The Wave Dilemma

This morning Bubbles, Jugs, PP and I got out for a run in the warm Spring-teaser air. 7 miles of bliss! We encountered other morning people out and about despite the time change; some running, walking, riding. There is nothing like an outside run-anything beats the treadmill.

Recently in my Runners World magazine there was an article about "to wave or not to wave and how do you do it when running" sort of thing. I got such a kick out of it because when Jugs, PP and I started our riding last year --mountain bikes with baby seats and crooked helmets-- we were the over-excited wavers, the ones who let go completely with our entire arm from the shoulder down to the finger tips and we gave big giant waves. Hello, GOOooOoD morning! PP was just shy of stopping, getting off the bike and shaking hands with passer byers.

Then we graduated to borrowed road/race bikes and fixed our helmets so they fit better. PP's bike was so hot from the 80's with splattered paint designs, I think it helped her in the wave department. Her whole arm wave turned into more of a winky wave - her hand moved and her fingers did a little winky wink thing. Like a cutsey wave. She still wanted to stop and greet people more intimately, but refrained because she was afraid of losing speed. Jugs was still doing the whole arm wave. Just happy to be on the bike without a baby seat behind her!

Then we bought bike shorts and really felt like bikers. On our borrowed bikes. One day very early in the morning we passed a group of cyclists, serious cyclists, and half of them didn't even wave. We noticed one guy out in front give us a fingertip movement from his lower bar. It was such a slight movement that even our winky waves looked over the top and we would have missed his wave entierly but we were obsessed with how other bikers wave because clearly, our winky wink wave was not what most cyclists do to each other. Clearly. We lost probably 5 minutes in that stretch laughing after they passed by and we tried out finger waves, hand waves and exaggerated waves all the while wondering what was cool and not cool.

This morning, we revisted the wave dilemma as we encountered other early morning enthusiasts. In conclusion, I think our winky wave is not cool.