The coolest people

You meet the coolest people cycling. Here is a photo of Gail and Mary who I met today cycling.

I've spent quite a bit of time on my bike the last couple of days riding to and from work and also riding at lunch. I'm going to go on the second day of a bike tour this weekend called Tour des Lacs. I'll get dropped of in Coeur d Alene by one of my friends and then to ride goes the same route as the Ironman did this year to the north up past Hayden Lake and then it goes west into Washington and around a couple of little lakes. But here's the cool part. It goes with a block or so of my house so I'm going to bail out there. How cool is that? It will make for a nice morning on Sunday.

The last time I did Tour des Lacs, I was riding along at one point with a couple of kids, probably mountain bike riders mainly. The guy was wearing a button up shirt and sandals with bike cleats on them. The girl looked like a young version of Rosie O'donnell. They were cruising along at about 20 mph shirt tails flying in the breeze. I felt a little over dressed as I sat in their slipstream. Pretty casual riders. I wondered where they went after the bike ride was over. I imagined they went to a coffee house or something, or went and got another tattoo. Perhaps they went mountain climbing. I had to admire their style.

At the other end of the age groups, I met a couple of avanced (I'll call them) riders today at lunch that were in a spot of bother to borrow a phrase from Phil. Gail and Mary were riding with a group of advanced women riders and had traveled here from the west side of the state and were staying at the Resort in Coeur d Alene and cycling. How cool of them. But Gail's chain had come off to the outside of her crank and it was jammed. I asked them if they needed any help as I came up and yes they said they did. So mild mannered don turns into, BICYCLE REPAIRMAN. I put the chain back on. I had to remove the rear wheel do do it and got grease all over my hands.

"I'm going to have to remove the rear wheel." I said. "No! No! that will be too hard!" Gail said. "It's too much trouble!" "Oh don't worry, It's nothing for BICYCLE REPAIRMAN." I assured her in a deep voice. When I got the chain back on I lifted her carbon fiber and aluminum bike up with one hand and turned the crank with the other. "Oh, he's so strong!" They were clearly sucking up...

Gail had latex goves on an offered to let me use them. The I told Gail that her bike would be happier if it was clean and might shift better. Mary got a big kick out of this. Then their group came back to see what was detaining them. They all got a big kick out of how I told Gail to clean her bike. So I got a shot of all of them.

The advanced women cyclists.

And here is a photo of BICYCLE REPAIRMAN (the next great super hero) as the sun sets on his day and he heads back to the bike cave.