So I don't know if it's a Grass Valley thing, or a biker thing, but tonight, on my inaugural ride of my new bike, this person who was riding on the other side of the street rode over and starts chatting with me, about my bike, and about his. I asked him where he'd recommend buying a helmet, and he says we could stop and he'd show me. I thought he meant going back to the store a a few blocks back, but no, he meant literally, we could stop and he could show me his cool helmet. How nice! He said proudly he got it at Kmart, they're $15! I decided to hold my tongue about the effects of buying big box vs. local, as I didn't want to alienate my young biking friend. But wow, how neat, eh? I don't have a comparison to the Bay Area, having not ridden a bike there since a few months after living there ('94) and getting it stolen...from my flat's storage. :-/ I've experienced it more then once now, complete strangers just deciding to talk to you. And not psychotic ones either, woot! I could get used to this...
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3 comments:
Wow, talk about a contrast to the Bay Area. Sometimes when I'm on walks around town I look over to the people I am walking past and usually nod and smile and it's weird - about a quarter of the time they smile and nod back; another quarter they weren't even looking at me and don't bother to; the third quarter of the time they look at me like I'm crazy; and the last 25% usually are encouraged by my gesture but are so surprised that a stranger is acknowledging them they don't have time to respond before I've already walked past. It's rather sad. Glad to hear there's still places where people are willing to interact with total strangers and get a little outside their own world.
Will keep on the lookout for more posts - it's great to hear about your and Vanessa's adventures so far!!
All the best to you both!
Sarah
Woah.... shaft drive? That's crazy... how's it ride?
Hey Nick! It's smooooth, Daddio. Though I don't yet have extensive survey results, as I've ridden it exactly 1 1/2 times (1/2 was a ride when I quickly learned I needed to tighten this that and the other, and the other ride, which I wrote about, was followed by Vanessa asking me to wait until I get a helmet. Stay tuned...)
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