Originally Posted by Roody
Have you ever asked clients about recreational opportunities (other than hookers) when you are out there? Seems like there would be guys with extra bikes who would love to take you out riding. It would be a blast to ride in all different cities.
There were a couple of times when I was fortunate enough to be able to just drive to meet some of our customers and I brought my bike along. One of our customers is in the Portland area and a couple of their employees are also cyclists so it was great to be able to not only ride after work but to also ride with someone too. That was one of my favourite customer site visits. Additionally, I do have some coworkers who are cyclists too. Our two main offices are in Mountain View, CA and Ann Arbor, MI. One of the guys in Ann Arbor who I've been a longtime friend with purchased a brand new Serotta Legend last year and relegated his old Cannondale R500 to that of backup bike. He's promised it to me anytime I visit Ann Arbor. I rode it to the company picnic the last time I was there. It's slightly large but was fine for rides under 50 miles. So Ann Arbor is not a problem... but other places are. Sadly the former situation is the exception. My last two big trips were to Ottawa, Canada and Bangalore, India for example and I was bikeless. Although to be honest, I'm not so sure I would have been out biking in those two places though. Ottawa was mighty cold and piled high with snow (gave up a lot of that kind of biking after I moved away from Grand Forks, ND) and Bangalore was just a little crazy trafficwise. Plus the polution was horrible. Walking was bad enough... I can't imagine breathing in all that crap while on a bike. Hopefully, if I do go the travel bike route, I can experience a little better cycling environments. I keep edging our salesguys to find customers in Tuscany.
