Another embarrassing moment....

When I lived in Pittsburgh, a friend and I were planning a Saturday morning ride. We met at his house and started rolling out of town. There was a charity walk-a-thon that morning, and the walkers were westbound on the sidewalk along Fifth Avenue as we approached a T intersection. We were turning east so we'd face the walkers.

The walk-a-thon was well attended. It was a warm, late spring day back in the era of halter tops and hot pants, and the sorority girls were happily parading, beaming with smiles and waving at passerby. That included us across the street waiting for the traffic light.

When the light changed, we rolled out slowly in order to take in the show. We turned left. Or more accurately, I turned left. My friend was staring at the jiggle show to his right as he pedaled into the curb at about 5 miles an hour. The bike stopped. He couldn't get a foot down and he toppled over. Now, when I've done things like this it was always hilarious. My friend, however, was instantly surrounded by a bunch of Farrah Fawcett look-a-likes who cooed, offered him water bottles, and just generally looked helpless, gorgeous, and vapid. He blushed furiously, partly because he was embarrassed to have fallen in such a dumb way, but also because he was more than a little flustered by all the female attention and exposed flesh. He got back onto his bike and rode away quickly.

When I caught up to him, I begged him to ride around the block and let me be the one to crash next time.