Sociology of Riding

A road biking friend phoned tonight, wants to hook up for a ride on Monday. This is the same guy I tried to get into riding fixed over the winter. We both took old road frames to Freewheel Bike, and I built mine (leaving me with a second fixed gear as a rain bike) in a two days after scrounging for some extra parts. He still hasn't finished his. I don't think he likes the idea of riding fixed.

I've ridden thousands of geared miles with this friend. He is a great rider, if not a bit crash-prone. I've personally witnessed two solo, low-speed crashes, including a spectacular miscue while bunny-hopping a curb, resulting in his face plant in front of a sizeable audience. Another was when he was climbing, standing, as we rode up the High Bridge. He toppled over was he mishandled a water bottle. Most recently he trashed his rear wheel during a club ride when some stranger he was drafting went down. To his credit, he is one of the most supurb descenders I have ever ridden with, and annually takes bike trips through the mountains.

I have no scheduled races in the near future, so I am less concerned about following any structured training. He likes to ride competitively, as fast as he can- all the time. Usually, I'm either riding intervals, or recovery- if not commuting. None of which are very compatible with riding with others. I'm not anti-social about riding, but usually whenever two or more guys get together on bikes, both ride faster than either intended.

I am looking forward to tomorrow's ride. We should have another rider along that we often rode with two years ago. It will be like old times. The nice thing about being male is we can get together sporadically, and we don't need to spend much energy discussing updates with our lives. It will be like we just saw each other last week. If six months pass before we see each other again, we will pick up right where we left off. There is no worrying about whether someone isn't speaking to the other for "some reason." These are those ideal low maintenance friendships. Even better is that I met both of them riding, rather than in a bar. These are healthy friends and healthy influences, even if one of them crashes a bit too often. And, one can never have enough friends.