Saturday we rode in to the big city for food, beverages and shopping. We made a stop at a grocery store and I went inside. While Nova watched over our bikes outside she was approached by a man who asked if she was Nova of Randy and Nova. He then told her that he watched our videos. That’s about the time I came outside and we had a brief chat. Was nice to meet you Chad.
Sunday we rode back to the big city for the Bluz Cruz which is our monthly old bikes ride. While we cut through a parking lot here in town, someone hollered from their vehicle “Hey Randy and Nova, I watch your videos!”. I first thought it must be a friend pranking us as I had posted about yesterday’s encounter on my personal social media. The van stopped and it wasn’t anyone we knew. It was someone who follows us on Youtube and recognized us. We introduced ourselves, chatted briefly and then went on our way. I’m always caught off guard when this happens and never know what to say and probably come across as such a goof. Oh well, they now know we’re no different in real life than we are in our videos. I must say it really makes my day on the rare occasion when we are recognized like this. I’ll be the first to admit I probably crave attention and like the notoriety but more importantly it tells me there are real people out there who must be interested in bikes and biking in the same way that we are. It was nice to meet you Lurch.
Once at the meet up point for the old bikes ride, a man carrying a big camera on a tripod approached me and asked if it would be ok to film us for a segment on the local news. I told him sure but declined when asked to be interviewed. Fortunately someone else agreed to the interview. Thanks Judd. Thanks KAKE TV. The ride was short. Someone’s pedal fell off, another person’s shoulder was hurting and then someone else mumbled something about beer. Everyone turned around and the next thing I know we’re sitting on a bar patio talking bikes instead of riding them. It was good to catch up with everyone. It had been a while. Thanks Steve for choosing a route even though we didn’t follow through.
I am happy to have gotten everyone to pose for these photos. Thanks everyone. There were 2 more who caught up to us just after I took these. Sorry I missed you. Yes as you may notice, sometimes people will show up on non-vintage bikes to this pre-1969 bike ride. Old bikes are encouraged but all are welcome.
Before leaving the city we poked around some old houses and apartment buildings that are about to be razed to make room for something new. These buildings once watched over the old baseball stadium that has already been razed and replaced with a new one. Bums me out.
We then stopped to see our Daughter at a charity event that her significant other’s band was playing at (no pics) followed by an uneventful ride home. It was a nice weekend.