It was chilly but manageable on bikes, but we were on the job. Well, Corinna was on the job, I was trying to be helpful, snapping a lot of pictures (as if I wouldn't anyway), and so on.
Since only two of us were on bicycles, though, we had to keep a pedestrian pace so Jennifer could keep up.
I've never ridden so slow in my life. I looked down at my cycling computer at one point and realized we were averaging 3.2 mph. I thought, I could walk faster than this. And I could if we weren't there to network, get the word out, gather stories and maybe glom some free food.
And see some art.
And visit the Bad Seed Farmer's Market that's open on Friday nights but I'm never downtown on Friday night.
I got a brochure from a supplier of grass fed lamb, not exactly cheap stuff, but something I'm keenly interested in after watching Food Inc.
I have a hard time cold-calling, doing the door to door sales thing. I tend to take rejection too personally and even though I can get past that, it's a draining experience for me. Seeing someone pitch poetry and the arts as a wellness tool for metal health I thought, Talk about your hard sell.
To her credit, if Corinna and Jennifer saw any of the warning signs I did that some of these people would not only be unreceptive but actually rude, they didn't show it. And while I correctly predicted some people who wouldn't give the time of day, she also proved my psychic powers overrated on several occasions.
I'd think, That dude isn't going to even slow down, and the next thing I know he's signing a waiver and being interviewed on camera.
The Hare Krishnas were an interesting encounter. They wanted to get us to an eleven course vegetarian feast (it was described as part of three hours or more devoted to, I think, the selling points of orange robes, drums and a really long song that only has three distinct words). They weren't much interested in what we were selling either, but I had fun meeting them since I hadn't ever met a real live Hare Krishna before.
A kid being interviewed gave me a new band to look up, though, the Aquabats. They were on a shirt with Reel Big Fish, and I think the kid was just as intrigued to hear the gospel of Deal's Gone Bad, the ska band I discovered when they opened for the BossTones.
And after we knocked off we got to kick back and enjoy the art and the company of artists and art enthusiasts.
Ran into Brian and Randall, too. Brian, like Corinna, was barely a day back from a five day post-Thanksgiving bicycle tour starting in Memphis and ending just outside Kansas City.
A trip during which they learned that no matter what Coloradans say, the Ozarks are not hills but mountains. The last day, they did 134 miles, a personal record for both of them.
Corinna was working, as planned before the trip, but apparently Brian was just feeling restless and in need of some exercise; that 134 miles having roused his cycling appetite without bedding it back down.
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