My Morning Commute
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@Tim Kelley 146827 wrote:
Let me know if you need more supplies. Come by one of our Lighten Up Arlington events in November and we’ll give you some more!
Thanks! I found a seller that sells a similar one for $1.30 each shipped. will help out with the handout this year. In years past i made off with 10 or so and tagged them along my commute. Your giveaways are how I got the idea of tagging them in the wilds of FFC.
@Judd 146829 wrote:
After about an 80% ninja rate on the commutes home last week, I stocked up on the Bike Arlington reflective bands during the Arlington Fun Ride. What’s the recommended approach for giving these to someone without it being awkward or offensive, Vicegrip?
Asking Me how not to be offensive is funny, trust me.
I keep a blinky or 2 on my backpack shoulder strap turned off but ready to go with the plastic safety pulled. If from behind I slow down and stay way wide as I stop slightly in front of the target. If from the front I stop short and wide. This way they can walk a slight diagonal to me rather than I invade their space. The Common Gray sooty ninja is easily startled and will flush of you are not careful. I glide stop and then pull the light off, click it to steady on and hold it straight out but pointed down so they get to focus on the nice colorful shiny thing but not get blasted. I say “Hi, I have noticed that we share the trail often, you are very hard for me see and I don’t want us to meet by accident. Please have a free blinky light.” I get a fair amount of the “deer in the headlights” look from people. I think they are trying to process the “free” part looking for the hook or something. That or “why is this old fart on a bike talking to me?” I break this by talking about the light rather than the need. “You can set to steady and two kinds of flash, the batteries last a long time, are replaceable, easy to find and cheap.” My thinking is this opens the conversation a bit by instilling desire for the light without establishing need. Next is to tell the walkers that “It is often not apparent to un lit or non reflective walkers how hard they can be to see by someone moving 15 mph. We are good at seeing even slight movement but for riders the stationary landscape is moving in our vision just right that walking speed movement blends in.” This is well true enough and it gives them a social out to help put the conversation at ease. single runner male ninjas seem to be more likely to be running dark intentionally. I tend to do the same roll up and arms length offer and just offer it up saying ‘hey, i have a bunch of these things and you look like you could use one if you like” I then tailor the rest of the conversation based on his response. Groups I give the other standard sell. I don’t get my hopes up in making even much of a dent in them. Sometimes even well tagged ones show up a week later dark again and there is an endless supply of them. It is like the Walking dead. You make free wheel spinning sounds and they come stumbling out of the bushes.
I had a pair of real bad super camo ninjas a few years ago. Almost clipped one one earl morning and would have but for the single little tiny reflective tab left on one of their 4 shoes. That made tagging them “There is not try only Do” for me. A couple days later I rolled up behind them and sort of loudly shouted “Ahhh! I almost did not see you!!!!” while grabbing enough front brake to get a screech. (Bet that made a nice little spike in the HR plot for their jog) I then tagged them with 2 purloined* BA blinkies. 2 days later they were back right on their M,W,F schedule wearing matching reflective vests and the blinkies. I rolled by with a long “Nnnnnnnnnnice!”
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