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The Slice: The Slice: Learning how to roll with it
You can tell because of the questions they ask. All you can do is try to provide answers.
“Do the hills eventually get easier?”
Yes, if you stay with it. But the funny thing is, climbing hills can turn out to be the best part of your ride because of the feeling you have when the road levels off.
“If I get killed in traffic by a drunk driver, will anonymous online commenters make fun of me and say I deserved it?”
Yes. Absolutely.
“Should I wear a helmet even if it signals that this is a dangerous activity when I do not believe that to be the case?”
It depends. Is your head important to you?
“Is there such a thing as a comfortable bike seat?”
Good question.
“Should I wear Spandex?”
What do you think?
“Got any tips?”
If it’s even slightly brisk out in the morning, be ready to wear gloves.
“How many times have you been hit by a car since you started riding during Bike to Work Week in 2008?”
Zero times. But a rogue squirrel almost rammed me.
Slice answer: “Your Warm-up question (Thursday) about seeing someone wearing a distinctive item of apparel you had donated to a social service agency reminded me of what happened with my family a year or so ago,” wrote Leora Gendreau.
“My kids are on a local swim team, Spokane Waves, and I was cleaning out their closets of all the older Waves shirts that had been handed down to them, but were not being worn. Within a month, my husband came home from Goodwill one day with a large bag of shirts. He pulled them out and said he found some vintage Waves shirts that would be great for the kids. Needless to say, those were the same shirts I had donated.”
Today’s Slice question: Laurie Newell remembers being somewhat skeptical back in the late 1950s and early 1960s about the notion that getting under her desk as a grade school kid would have offered much protection against a hydrogen bomb. How about you?
What security/safety absurdity is the 2016 version of “duck and cover”?
Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. You know you’re in Spokane when you see that the X-ray tech is wearing camouflage, said Dave Spilker.