Strange encounter

[withm]

Last night after work I decide to go for a bike ride.

Wearing normal cold weather clothing – shorts, tights, wool socks, bike shoes, insulating top, yellow Gore Tex bike jacket. And because it’s pretty chilly, balaclava, & Goretex gloves. Oh, and duh, helmet. I have a Road ID on left ankle with a Firefly blinky (not on) but rear blinky on the bike is on. I have ridden 20 miles or so, and am stopping at the post office to pick up my mail before going home – another mile or so. It’s dark enough that I can barely read the computer (and unable to see it by the time I get home.) I’m parking my bike at the post office and a passer by stops to chat me up….

HE: Sheesh. All that gear?

Me: Excuse me?

HE: All that equipment to go to the post office?

ME: Oh, well I’ve been riding 20 miles.

HE: Shakes his head.

(I go inside to get the mail and return and fasten the mail to the rack and bungy. Turn blinky back on. Turn ankle blinky on. (It’s dark). Turn headlight on.)

HE: All that gear. Shakes his head again.

ME: Well I want to be visible and be sure cars can see me, I explain. But I know that you’ll be extra careful around cyclists now that we’ve talked.

HE: Oh, I’m a cyclist too! I ride the Ocean to Bay ride every year. But special shoes? (This is the local charity ride, draws cyclists of all types, I figure him for a 10-miler on a beach cruiser, no helmet)

ME: Well I ride thousands of miles each year.

HE: Well I guess you know what you are doing. But I couldn’t even tell you were a girl!

ME: I rode away into the sunset wondering what the heck was that?

[KnottedYet]

Very interesting.... (said in best Spock voice)

(I'd love to see the world thru his eyes for a day. Betcha it'd be very different than the way *I* see it. Very educational.)

[Flybye]

Different generations????

[withm]

I'm 56. Maybe he was in his 60s.

The only skin showing was my face, and with a balaclava on, not much of that either. LOL.

I daresay we were not that far apart age wise, but apparently living in opposite universes.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

V...e...r....y interesting...... (said in best Arte Johnson voice)

[mimitabby]

he went home and told his wife he wanted some blinkys. He was just jealous.

[Zen]

Some people live in very small worlds.

[latelatebloomer]

[QUOTE but apparently living in opposite universes.[/QUOTE]

methinks your universe is better. Plus, I bet you don't make a comment to complete stranger unless it is 1) complimentary or 2) helpful.

[tulip]

I think it's best that people don't figure I'm a woman when I'm riding my bike at night. I aim to be visible, not glamorous.

[spokewench]

He's just socially challenged but wanted to chat you up cause you were riding and he was not - guilty probably!

[HillSlugger]

HE: Well I guess you know what you are doing. But I couldn’t even tell you were a girl!

I think I would have asked "Is that important?"

[Zen]

He's just socially challenged

That's a nice way of putting it

[7rider]

I think I would have asked "Is that important?"

I would have said:
"I haven't been a "girl" for about 30 years now. I believe the phrase would be "woman" - not that it's relevant to you, boy."


There is a Larson "Far Side" comic strip - a split screen of a guy pondering emotions for a woman, and the woman pondering her love for vanilla icecream (might have been the other way around). And the caption read: "Same World, Different Universes." Sort of like your encouter with Mr. Wuderkind.

[IFjane]

He's just socially challenged but wanted to chat you up cause you were riding and he was not - guilty probably!

Personally, I think it was a pick-up line.

...from a socially inept male-of-the-species....

[withm]

I pegged him for a local, rather than a retiree transplant but regardless, it was a bizarre encounter of the third kind.