I haven't hardly done anything all day. The twenty kilometers I did ride were at a nice casual speed while chatting with an overloaded tourist on a heavy off brand mountain bike with weird geometry. I ate breakfast, and second breakfast, and have been on the fruit handing out detail for most of the morning (which, naturally, includes tasting the fruit). So it's no real surprise to me that I'm not hungry at lunch.

         This is the first time since I started hanging out with the bike people that I've gotten to watch them eat when I haven't had munchies of my own. I begin to understand why waitresses look at us weird. It isn't the spandex. It isn't the helmets. It isn't the huge number of bikes or the truck with the flags. It's the way the food disappears off the table. Not that I've ever seen a pack of rabid hyenas eat but this is the impression I am left with from watching my friends not merely eat but consume mass quantities.

         (But the Saturday Night Live Coneheads were much messier eatiers than we are. When we're done nothing much is left behind.)

         I've almost convinced Brian Lao to let me borrow his bike for the afternoon but then I ride it across the parking lot. Back at the end of September, when I got my bike, I was so worried about not having the extra set of brake levers but Ah Zhi (who was still just "the bike shop manager" to me at that time) told me I'd get used to this style real quick. So quick that I wouldn't ever want to go back to anything other than brake hoods and brifters. He was right. I give it a go but I can't ride this bike. It's not just the grinding noise when I shift, or the lack of places to put my hands, or the platform pedals, but a combination of this and more. I just can't ride this bike.

         However, I'm in luck. There's a guy going on the truck who is willing to lend me his bike. I get bouncy and happy and cute at him until I look down and see that his shoes aren't Nike or Adidas or New Balance. His shoes are by Shimano. This means he's got clipless pedals. And if my pedals are the only pair of eggbeaters in the province there's no way my cleats will work with his pedals.

         I suggest switching pedals. But he doesn't like that idea and neither does Ah Jian. Way too much trouble.

         I must have looked so horribly disappointed. I know I must have. I tried not to be crestfallen but I know my disappointment shows. This was my second almost chance to ride and there aren't any other bikes available to me.

         He looks at me.

         Sees the new expression on my face.

         Looks down at my feet.

         Looks back at me.

         And asks me what size shoes I wear.

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