Getting huffy

I am not a bike snob. A cheese snob, a grammar snob, a beer snob - perhaps. But a bike snob, I am not.

Neither is Hubs, but he bought a relatively nice bike last summer because he rides to work at least twice a week when the weather is nice.

Meanwhile, I ride to the coffeeshop and restaurants down the street on this totally rad purple Huffy that I scored from the Des Moines Bike Collective for $25 a few years ago.

Now. As a rather unsophisticated bike owner, I don't see much difference. Both have two wheels and nice comfy seats. Mine has brakes that scream like an angry raccoon when I stop and Hubs' doesn't have a kickstand, so I figured we were about even in our ghettoness.

A bike snob set me straight, though.

We rode to $1 slider night at the bar down the street last night and some serious bike dude was gawking at our two bikes chained together. He was legit staring, open-mouthed when we walked up to unchain them and ride home.

"I was just admiring the difference between these two bikes," he said. I smiled and told him I got a deal and then proceeded to hop gracefully on my bike and zip away get the laces of my Sperry knock-offs stuck in the pedal and wobble away.

Hrmph. Was I dissed? Was my little purple Huffy out of style? Did he expect a father-daughter pair to claim the bikes? The daughter being appropriately aged for Huffy ownership (that's I think about 14, no older). Am I a total embarrassment? Because I thought I was super cool and fit and slightly amazing, cruising down the street on my WD40-thirsty purple 12 speed with my big sunglasses and bohemi-chic braids.

This run in (if you can call it that) with a total cycle thug (exaggeration) has me curious: What kind of bike are you grownups riding?