Oh, and...

One of the nice things about getting older is figuring out it's perfectly ok to say 'no' to a friend, in a nice way of course.
This morning a good friend of mine asked if she could borrow one of my two bikes for a day or two to ride it around town and decide if she wanted to get a bike. She hasn't ridden since she was in college a couple decades ago.

I'm usually ok with lending things...clothes, books, tools, CDs, money, even my car....but not my musical instruments, and not my bikes. They are the best things i own, or will ever own, and i take super care to keep them protected from damage. My custom Luna is especially irreplaceable.
No sooner had her request left her mouth when I gently said "No, I'm sorry, i can't." She looked slightly taken aback. She'll live.

It wouldn't have worked anyway- she would have found my bikes too tall, she wouldn't have had the faintest clue how to work the brifters, and there are hills here that require shifting no matter where you go. Scary for her, highly risky for my bike. Whenever my friend gets in a fender bender (which is at least once a year), she says with a toss of her hand "Well it's just a car!". To me, my car is also 'just a car'. But my bikes are not 'just a bike' to me.

But i had the perfect suggestion!- I just told her she should go to the local sports/bike shop and ask them to put her on some bikes to ride around the road there -for free- they would be all too happy to let her try a bunch and adjust seats for her, show her how to shift on a hybrid, falling all over themselves to help her out!

I know you women here on TD would understand.
When I was 25 or 30 this request would have caused a big internal battle for me. Now ...not so much. lol!