Dear So and So

[indysteel]

Dear Guys:

I realize that our club's membership reflects that cycling is male-dominated and that you get excited when a young-ish, single woman like myself shows up for group rides. But I am not chum. I come to the rides to ride, first, and to make friends, second. If you're cool with that, then great, but otherwise please stop circling.

And while I'm on the subject, you gentlemen at my local LBSs need to bone up on your manners. Please do not use the phone number I give you to place an order to call me for a date. Next time that happens, I'm calling your manager. And please don't comment on how wonderful I smell. I suppose I should appreciate the compliment, but it's unprofessional. I come to your store to shop, not to get hit on.

Thank you.

[mimitabby]

Dear Guys:

I realize that our club's membership reflects that cycling is male-dominated and that you get excited when a young-ish, single woman like myself shows up for group rides. But I am not chum. I come to the rides to ride, first, and to make friends, second. If you're cool with that, then great, but otherwise please stop circling.

And while I'm on the subject, you gentlemen at my local LBSs need to bone up on your manners. Please do not use the phone number I give you to place an order to call me for a date. Next time that happens, I'm calling your manager. And please don't comment on how wonderful I smell. I suppose I should appreciate the compliment, but it's unprofessional. I come to your store to shop, not to get hit on.

Thank you.

Dear Indysteel
I agree with you. What a bunch of jerks
enjoy it while it lasts but don't take any bs from them.

mimi who is twice your age

[indysteel]

[QUOTE=mimitabby;130991]Dear Indysteel
I agree with you. What a bunch of jerks
enjoy it while it lasts but don't take any bs from them.

It's hard to know how to respond. I don't exactly have the general male population falling all over me and, having just gone through a break up, a little attention doesn't hurt my ego. However, there must be a way to be approached by men that doesn't leave my skin crawling. Why can't they just treat me as a friend and let it grow--if it's going to grow--from there? Oh, and the exact quote from the LBS manager was that I "smelled delicious." I about died.

[Kitsune06]

Dear prospective employer

You had a pretty, friendly voice, and you sounded very nice, but if you're going to call me about the ...inter...w...p...ce...ss please, don't call me on your cell phone when all I can hear of your phone number is 5....3.....3...5....0... because now I'm climbing the walls freaking out that you want to hire me and I can't even call you back. My phone even recognizes you as 'unknown caller' so I can't even get your number that way. I'm sorry. I don't want to seem unprofessional, not calling you back, but I just don't have your number! My resume has my email address on it- please, use that! 99.9% of the time, I get the full email!

ok, sorry...
please call back.
Sincerely,
R....ie... N....m...

[Bluetree]

Dear Idiot Film Crew,

While it may not be the ideal way to spend your Sunday morning working, please be aware that to cyclists, Sunday mornings are the ideal time to ride...fast. So while I understand you have to work, I cannot fathom why your set-up crew would be carrying large items (i.e. conference tables, tent poles, camera booms) onto a popular bike path without first looking to see if anyone was coming.

Did you not learn to read while in film school? It's painted B-I-K-E-P-A-T-H underneath your feet. Every ten feet or so. The signs say "Watch for cyclists" at every crossing. Do you not notice that surfers stop and look both ways before crossing to get to the ocean on the other side? Did it enter your mind that setting down cables in the middle of a bike path is not a good idea? Probably not. Just because you are from the self-absorbed, narcissistic, adolescent-stunted fantasy world called the Hollywood Entertainment Industry does not mean that you are entitled to carelessly endanger the lives of other people.

To the out-of-shape smoker guy who walked out from a blind stairwell with an 8-ft. conference table... Just be glad that I'm slow and was able to brake in time to avoid a collision. Had it been a 20-strong elite paceline, your face would have found out how angry fit men can be when their $8000 bikes get trashed. Dumb*ss.

P.S. Pick up your trash before you leave.

[oxysback]

Dear Dog Owner,

Please keep both hatches on the back of your SUV locked. It was very terrifying for my 13 year old daughter to have to fend off the attacks of your dog to our little pug. I realize that you were enjoying the baseball game and were totally unaware of what your dog was doing, but now you have instilled a fear of dogs in my daughter, who came home in tears. I only hope that it hasn't ruined our pug, who is very social with any dog she comes across. You are very lucky that no one was hurt. My husband and I would have had no problem tracking you down. Why would you bring your dogs to a lovely park for a ball game and leave them in the car, anyway?

Signed,
A Concerned Mother

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Dear Husband,
Thank you for being so patient and cheerful when we ride together. I know you can ride way faster than me, get up steeper hills, ride longer hours. But you never ever speed ahead out of my sight, and you often ride behind me on purpose, often asking whether I want to ride in front or in back.
Today, I peddled up a steep hill that I usually go all the way into Granny gear for. But today I purposely went up that hill in one gear harder than the granny gear just to push myself. You stayed behind me on the hill, and I didn't think you would notice that little detail, but when we both reached the top, you passed by me and whispered "Way to GO, Sweetie!".
Thank you for telling me that when you bought your now 11 year old bike, before you ever knew me, you had dreamed of riding it along sunlit woodland gravel roads with the one you love, and that your dream had now come true.
Thank you for endlessly explaining the mysteries of BIKE to me, showing me how to fix and adjust a hundred things on my bike, and for never getting annoyed when I ask for the 4th time in a month which way we turn at that same intersection.
Thank you for being the best life partner AND the best biking buddy a girl could have.