Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Travel Day/Ride Day
Complete aside: I may have said "what an ass" about 20 times today. And I've just come to the conclusion that it's because just about any woman looks fantastic in yoga pants because they are slimming and about as next to naked as you can get.
There, I said it. And California is the most yoga-pants crazy as I have seen.
DistressedCyclistMan strikes again; I'm 20 miles south of Monterey and I pull over because there is a cyclist pulled over. I ask him if he has everything he needs. He says, to tell you the truth, I could use an answer to a strange question: "Do I look like I'm sitting on this bike right? I really dont know anything about biking and my knees are beginning to hurt."
A little background on this dude: he has a fully outfitted touring bike, like the amount of shit and quality of shit that you would have if you were doing an honest to goodness trek, as in a trek of thousands of miles.He says" I flew to San Fran from LA, I went to the bike shop and I bought all this stuff, and now I'm biking back" And I thought I was going off of the cuff and I am supremely impressed with his moxy, and yeah, this is just the type of guy I want to help out.
Too much of the time cyclists use cyclists-speak, and they will say anything to fatten you up for a slaughter. They will say "it's just a friendly no-drop ride" and what they mean is "bring a passport and give me a lock of hair so forensics can identify you."
And maybe, if you are not careful, after a while, cycling becomes very competitive and it can take quite a bit of de-toxing to get back to what it is; which is having a walk at 8X fast forward.
People often ask me why I don't race, and I tell them that, for me, that would sort of be like watching the grass grow but getting impatient at its speed.I love, love, love watching all the bike races I can catch, live or on TV, but it's not something I ever wanted to do.
Some of it is fine, pushing your friends and getting better, well that's all part of the mastering of a skill. But this guy is like the perfect cycling virgin and he's riding around because of the intrinsic payback, and not for a single thing beyond it.
He is, in fact, sitting correctly on the saddle, and his extension is good, but I do give him some hints on where to position the cleats if he won't be doing so much climbing. He tells me that he is having some problem on the downhills and maybe I could follow him down this one and stop at the end and give him some hints.
And I show him how to use his knees to press against the top tube to secure the bike against the wobbles and to put his hands in the drops so that he has four fingers on the brakes and six to control the bike.
When he reaches out his hand and we shake and he is really sincere when he says his thank you to me. And I am reminded of a sentiment from a friend today that was about connections, and that after all, connections are the most important part of our lives, and of each day. Verbal, physical, emotional, name it; a sense of purpose is tantamount.
DistressedCycleMan out. Stay tuned......
