I met an interesting man today. He is a bicycle commuter poser. I kinda knew there was something fishy about this guy from the first time I saw him.
My commute is 14 miles if I take the direct route, it can be as much as 24 if I get creative. When riding in and chatting with this guy over the warm-down portion of the ride (right at the end) on Tuesday, he mentioned that his commute is about 17 miles from Alexandria. We work in the same building and as it turns out, park our bikes next to each other. He was fresh, un-sweaty and not really windblown at all. I just figured he had miracle hair or something. Maybe he is a hair club member. Those guys in the commercials always seem to be well coiffed... even if they're playing some kind of sport.
I didn't see him Wednesday.
Thursday I saw a red VW Golf TDi drive by on GW Parkway as I was heading to memorial bridge with a bike that looked remarkably like this guy's specialized. It had one of those racks that just clamps to the seat post with a rack trunk strapped to it and clip-on aero bars. It was definitely that guys bike. I was tired Thursday morning and had taken the long route in, so I was soft pedaling along the Mt. Vernon trail by this time. He managed to catch me pretty quickly... just as I got on the Memorial Bridge. I figured something was fishy. I asked him how his ride had been so far. He said "Fast, but it is good to ease up now". Yeah... right. I gave him the benefit of the doubt... thinking maybe he was going to drop his bike off for service after work. He hadn't really lied to me. His commute *was* fast... like 55mph in spots. Faster than me.
Friday he got busted BIGTIME! I was riding about 10 minutes late because I'd hit the snooze button once this morning. I compensated by hammering like crazy to try and make up a few of those minutes. I was actually running 5 minutes faster than usual. I got to the tourist lot at Roosevelt Island on the Mt. Vernon trail and who do I see unloading his bike off the back of his red TDi?????? My commuting buddy. We made eye contact, I gave him a nod, and went on my way. When I eased up to start the warm-down, he pulled up next to me. The first words out of his mouth were, "I hope you don't work at EPA."
I thought about telling him that I was an investigator with the EPA Office of Inspector General, but gave him a break. "Nope. I work for SAP."
"Good. I can't handle commuting by bike anymore, but it is good PR for me to appear to do so." was his response.
I laughed and told him that his secret is safe with me.... I lied. ;)
Love,
Pete
6 comments:
Yeah. He may have just needed a few days off the bike. Time will tell. I'll either see him parking again next week or not. :D
I once made a comment that there were no real posers. Only people we labled posers because a.They had better bikes than us or b. had more hair.
I've been proven wrong.
Lame!
So what you're saying, Tommy, is that he's not a real poser? He's a poser poser?
Sorry. I couldn't resist. :D
Pete
Hmm, this to me is a very good idea - a way of not riding that would get SOME PEOPLE off my back for not riding as much as I should! ;)
I love that he couldn't resist claiming that his commute is 17 miles rather than whatever distance it is from where he parks his car. He's just asking to be busted. You should post his photo...
I agree with Tom: 100% poser there.
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