And then you learn about Fextra’s embedded twitch player that artificially inflates their twitch view count and pushes out smaller content creators who are actually trying to engage with a game’s audience.

Where I live, I have hills, big hills in every direction. I own both types of bike, a rad runner 6 for long, fast rides from my house, and then 20 miles up into the mountains along back roads.

I have a road bike that I bought when I couldn’t really afford it, and paid about 1,000 for it. It’s a tomasso. It’s ok. I wish I had a trek, or a specialized hybrid road with the slightly thicker tires than the tiny ones my road bike has. I can’t really afford those.

I use the RAD bike more for cardio, generally leave it in pedal assist 2 or 3 and just try to get a quick workout during lunch time. I take the other plain road bike out with a cycling club locally one or two nights a week. I don’t own a car, and I work from home. Biking makes me happy, but I get lazy when it’s really hot, so I ride the e-bikes more when it’s hot.

I’m 45. It’s not as easy as 45 to build muscle back up and get superfit in a short amount of time. The e-bike helps with cardio and keeps me excited about taking a quick spin without getting totally smoked by all of the hill climbs it takes to get out of my neighborhood, much less through the foothills of the smokies and Appalachians.

Even if you’re going off to the side you’re on, it’s a distraction. It will draw my attention back to see if you’ve fallen, crashed, or gotten hurt. I will check my mirrors for you to see if there are additional dangers to me. I ride around bike-like objects all the time. Passing you isn’t even going to be a thing that I notice. You’ll get a “On your left, passing” from me when I’m about to go by so you know not to do any funny business in my direction. I don’t expect you to exit the lane. Heck, if you’re doing 15MPH, we might ride and bullshit with each other for a bit.

Basically self-diagnosed at 35 due to this. Therapist backed it up and agreed, but there isn’t really anything anyone is going to do with a 35 year old other than maybe give you some anti-anxiety medicine occasionally after hassling you about it.

I’m trying to learn banjo. I’m not sure it’s supposed to be played with whole notes, but fuckit. It’s what I can do, ok?