Marc seems like a very nice and helpful fellow. And bonus: not a serial killer!
On Friday, November 11, 2022 at 7:45:34 PM UTC-8 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > As you have likely heard, (because I have been blathering on about it for > months) my family moved to Michigan in January 2022. I unpacked and then > looked around, noting that I had *zero* friends. By this time I had been > riding my Rivendell alone for 10 years and I was sick of it. I wanted > friends - *bike friends- *so I went looking for them at the local bike > club. I showed up with: > Group ride experience: zero. > Club ride experience: zero. > Knowledge of my ability: close to zero. > > But I did know this: I’d probably be the only one riding an upright, steel > mixte. The club was founded by racers 50 years ago, yikes. But they were > remarkably welcoming, and the kind people from this List sent me Marc > Irwin’s email. Turns out, there is one other Rivendell in my local club > rides - Marc’s! > > Marc is a Lone Wolf who put aside his solitary tendencies after hearing I > had taken a treacherous route into downtown. He decided since it was a > matter of life and death he ought to get involved. He offered to meet me > and show me safer ways to navigate our city. My desire to have a bike > friend was greater than my fear that Marc might be a serial killer, so I > agreed. It was such a delight to ride Rivendells together. Prior to this > I’d rarely even seen another Rivendell in the wild. If The Lone Wolf felt > the same, there was no indication. That is not his way. But, he agreed to > the next ride. And the next. We wondered if there were other Rivendell > owners who would love the camaraderie we had found. Pretty soon we were > planning big rides in SW Michigan for people to join us for trail rides on > Rivendell bikes. We hosted two, and there is demand for more of them in > Michigan in 2023. > > Our personal Riv Rides take us through Kalamazoo and surrounding areas. We > always stop for refreshments - coffee, ice cream, lunch. My role is to call > out and remark upon all of the wonderful things I was deprived of during my > desert living - trees, flowers, bodies of water, and roadkill. The Lone > Wolf is in charge of planning the routes and rolling his eyes heavenward > while suffering The Platypus RIder’s effusiveness. It is my job to take all > the photos and The Lone Wolf’s job to protest the photos. It is also The > Lone Wolf’s job to fix all the stuff that breaks, which has only been his. > It is my job remain eternally lost but sublimely happy. > > I have had a lovely time this year; The Lone Wolf has maintained his > aloofness. I once joked that he might not have as much fun as I do, and he > said, “Well, I haven’t left you out here yet,” so he is clearly > delighted.To date, this is the warmest thing he has ever said to me, and it > is all the encouragement I need to suggest the next ride, and the next. > > I had a great club riding season, and rode with 3 different groups every > week in the 16 mph group. Our Friday group went faster though, maybe 17. I > met a lot of nice people and gained lots of confidence with road riding. > All the metrics I have to measure my fitness are the best they’ve ever > been. Ripping around on your bike is fun, but it’s not the best riding I > do. The best rides I do are Riv Rides; where I’m free to explore and take > the trails and talk without gasping for breath. I’m so excited to continue > them in the spring, and maybe for a few stolen warm days over the winter. > > I owe a lot of gratitude to the good people of Michigan for making this > desert-dweller feel welcome in the Great Lakes Region. Enclosed is my recap > of the Riv Rides we did this year. It’s a link to FB because the video is > too large to share here. If the link doesn’t work, let me know because the > video can be emailed if you want it. > Leah > https://www.facebook.com/1566620267/videos/429321249410678/ > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/6c3ecfbc-f3d5-40a0-964c-8e95c9ce4349n%40googlegroups.com.
