We must live close to the Veloway or something. Every day, we get these Lance Armstrong wanna be bikers cruising on our cross street. Not only do they have the expensive looking bikes, but their outfits even match amongst the little pelotons (groups of riders who ride tightly together to draft each other and save energy). What the hell? Somebody is sponsoring these guys to run around on the roads and slow people who actually go to work? By the way, the Veloway is a 3 mile long paved bicycle track that cuts through native terrain, it was built in the early 90's and funded by the Texas Parks and Wildlife. I would recommend these guys stay on the trails, but maybe it gets boring.
There was a time my fat ass was 100 pounds lighter and I used to bike daily, but I never got on the road. I would take my bike to the trail around Lady Bird Lake, which used to be called Town Lake, or to McKinney Falls Park, or on a few other trails, biking on the streets with and against car traffic is suicidal. Sometimes, I get scared by a crazy driver and I am sitting in a 6000 pound truck, 4-5 feet off the ground. These bikers have 4-5 pounds of carbon fiber bike and trust that the people driving around them are all paying attention and not drunk, high, playing on their phones, or beating their kids with a chancla as they drive.
I have noticed that on more and more streets we are cutting lanes for these guys to enjoy their free time. When are we going to smarten up and make them pay a fee, maybe get a license plate for their bikes? If there is one group that can afford a little tax, it's these guys. Those are not $100 bikes from Walmart, those are cycles from high end makers in the $4000-$12,000 range. It was one thing when we just had to drive around them, and it always sucks because they may be going twenty, but we could very easily be going 40, but no, and they have an equal right to the lane, so it goes that they should be licensed and tagged. Why do boats need tags and licenses? For the money that generates. It's the same thing, a leisure activity.
Anyways, the other biker lives on the opposite side of the spectrum. The guy popped for DWI, and now has to get around on a Schwinn. His bike is not state of the art, hell, sometimes it's a kids bike or even a girls bike, this dude does not have many options. I don't see as many of these guys as the other, but why else did the city busses go through the effort of installing bike carriers in front if not for these awesome guys with no self control? I like an alcoholic drink now and then, but I only drink if I am home, there is no need to go out and pay for $10 drinks, I ain't getting laid from that.
Maybe I'm a little jealous, I should just start biking again, it was such a great exercise and I loved being outside with no worries on my mind, other than falling. Some day, I will change my schedule and get my life back in order. I want to be like those hipsters that have time to sit in cafes, sip coffee in the morning, bike in the afternoon, but then again, I am sort of describing an unemployed person... never mind.
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