I've been approved!!

(This actually happened a couple months ago.)

So... I went for a ride with my friend MrBIG. I was still so very excited about my new bike. (Using the term googly woogly wouldn't sound right here.) I felt so fast and light. At some point on the climb, my friend insisted I go off leash, ride as hard as I want, and find a nice place to wait for him. I wasn't going to do that, but he kept insisting. So I took off.

I was riding along and saw a couple guys in the distance... members of the tribe that looked very different to me. Their bikes were on the ground. They wore no lycra. No bright colors. They wore no shirts! They were looking out over the city. I was curious. Had to go check them out.

Carlos appeared to be in his 40's. He wore long dark blue dickie work pants(!) and Vans-like shoes. Very tan and lean. Justin looked to be half Carlos' age. He wore long shiny basketball shorts and Converse shoes. He was just as lean as Carlos, but very white. They were drinking Keystone beers. They had ridden up the dirt road after work together. Definitely NOT like most mountain bikers I've seen.

Carlos said, "Whoa! You have disc brakes?!" And we talked about my brakes, my new bike, and I demoed the integrated levers I had. They asked me how much did this fancy bike put me out. And foolishly, I told the truth. (Guess they only buy used bikes.) Then it started. The two bombarded me with a series of questions. It went something like this:

- How did you get here? Did you come up the road or the singletrack?
- How did you do on the switchbacks? Did you make them all?
- Where d'ya start from?
- What other trails do you ride?
- How often do you ride?
- Do you do anything for cross training? What about in the winter?

And in the end Carlos said to Justin, "I guess she can have that bike." Ha!

I sure love how different we can be yet have this common love for our bikes and biking.