"Gang Hangers" on Bikes

If been accused of being lots of things, but up until this afternoon I'd never been confused for a gang member. That's right, in case you missed it gang members are now 5'3 blonde females who wear grey yoga capris and pink Relay for Life t-shirts along with their blue helmets and backpacks while biking to the grocery store.

The Context: It's been a long day. It was a very long morning and then this afternoon my car battery decided to die and due to scheduling conflicts won't get fixed until tomorrow afternoon. So it's me and the bike. Tonight I needed to go to the grocery store, and Greg was up at the Lake. With the Camry out of commission, my only choice was to bike. I contemplated ordering pizza because I didn't really feel like making the 4 mile trek in the heat, but I went anyway. We shop at Schnucks which is about 2 miles northwest of our house and requires crossing at least two fairly busy intersections. While neither our house or Schnucks are in a bad area of town, the locals like to talk about the Ghetto and the gang activity that they associate with any area of town that is ethnically diverse.

The story: I was almost to Schnucks and approaching the little bit of the trip that requires me to get off the bike trail and navigate a congested area which people like to use as a "short cut." Thinking I would be a responsible biker, as I approached the first congested area, I used a hand signal to indicate that I was slowing down and possibly stopping. When it was my turn, I then indicated that I was turning right and shortly after that signaled a left turn. I noticed that there was a white Buick that was keeping more than a safe distance from me and when they eventually passed as I was locking my bike I waved to thank them for not trying to run me over.

The Accusation: As I walked into the store, the woman who had been driving the car said to me "don't think that I'm not going to tell the manager that he's letting gang hangers (sic) shop in his store." I said "excuse me?" thinking that I had missed something and mentally picturing what exactly a "gang hanger" would look like. She said "I saw you "tossing" those signals just like they talk about on tv." I explained that bicycles don't have brake lights or turn signals, so we use hand signals. She laughed and said, "I bet you use bring your own grocery sacks so that you can shoplift too."

I guess I'm guilty as charged. I am an ecologically minded gang hanger, whatever that means.