On Jul 31, 9:17 am, Colin Campbell <
[email protected]> wrote:
> still me wrote:
> > I need a collection of funny names for the guys that ride in team
> > colors, the most extreme of which actually coordinate with their bikes
> > and each other (although I'm suuuuuure, they're actually professional
> > TDF riders on Holiday).
>
> > Give me your best, I need some funny stuff to think of as I am meeting
> > these folks on the roadway and they refuse to wave because I am
> > clearly out of step in both fashion and bike gear!
>
> I wear my club jerseys and shorts many days, and I wear CSC kit, and I
> wear jerseys I've found over the years that I like. However, I say "Hi"
> to the riders I encounter on the road or bike trails.
>
> I did an organized ride (the Los Angeles River Ride) a couple of months
> ago with three friends, and we all wore our club jerseys, so we could
> find each other among the multitudes. As we were nearing the end of the
> ride, I heard someone call us "a bike gang".
>
> I don't think clothing is the determining factor in rider friendliness.
Of the sixty some odd people who went together to the Guangzhou Bikers
Festival from Hainan, more than 50 of us had the same pink and white
polka dot jersey with the club name written on the back. But some of
them didn't. Some of them had either a plain blue or a plain red
jersey with the club name written on the back. This is because the
same pink and white polka dots (minus club name) were given to the 16
riders who participated in opening ceremonies of the Tour of Hainan
and those 16 riders are among the serious who have many jerseys and
when you have made it to being the kind of person who owns nine
jerseys you don't want two of them to be basically identical.
Three of the best of the young racer boys were among these 16 and,
quite by coincidence, had all ended up with plain blue jerseys. In
light of Chinese history it was determined that they were The Blue
Gang. Myself and another polka dot that hung out with them became
honorary members of the Blue Gang and we got as far as discussing
secret handshakes and initiation ceremonies before the giggling got so
bad that someone fell out of his chair.
I do think that 'looking the part' whether as a cyclist or a computer
programmer or a theatre major does tend to make other people of that
in group automatically treat you more nicely as a member of the same
in group.
