We're not alone

Today was packed full of activities and socializing. I got up early and headed down to River City Bikes to lead the women's ride as part of my volunteer duties for Sorella Forte. The nice thing about leading is not having to wonder where the ride will go and also being able to plan a nice lazy route with basically no hills. We spun our way through north Portland, along Marine Drive, around to St Johns and back to the shop via Willamette Blvd and Greeley for free espresso.

I was hoping to find replacement pads for my aero bars at the shop but they were out. Fortunately downtown Bike Gallery had some, so I jetted across the bridge before heading home. The odometer was close to forty miles by the time I pulled up to the house.

There was just time for a quick shower and then it was off to meet Maureen at LRBC. Luring new people there gives me an excuse to loiter even more than I normally would which is great for my tummy and not so great for my wallet. But the food is just sooooooo good and today Ali's mom was helping out by putting her foot into some biscuits and gravy (meat or veggie style). I can't have my own mom's cooking anymore, but Madeline's will do nicely for not-so-sloppy seconds.

While we were there, we met Deanne and Jonathan, weekend regulars (three weeks and they already have regulars!). Jonathan had a Dell laptop and Deanne had a Macbook, which caused Ali to inquire about how their relationship worked out, having different operating systems and all. Turned out J was running Linux, which upped his cool factor considerably. Deanne had chosen her Mac for work-related compatibility. I assured Ali from my own experience that bi-OS relationships can in fact work very well, as Jess and I can attest.

I had noticed the matching yellow helmets behind their laptops when I walked in, but I didn't really think much about it until I walked out of the shop and saw this:


I practically ran back inside to their table. "You guys have matching bikes! You're bike dorks!" They grinned sheepishly and I explained that they are the first couple I've seen sporting the dork matching bike style. I left the shop shortly after, but ended up calling to get their email address before they left so I could send them pictures. I felt like I'd found our people. Maybe we can all go on the Twin Ride for next year's Pedalpalooza.

Later on I met up with a couple of friends for the revival of the WBP. That's the Weird Black People. It's the closest I've gotten to 'fitting in' somewhere. Yes, we're still black but we just don't do things quite like the others. For instance, you might find us camping, cycling, swimming..all things you won't find the "normal" black folks doing...at least in our neck of the woods. When's the last time you saw black woman doing Cycle Oregon? Yeah, I thought so.

We hung out and caught up for a couple of hours at the Nutshell vegan restaurant, the newest G-spot in north Portland. That's gentrification, get your mind out of the gutter! I really wanted to finish the evening by heading to Live Wire to see Storm Large perform, but alas, my tummy, which was still full from the biscuits and gravy, decided that I should really go home and sit still.

Besides, I have to get up for work tomorrow--managing the rest stop for the Bike to the Future ride put on my the good folks at Good Sports Promotions. The mountain bike fund is looking better and better.