"Girlie"

Buds and I took this morning off from CrossFit to have a beautiful walk up down and all around our neighborhood. It’s the first sunny day in a very long time, and we want to soak up all the healing rays.

We talked of many things, and he had a story to share that surprised and frustrated me.

When he went on the scooter adventure with Vic a couple weeks ago, Buddie biked to their house for the beginning of their ride. When they had finished their jaunt around town, Buds told Victor goodbye and went out to hop on his beautiful blue Blix bike for the ride home.

Victor and Renee’s white, male, 40’ish looking neighbor was out mowing his lawn. Buds looked at him and smiled with a nod to say hello and the neighbor said, “That’s kind of a girlie bike, isn’t it?”

When Buds told me the story this morning, I was confused and thought lawn mower man was referring to the color, but Buds reminded me that “male” bikes typically have the high cross bar to step over. I had forgotten that, and I researched why that’s the case and if it is still true.

Turns out the high crossbar provided extra frame strength which is not as much of an issue with improved bike design and different materials used in production. The “female” bike was originally because women were biking in dresses and skirts and the low entry allowed more modesty when mounting the bike.

None of these issues are applicable in 2023, and it turns out people can ride whatever sort of bike they want to.

In his generous way, Buds suggested lawn mower man was maybe just trying to make conversation, but learning some conversation starters that aren’t more typical of 7th graders in 1976 would be a good start.

Buds hopped on his beautiful bike, and pedaled off into the gorgeous day, not giving Mr toxic masculinity any air to feed his ignorance.