Had a buddy who works at a shop tell me they see this all the time, the dealer makes way more on parts than on a quick wire fix. Good on Rick for actually doing his job right.

Man, this hits home. I had the exact same double take when I finally timed my ride against my car route instead of just assuming the car was faster. Turns out sitting at lights and hunting for a spot eats up way more time than people realize, and bikes just cruise past all of it. My brain kept insisting 18 miles had to be slower no matter what, and the stopwatch proved it wrong. Good on you for actually running both routes side by side instead of going off a gut feeling.

The part about raising a glass to "Sarah and Mike" while Karen and Dave's whole room stared at you is sending me. Honestly I did something almost as bad when I showed up to the wrong floor of a hotel conference and sat through twenty minutes of a dentist's retirement party before I figured it out. Now I check the sign twice and still take a photo just in case.