Perhaps it’s cuz I’m finally tired of ranting here on the old Surly blog. Perhaps it’s because as the weather stays cool and uninviting I know that Valentines day is approaching and it gets me all warm and cuddly and makes we want to snuggle till I’m all snuggled out.
By snuggle, I mean get drunk and wake up wondering where I am. It’s something I do pretty well. And while that doesn’t make me Surly to do such a thing, thinking about “such a thing” reminds me of the people that have been next to me when I woke up. And some of those folks are the Surliest people I know.
We here at Surly often find ourselves having to live vicariously through people out there who are really experiencing the life on the road. We spend a lot of times behind desks pulling our hair out wishing we were out there, riding along, maybe even having a beer with the folks out there who really do more for Surly than any of us could ever hope for.
Most people like that don’t work for us, and are otherwise unconnected (aside from the fact that they use our bikes)
Those people ride for their own reasons, and they are often quite personal. Surly doesn’t have a lot of record chasing glory-hounds in our camp (there are a couple, to be sure), our riders tend to be a little more quiet about why they ride and a little louder about everything else. Especially when you don’t ask for their opinions.
These folks ride our bikes across great mountain ranges, around the world, to the corner store, to work and for play.
Explorers
Commuters
Tourers
Trail riders
Cross racers
Errand runners
And the list goes on.
The thing that this seemly disparate group of people has in common is that they use a Surly. (I very intentionally wrote “use” instead of “ride” because in my experience that is one of the things that really separates them from the rest of the pack.
The types of things our riders “use” our bikes for is only eclipsed by the kind of people they are.
Hunters
Taco Stand Owners (on the back of a Bill trailer)
Environmentalists
Survivalists
Traveling Puppet Shows
Doctors
Activists
Lawyers
Preachers
Vegans
Carnivores
Liberal Hippy Scum
Conservative Capitalist Scum
(All kinds of scum really)
Gun Collectors/Enthusiasts
Gun Control Advocates
Artists
Accountants
College Professors
Humble Bike Mechanics
Other Bike Mechanics
Marketing Executives
This list goes on too. On and on.
Diversity in reason, background and thought.
Pretty damn cool if you ask me.
Now here’s one of the Surliest people I know.
