My first time to hitchhike (cycling related)

[li10up]

I was riding with a friend on Sunday and about 12 miles into our ride with each pedal stroke I could feel and hear something weird. I thought it was something with the bottom bracket. I stopped and got off the bike and almost immediately - KABOOM! - my rear tire exploded. Big ol' hole. I gave the key to my car to my friend for her to ride back, put her bike on the car and drive out to me. I walked for a short while and then heard dogs barking in the distance. I decided I didn't want to have to walk past them. Plus, I wasn't making much progress with my cleats. So I just stood in a patch of shade. I got tired of waiting so I decided to stick out my thumb and try to catch a ride with the first truck that came along. I thought I could throw the bike in the bed of the truck and use the excuse of me being sweaty and needing to hold onto my bike to keep myself out of the cab - in case the guy was an ax murderer. Well the first vehicle to come along was a truck so out went my thumb. The truck pulled over and I then saw that he had a cover on the bed of the truck - no way to sit in the bed. I looked at the guy - he was at least 80 years old. I decided I could take him if I had to. ;) So, I threw the bike in the bed and jumped in the cab. He was just going to take me to the next big road so my friend wouldn't have so far to come get me. Well, he said he wasn't going to drop me off in the middle of nowhere so we set off in search of my friend. We finally caught up to her. She gave me the key and off we went to my car...after him trying to talk her into putting her bike in the back too. Seems he couldn't wrap his mind around us riding our bikes for the fun of it. Anyhow, we get back to my car and I try to give him 5 bucks for gas (that's all I had on me). He wouldn't take it and then he offered to give me money for a new tire. He sure was a sweet old man. Anyhow, after convincing him I didn't need him to give me money for a tire, off he went. I waited for my friend to show up and gave her a ride back to her place. So, my first hitchhiking experience was a good one...pretty kool. :cool:

[SouthernBelle]

Aw, that's so cute!

[mimitabby]

nice to hear good stories like this. There are good people out there and we usually hear about the bad ones.

[Tri Girl]

How nice! He comes from the old school of truly helping a fellow person in need. What a sweetie! Too bad we've lost some of that (but with all the craziness- it's hard to be THAT kind to strangers when you're not sure what they might do to you).
Very nice story- thanks for sharing your warm fuzzies with us! :D

[li10up]

Yep, he was really sweet. He kept calling me "doll." I've never been called doll in my life and I probably never will be again. I shook his hand to say thanks as we were about to part ways and it took me about 60 seconds to get it back from him. :) I felt kind of sad...he probably was really lonely. Hopefully we both took something away from the experience.

[Aggie_Ama]

Awww, I love this story. I really enjoy the kindness of the elderly I used to love to deal with them when I worked retail and could handle being called honey, doll or sweetheart as long as it was a nice older person. If you are 30-40 I gag! I think it probably put something interesting into his day.