Having just had a conversation with a friend about all the nastiness floating around in the "Vino Velo" group, I am reminded of a vision, or maybe it was just a dream that I had recently. If you've ever ridden your bike in Philadelphia with a group of folks concerned mainly with looking good, hating anyone that might actually be stronger than them, and being very sure to maintain a certain distasteful distance from any new guy for at least five years or until they somehow ingratiate themselves into your crowd somehow... Well, how about I just tell you about the dream?
Ok. So I wake up (in the dream) pretty darn early, so it's not impossible that this isn't a nightmare start. I force myself to eat as much as I can, try to pet the dog and tell her how much I will miss her all morning (but she quickly decides I'm worthless once it is clear I am not taking her for a run and heads upstairs and back to bed) and slather on some sunscreen and make sure I am not forgetting something important, and hop on my bike and head to a parking lot. This parking lot is close to my house and I get there in the very quiet stillness of a weekend morning without even a hint of traffic or the nastiness that usually accompanies most intersections of traffic and bike riding.
Was this parking lot Nirvana? I doubt that, but even though I recognized it perfectly in my dream, I am hesitant to share the location because there is a small chance it was real. There is a small chance that all of what I am about to relate to you happened and what if I told everyone about it and Vino Velo showed up to ruin everything? Well, that wouldn't do so I will just keep the location to myself. Let's just say it is near a big-box home furnishing store, a grocery store, someplace that sells bagels, and yeah, so just about a million locations near Philadelphia.
I roll into the lot and am greeted by someone. I can't quite believe they know who I am, because in the dream I know I just met them once on a ride perhaps a few weeks prior. I know that group riding folk do not remember names, even if you ride with them on multiple occasions, not here in Philly. If you aren't one of the Guys, you aren't one of the guys. But these guys remembered me, asked how I was doing, and generally appeared excited that I had joined them for this morning's festivities.
After some ball busting and chatter, we headed right out, a route had been decided on, we just worried about pedaling, and catching up and getting to know each other. There were some new guys I hadn't met before, strangely enough, they introduced each other all around, made sure to say hello on the ride, checked to see if we had any common acquaintances, it was rather friendly. Check that, they were really friendly. One big clue that this must have been a dream.
As we rolled out into deeper suburbs and beyond, we went hard up some hills, people made "attacks" but were happy to sit up and wait for folks to catch back on. After all, we were riding together, this wasn't about showing off or showing someone else up. Everyone did some work, everyone had a nice time, and before you know it, we reached the 40 mile point and some guys headed home as they had kids and other obligations. A few of us added on another 20 miles or so.
In this dream, after 150 miles in three days (a lot for me, not for some) I actually got back to my house after saying goodbye and chatting with the guys for a few minutes, and I felt great. I was tired, sure, but I had enjoyed riding with these guys, looked forward to joining them again, something I'd rarely experienced in past rides in the Philly area. The mental energy one usually expends dealing with the shenanigans of the riders as they get in over their heads, curse each other out, yell at you for going too hard (and putting them in the hurt locker) and basically make nuisances of themselves was still in reserve...
And I was home at 10:00 am with 60 miles under my belt. Was it really just a dream?
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