pay it forward

I sat at the window of a coffee shop on Broadway, one hand wrapped around a warming cup of brew and the other flipping through the copy of Momentum magazine that I'd picked up* minutes earlier at The Bike Doctor a few doors down.

Suddenly I heard a rapping on the window in front of me. I looked up.

Is that yours? motioned the woman on the other side of the glass, silently pointing at my bicycle locked just a few feet away. I nodded to the affirmative. She responded with the international symbol for "hold on a moment" and went around to the front door.

She'd been in a nearby shop asking for a comfortable bike that wouldn't hurt her back and had been told that she needed a mountain bike. She knew enough to tell him no, that's not what she needed, but not much more. We chatted for a few minutes about my bike, upright bikes, the difference between cruisers and city bikes, and what nearby shops had staff that would be more helpful than mountain-bike-guy. She thanked me and we parted ways.

A few minutes later, my coffee cup empty and magazine thoroughly flipped, I headed outside, noticing that she'd gotten a coffee and was sitting at one of the outside tables. So I did the first thing that came to mind.

I gave her the copy of Momentum.

Conveniently, it had articles this month on "lifestyle" cycling and tips on how to buy a bicycle. Perfect timing. Pay it forward.

Do you subscribe to Momentum (North Americans) or any other cycling magazines? Have you ever passed on your copies to others?

(* Yes, I do have a subscription. But it hadn't arrived, I was worried it had expired, and I was getting impatient. It all worked out in the end.)