[rant mode on]
Alright, this beats a subject that we have visited before. But it has become REALLY ANNOYING.
I go out for a 30 mile ride. I push doing intervals. I take a break beside the trail.
And within seconds five people have stopped to ask if I am alright and if I need help.
STOP IT!
Okay, let me paint just a little more of the picture. No flat tire. No chain break. No damage to my bike. No accident. No blood. No torn clothes. There is not one hint, not one bit of evidence, nothing to suggest that I am having any difficulty whatsoever.
Yet if I stop beside the trail, obviously there must be something wrong with what I am doing. There has to be. If I sit on a bench on the WOD, or if I take a break in the shade, or if I stop to take off layers….. “Are you alright? Do you need help?” Something I am doing must be wrong after all I get bombarded with inquiries.
Oh yeah, can I also mention that this did not happen 2 years ago when I was not quite a gray beard. But now that I am a gray beard, if I dare to stop beside the trail – I must obviously be having an F’ing heart attack or something. I must be enfeebled. I must be in desperate need of assistance.
Really. Every single time. Multiple idiots trying to earn their good samaritan badges.
It patronizing. Its annoying and an intrusion. Its an aspersion that there must be something wrong with what I am doing.
The young guy doesnt get asked. The person who is just walking without a bicycle doesnt get asked. The person walking a dog doesnt get asked. And so on.
Please stop. Please earn your good samaritan badge somewhere else. Take two seconds before you bother someone and LOOK to see if there is anything about them that suggests that they need help.
.
