The aspiring Doris

Am I the Doris wanna-be? Am I already a Doris and denying my Fredliness? If so, when did I enter the realm of Freddom? Was is when I donned the dorky reflective vest? Is that like the green blazer of the Masters golf tour? There are many aspects of cycling I'm not familiar with and still need/want to learn, so I'll consider myself The Aspiring Doris for now.

I love these blog posts by women also embracing their inner Fred:

http://echointhecity.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/life-with-a-hardcore-cyclist-the-seven-fredly-sins/
http://highonbike.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/please-call-me-fred-2/

Credit: blogger extraordinaire Echo in the City

I realized just how Fredly I am when last night I took Ruby out in my neighborhood. The roads around here are very residential and very seldom see roadies or Freds. It's very hilly so you won't see a senior citizen on a cruiser. You may see a child learning to ride on training wheels, but the hills keep the kids off the streets. These kids won't even walk up our driveway to get candy on Halloween, they sure aren't going to ride a bike up these hills.


I rode around a few of our streets, finding that I loved the hills because the ride back down them let me get up to a whopping 24 miles per hour. That felt delightful. There were no cars on our streets because everyone was indoors watching the Penguins playoff game. I had the streets nearly to myself. Out of habit, I was signalling turns. I stopped after a few turns as there was no one around to signal to. I felt silly.
It was dusk, so I made sure to bring the lights and vest. I was lit up like, well... a Fred. I felt out of place here, anyone that I'd seen on a bike around here was just in a tee shirt and shorts, perhaps wearing a helmet.


The sight of a cyclist with a bright headlamp and blinkies was alien out here. One of the few cars that passed me took a long look. I also know Hubby's going to hear from some of our neighbors the next time he's out walking the dogs and stops to chat... "Hey, was that your wife we saw riding around the other night? With all the lights and bright yellow vest?" 


I decided I was well-lit enough for a quick hop on McMurray Road.  No drivers honked or buzzed me. It wasn't so bad, my mettle must be stronger than I thought.