Hobo Style
Jul. 17th, 2014 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterI forgot to mention three of the most hilarious moments of the brevet. The first was our return stop in Navasota, at a Shell station. The sun had just come up, so we were at maximal humidity, S's feet were wet, and J and I were feeling a bit knackered. The three of us all lay down on the pavement in front of the store, propped our feet up on a small picnic table there, and took some solid naps. I think that was J's first time napping in front of a convenience store on a brevet. Welcome to randonneuring, my friend.
The second was at the end. The brevet started and ended at the usual spot, a La Quinta Inn in Brookshire. We send business in their direction whenever possible, but it was a bit tricky to do so this time around, because the brevet started at 6 pm and concluded (for us) at 12:40 pm the next day. They don't exactly do hourly rates or anything, so we had some extensive discussions about how to manage our disgusting sweatyness for the ride home. I ruled out jumping in their pool out of a concern that it would give the randonneurs a bad name with the motel staff. That left either hobo showers in the restrooms, or...finding a hose somewhere. As luck would have it, their hose wasn't especially well-hidden, so the three of us all got to rinse off the worst of the sweat and grime (while still bespandexed). I never knew it could feel so good to stick a hose down my bike shorts, ha! We made good use of a number of hoses and spigots on the ride, actually, to refill water bottles and rinse off a bit.
The third happened shortly thereafter. We were tired and hungry, so we stopped at a Tex-Mex joint on the route home for some lunch. The food tasted great, but we must have seemed a bit out of place to the other customers, especially with J still dressed in his bike jersey and S in his pajama bottoms. At one point, while S was up visiting the restroom, both J and I were so overcome with sleepiness that we sat in the booth and napped. When I opened my eyes, I observed the waitstaff re-seating some diners who had originally been seated at tables across from us. Who knows what they thought. But who cares.
Here are two other examples of people hobo-styling it with bicycles. So you know it's not just me.
First is a woman who has figured out an excellently streamlined system to do a hybrid bike-public transit commute, carrying just one backpack-pannier. I admire her freshening-up kit:
http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/22036
Second is a guy who rescued a bicycle from a dustbin and managed an ultra-cheap bike touring trip, for the sake of demonstrating that you really don't need fancy, expensive equipment to bike tour (though knowing a bit about how to repair bikes is important):
http://tomsbiketrip.com/how-far-can-you-go-on-a-10-touring-bike/
The second was at the end. The brevet started and ended at the usual spot, a La Quinta Inn in Brookshire. We send business in their direction whenever possible, but it was a bit tricky to do so this time around, because the brevet started at 6 pm and concluded (for us) at 12:40 pm the next day. They don't exactly do hourly rates or anything, so we had some extensive discussions about how to manage our disgusting sweatyness for the ride home. I ruled out jumping in their pool out of a concern that it would give the randonneurs a bad name with the motel staff. That left either hobo showers in the restrooms, or...finding a hose somewhere. As luck would have it, their hose wasn't especially well-hidden, so the three of us all got to rinse off the worst of the sweat and grime (while still bespandexed). I never knew it could feel so good to stick a hose down my bike shorts, ha! We made good use of a number of hoses and spigots on the ride, actually, to refill water bottles and rinse off a bit.
The third happened shortly thereafter. We were tired and hungry, so we stopped at a Tex-Mex joint on the route home for some lunch. The food tasted great, but we must have seemed a bit out of place to the other customers, especially with J still dressed in his bike jersey and S in his pajama bottoms. At one point, while S was up visiting the restroom, both J and I were so overcome with sleepiness that we sat in the booth and napped. When I opened my eyes, I observed the waitstaff re-seating some diners who had originally been seated at tables across from us. Who knows what they thought. But who cares.
Here are two other examples of people hobo-styling it with bicycles. So you know it's not just me.
First is a woman who has figured out an excellently streamlined system to do a hybrid bike-public transit commute, carrying just one backpack-pannier. I admire her freshening-up kit:
http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/22036
Second is a guy who rescued a bicycle from a dustbin and managed an ultra-cheap bike touring trip, for the sake of demonstrating that you really don't need fancy, expensive equipment to bike tour (though knowing a bit about how to repair bikes is important):
http://tomsbiketrip.com/how-far-can-you-go-on-a-10-touring-bike/
