Fifty Plus (50+) - Ever had a Chance Encounter on the bike?

I was riding Tuesday night with a number of others and another fellow and I were side by side in a double paceline. The fellow turned out the previous owner of my Miss Lightweight. I had not seen him in almost two years as we don't live in the same area. We spent a good long while catching up while we were riding in the pack.

I was on my other road bike where I had moved all the 10 speed DuraAce components from Miss Lightweight to so I got to point that out. He was on the bike he upgraded to after he sold me Miss Lightweight. He is now looking for a buyer for his current bike......hummmmm......pretty nice ride.

When I test rode Miss Lightweight almost two years ago his pulse rate went bananas so he didn't ride with me the full time. He told me he wound up having to have the abalation procedure earlier this year and is still working his way back to where he'd like to be riding wise.

It was just sheer luck I was able to hook up with him a couple years ago and close the deal on the bike. Likewise it was luck we just happened to be riding together the other night. Funny how the bike does that to you.

I did about a month ago and it still astounds me. I stopped at a 4 way intersection stop sign and continued on. When I was about 200 feet past the intersection, I heard someone in a car going the other way call my name, so I stopped and looked back. It was a guy that I rode with in 1975 and haven't seen since.

The astounding thing is, he recognized me with my helmet on, (we never wore helmets back then) a new bike, and 32 years older! This was on a wide, busy street too, so from about 50 feet away, he made the id. WOW!

We chat via email regularly now.

knotty

My best was being totally lost in Oregon. We were on vacation and my map got all sweaty in my pocket when I was out on a 40 mile solo.
I stopped at a corner in a small town and a guy riding with his kids stopped to give directions.
Turned out it was the brother of my mixed doubles tennis partner back in California. Too weird.

I had one of those recently. I was doing my regular loop one sunday evening and I was thinking about a story I had read earlier that day on the recent PBP. That lead me to wonder about a couple I knew that had done a bunch of brevets and PBP many years ago. A little later I see a couple of cyclists up ahead that look like they could be tourists heading home after a weekend outing. I caught up to them and said hi and much to my surprise it was the couple I had just been thinking of! I hadn't seen them in about 10 years. It was the wildest thing.

It's a small world when you ride bikes. I rode with a guy named Steve in the early 90s, didn't see him for years, and then he would show up in different places. I was on a 5 day tour in San Luis Obispo last April and our group stopped at a red light and I looked to the left and there he was, crossing in front of us. "Hi, Steve", I said. "Hi, John", he replied, like it just happened every day. Weird.

I had just started club riding again after 20 years. One day riding through the marina in SF, Ca I came to a controlled intersection, no traffic except from a cycle entering the left, we we're both doing The Hollywood stop and and kind of a track stand dual, and I gave him the nod to go as he passed and nodded we both looked and stopped at the same time, He was a friend of mine from a bike club back in the 80's. We ended up hanging out and doing a BF ride the following weekend with yet another one the Alumni.

I met a guy I knew but hadn't seen in years riding along the bike path that runs out of Gaviota State Beach (20 miles north of Santa Barbara, CA). The odd thing was that neither one of us lives anywhere near there. We both just happen to be out of day rides when traveling through the area!

Ray

About a month ago, I was in downtown Little Rock on my way to City Hall to talk about doing a government access TV show about bicycling. I stopped to watch the events outside of a local bank. They had about 30 identical green bicycles lined up and people were waiting to ride them. The bicycles are part of the banks latest marketing campaign. Finally they started, and proceeded to cross the street and ride off down the sidewalk. (In direct violation of city law). As they cleared, I heard someone shout. Turned out it was a friend of mine from the Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas and he saw me watching the hubub.

Turns out that all the cyclists were hired and bussed in from out of the area, and the bank wouldn't let someone who actually commuted to work at the bank ride as part of the group. He said that he had told them to not do things that might upset the city, like a large group of cyclists riding on the sidewalk in the downtown. I told him that at least he hadn't lost his dignity.

I had to go soon to make my appointment. The meeting went well and I'm now in pre-production of the show.