well! One day, I see this young
asian guy on one side of the hill, waiting with his bike. As I crossed
over, I could see on the other side, a young woman, obviously his
girlfriend,walking her bike up the hill. It's not really that steep,
but she was walking so torturously slowly I figured she'd get there in
about 20 minutes. I felt like saying to him buddy, you have a looong
wait.

Maggie said:

Leo Lichtman said:

I'd like to add this to the series on riders seen, as started by Maggie, and
continued by Claire Petersky. I was driving down the hill from my house.
when I saw this man riding a really beat-up old 3-speed bike UP the hill.
When I ride up this part of the hill, I generally drop down to the granny
ring on my mountain bike. It is pretty steep, and he was really working--it
showed in his body language, and especially in the twisted grimace on his
face. To make things worse, his rear tire was almost flat, so his rolling
resistance must have been enormous. And, in one hand he was carrying a red
plastic gas can. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting, in which every
element contributed to the story.

I felt sorry for him, and considered turning around and offering him a lift,
but I had to be somewhere, so I kept going. It was sort of like...pitiful
and funny at the same time.

Leo,

This story reminds me of my father in law. When my father in law came
to America from Italy, he did not drive. He went everywhere by bike.
He did not have an expensive bike. He had a very modest, inexpensive
bike. But he went everywhere with it. One day he was working in the
yard and he ran out of lumber. He got on his bike and went to the
local lumber yard and came home on his bike with three pieces of lumber
over his shoulder. To him this was a very normal thing to do. To
others, it was nuts. He would also ride and carry a gas can to the
station to get gas to fill the lawn mower his sons bought him.

He managed to accomplish all his errands on that bike. He worked in
NYC and used mass transit. So a car was never something he cared
about. He bought the bike to get around the suburbs after he moved here
from Little Italy in NYC. It was really a piece of junk, but boy did
he use it.

He eventually did learn to drive and he bought an old car. But the
stories of his errands on a bicycle are still told to this day. Some of
them are quite amazing. He passed on some years back at 87 years old.
He was quite a man.

Maybe people felt sorry for him too as he carried lumber over his
shoulder while riding his beat up old bike. But I never in my life met
a more happy, more content, more humble, and loving man. I miss him.
I only wish I knew his secret of happiness and contentment throughout
his life.

Sometimes we feel sorry for the wrong people. Sometimes the guy on
the $6,000 bike is the one with the most problems, discontent and
unhappiness. We never know.

There is a story in everyone. Sometimes what we see as sad, may be
just the opposite. :-)

Maggie.

Speaking of hauling odd loads on a bike. When I was 15 many years ago I
used to haul bricks in a wooden box fastened to the back rack on my
bike. Yes... bricks.

Currently, I'm tryna figure out how to bring home a new printer on my
bike. I'm thinking a coupla rachet straps to tie the box down to my rear
rack would do the trick. It isn't a particularly long trip and the vast
majority of it is on a bike path.

I'm hoping that I don't have one of those "Oh. My. God. What was I
thinking! ...this isn't going to work!" moments when I get the box out
to the bike and try to put the bike, box and myself all together in a
manner to roll home.

Joe Canuck said:

Currently, I'm tryna figure out how to bring home a new printer on my
bike. I'm thinking a coupla rachet straps to tie the box down to my rear
rack would do the trick. It isn't a particularly long trip and the vast
majority of it is on a bike path.

I'm hoping that I don't have one of those "Oh. My. God. What was I
thinking! ...this isn't going to work!"

Don't forget to send pics!!

Maggie.

I went on a group ride a few years ago and one of the fellows who
joined us was fairly heavy and not as fast as the rest of the group.
As this was a "no drop" ride, I hung back with him for the first half
of the ride. He told me that he had gained about 30 lbs. over the
winter and wanted to lose it fast. It sounded as if he wanted to
punish himself for gaining weight.

Later in the ride we came to a series of hills: over the course of ~2
miles the first hill starts at a gentle 4-5% gradient and increases up
to about 20% for the last few hundred feet (calculated via topo map, so
I can't say for sure, but it's damned steep). Since I love doing
hills, I told this guy I was going to go on ahead but that I'd wait for
him at the top.

I caught up with the rest of the group along the hill and we stopped in
a small parking lot over the crest of the hill. We waited, waited,
waited. Finally I went back over the crest of the hill to see if he
was OK, and saw him on the steepest part of the hill, still on his
bike, barely moving and struggling to maintain his balance. He was
red-faced, sweating profusely and gasping for air. I was sure I was
about to witness a heart attack: it was unnerving.

Eventually he managed to make it safely to the top. We gave him a
cheer for making it up there, but we were all relieved when he made the
wise choice to head home rather than doing any more hills.

Since then I sometimes poll people on group rides as to who knows CPR
and who has a cell phone.

-JR