By now, all the regulars here know that bikes can be conversation
starters all by themselves. It happened to me several times today, under
wildly different circumstances.
Scene 1: I'm at the hospital, visiting a relative who's recovering from
surgery. I had my CamelBak on, and was carrying my helmet and gloves. As
I stood at the elevator bank next to the nurses' station getting ready
to leave, I was asked twice in about a 60 second period, "Did you ride
your bike here?" One conversation was just a quick, "Sure did!", but the
second nurse actually asked me some details about my ride:
N: "Where did you ride in from?"
Me: "Gilberts." [about 6 miles away]
N: "Do the cars slow down for you?"
Me: "Nope."
N: "There aren't any bike lanes, are there?"
Me: "No, I just pick a lane, and take it."
At that point, my elevator arrived.
Scene 2: As I alluded to in my wrong-way riding thread, this weekend is
our village-wide garage sale. My wife and I intend to cruise the
neighborhood on our bikes tomorrow, but I thought I'd get a jump and
pre-scout the sales. I swapped out my CamelBak for my messenger bag, and
tossed a milk crate onto the bike:
and headed out. At roughly 1/2 of the houses, the owners would greet me
with some variation on, "That's a good way to get around." One gent had
a slightly more prosaic outlook:
"That's a good way to limit your shopping habit."
I replied that he'd obviously never seen me shop on a bike. Gas prices
only came up twice (less than I had expected). There were a few bikes
and accessories for sale (including one trailer). Naturally, the bikes
were pristine, presumably having never been ridden.
--
__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [email hidden]
(_)/ (_)