Flowers for Cyclists
 

A few minutes ago I left the university library to ride my Surly home when, lo!, I see a gently arranged flower resting atop my saddle. Such a warm smile took to my face when I beheld the peaceful symbol, so gentle in its being. Sometimes it's easy to become bitter when people continually taunt you from a cage, but this just reminds me that we are appreciated by a few at the least.

While I'm sure most of us let the joy of riding course through our veins and wash away any bitterness we might feel, perhaps we could make a fellow cyclist's day with little secret signs of respect and admiration. Afterall, it is the community, our health, and our bicycles that help us all laugh through this crazy journey in the universe.


~S

Yes, aren't we all unique and beautiful beings?

Maybe you're being stalked?

That makes me wonder. Is there something like a national cyclist day?

Thats creepy...

At least it wasn't like, a black rose or something. See, if I were stalking someone, I wouldn't use a flower arrangement, I would put dead squirrels or something on the seat.

Perhaps you have a secret admirer!

The third week of every May is the annual Bike To Work Week, with Wednesday being the official Bike To Work Day. Here in Sillicon Valley, local ride advocacy groups and large companies sponsor energizer stations handing out free water bottles, t-shirts, energy bars, etc. at major intersections where bike commuters usually have to stop and wait at a light. It's really cool cuz those running the stations are so enthusiastic and thrilled to see a cyclist pull up to their stop. They treat you like royalty and thank you for riding to work. Where I work, I do see a small handful of people who do make the effort to ride in, then you see them in cars the rest of the year. Oh well. At least they made that one effort. :)

As for flowers on a bike, my buddies and I were out mountain biking one day and we stopped to take a break. We had our bikes just scattered on the ground when a squirrel scampered up and left a nut of some sort on my saddle. I keep it in my Camelbak as my mojo.

You didn't almost hit a squirrel on the way there, did you? If so, I'd think it was the same squirrel saying 'thanks for not shredding me with your spokes!'

Or perhaps it's the Squirrel Death Omen.

LOL!!! Being the optimist that I am, I immediately thought of it as a good luck charm and tucked it away, but one of my buddies (who's seen many bad things in his life) said, "Just don't eat that nut! You don't know what the squirrel has in mind when he left that for you!" hahaha! :D

You sure the flower wasn't growing out of the seat? Had to check.

"Fear my squirrelly wrath!"
-Foamy

http://www.illwillpress.com/

Yeah, yesterday for the first time someone yelled something encouraging at me while I was riding (at night none the less). I was just going up this hill that I would assume is steep to the average joe, and some guy leans out the window of a work van and yells "yeah man, keep it up!" or somethign of that nature. Almost makes me forget about the 2 college kids who yelled "******" at me and I just caught up to them at the light and the moron in the passenger seat had a bottle of whiskey in his lap. I just said hi because, as always, they were cowards and now that they have to be in a social situation with me they back down and try to be all nice. It's the good ones that make it seem like there is hope for a better tomorrow. Spread the love. Peace.

I am repulsed by those who assume that a flower left for someone has bad intentions. I supose that if a gay guy is staring at you, you're going to think it's because he is sexual obsessed, when it's really because you have spinich stuck in your teeth.

It's not an assumption, it's a possibility, just another option.
In this day and age, don't be so naive.
If a girl's got a flat on the side of the road and a guy drives up and offers her a ride, don't always assume he's there to help her. It be, and has proved itself many times in the past, a fatal mistake.

Hah, I think it's pretty cool that someone was thoughtful enough to leave a flower on your seat. My first guess would be a secret admirer and that it has little to do with the fact that you cycle to and from your destination. In either case, it's still a nice gesture and I don't see how it could possibly have bad intentions.

Some people are stupid and some people are sweet. Lucky you to have a run in with the latter.

Satyr, I couldn't remember the mythological refrence to your name, so I looked it up on Meriam Webster Online, and came up with "a lecherous man" or "one with a condition of satyriasis, "an abnormal or excessive sexual craving in the male". If someone is onto you, they might not have been so coy, and left a condom there instead.

That would make my day.

Maybe he left the rose to condition you for a bobby trap the next time.

I've heard of booby traps but what is a "bobby trap"?

Something that traps Bobbies...

Don't the Brits call thier police Bobbies?!?
You could be onto something there.

I started my ride on that day at just after 4:30, and got there about 6:00, in the AM. I didn't see any energizer stations (I checked the 511.org site). I guess they figure most people will be riding after 6:00 in the morning.