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Community Corner

The Difference Between Bike Spandex And Jeans

Spandex Encourages Good Behavior From Strangers

I wonder what percentage of the generosity we've experienced throughout our tour is because we wear bike shorts, have a helmet, and carry 50 pounds of gear on us (Adam would like me to clarify that he carries 65 pounds). As soon as we put on regular clothes and walk away from the bikes, we turn into 'normal' people. 

While biking, we've been offered numerous rides over a mountain, down the street, or to a town 30 miles away. We turn these rides down, but we always make sure to let that person know how much that offer is appreciated. 

Why then, do normal clothes scare people away from being generous?

We decided, in order to see more of the Yellowstone National Park, to ditch the bikes at the campsite and get rides around the park. No worries. Before we ever asked for a ride we made sure hitch-hiking was legal and the ranger told us that a lot of people do it.

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So we had good luck with our first ride, but later on that day, after a fairly strenuous hike down 328 stairs to the bottom of a waterfall and then back up, we were ready get a ride two miles back to a lodge.

We approached a couple walking to their car and asked if they were headed to Canyon Village. The man, so disgusted by our asking, shook his head and walked away without even uttering a word to us. 

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To be fair, we had already received three rides that day, one from a shirtless man, one from a family in a pick-up truck, and one from a couple from Germany. But sitting in the lodge thirty minutes later after getting a ride with another couple, we felt like we were doing something wrong.

Why do we get loads of offers for help when riding around but feel like free-loaders without our bikes by our side? What is it about spandex that makes people feel more comfortable? If anything, the spandex make us feel a little self-conscious. 

Oh well. Maybe we should just ditch the idea to get another ride to a Buffalo-filled valley and head back to our campsite to put on our spandex and helmets.

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