Nothing to See Here But Shame
Never let it be said that Gregblood of MY Town, Minnesota backed down from a dare without giving it his best effort, no matter how difficult or embarrassing it was. And, rest assured, given my aversion to disco music and dancing of any kind, this particular dare was definitely embarrassing.
It’s my own fault, really. In my last post I bragged about how I always live up to any kind of a challenge. I went on to ad-lib a few absurd dare ideas without thinking that somebody might actually call me out on one of them–in a very public way. I’m not going to name names or anything, but I guess anybody could go back to the “Comments” section at the end of my post and see how The Navi . . . I mean . . . see how a certain person took my musings to the next level. She even laughed about it–a big BWAHAHAHAHA!
I was left with only two choices: Back down like a wimp and claim I was only joking, or face the dare head on like the tough-guy I am. Here is the result:
It was embarrassing, but I did it. I kind of danced to a disco song. I hurt my wrist when I dove to the ground the first time. I twisted my neck when I tried to do a head spin. And the “splits” attempt was a painful failure. (I think I could have split a little further if my shoes hadn’t gotten stuck in the grass.) Nevertheless, there were a couple of positive things that resulted from my efforts. Firstly, I can still claim I never backed down from a challenge, and secondly, after viewing this video, I came to realize that I have some dance moves that would make John Travolta jealous.
Okay, that’s it! I declare a moratorium on daring me to do stupid stuff. Any future dares will be ignored.
gregblood
Hi. My name is Greg and I ride my bike a lot. That is to say, I ride my bike almost every day. I go on long rides and short rides. Sunny rides, cloudy rides, and rainy rides. I like commuting, errand-running, day-tripping, overnighting, and touring on my bike. I ride on city streets, highways, gravel, single track, and snow with equal enthusiasm. Sometimes I ride fast and sometimes I ride slow. I try to keep my feet on the pedals at stop lights and I do not dismount when I hop up on a curb. I have a roadie bike, a mountain bike and a touring bike. I try to accept any challenge a bike ride can throw at me without complaint. But I don't like bugs.
14 response to "Nothing to See Here But Shame"
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Awesome display of geriatric gymnastics. They do say you should never dare someone unless you are prepared to do it yourself…Emily. This video could go viral.
Thank you . . . I think. I was inspired by your “Let’s Get Physical” video. I should say I was inspired by the IDEA of “Let’s Get Physical” because I couldn’t watch it due to Youtube’s strange intercontinental restrictions. I must say, I definitely agree with the “you should never dare somebody unless you are prepared to do it yourself” statement. Hmmmmmmmmm?
Way to “Bust a Move”!! I’ve always loved to dance but have NEVER even as a child been able to do the splits!! We are who/what we are!!
Good on you for trying!!
I never thought the phrase “bust a move” would ever be associated with ME! But there it is. Thank you.
You the man! Just watching made my joints ache so much I had to gulp down a handful of Advil.
I AM the man. Just to show how manly I am, I haven’t resorted to Advil yet even though my wrist still hurts a little bit.
Loved it! You sure are one tough guy! Did any audience turn up during your performance? They would have been impressed – I think.
Hi Suzanne,
Tough guy, yes. Perform in front of an audience, no. I waited for almost a half-hour for other people to clear out. A little bit of rain helped. When I got off my bike, you can see me looking around. That was to make sure nobody was around to see me making a fool of myself.
Tremendous, Greg – you are amazing! I love the form on your bicycle entrance, the impressive headstand and the a-frame splits! I shall never dare you again 🙂
Now, I must say, in response to the “don’t dare unless prepared to do it yourself”, that I’m not responding to this dare. IF you had said, “Double dare”, then it would be back on me to do the dare. But because you completed it, then it’s really no fun for me to do the same. In my generation, that wasn’t quite how a dare, and double dare would work.
HOWEVER, I am game, and I don’t mind making a fool of myself… so if you would like to come up with a dare of your own, or maybe even just a different song, then I would most likely take up your dare. Please keep in mind that I have all of the energy of a slug on sedatives at the moment, so I can’t do any endurance dares. Nor can I do anything that twists my hip – since this whole fatigue thing started and the muscle/joint pain began, my hip pain has stayed constant. I’ve been able to reduce the muscle pain with magnesium and Q10 supps, but the hip just hurts. I can no longer sit cross-legged. But I will reciprocate on a dare if it is not beyond my current abilities 🙂
Well done, Greg – I really was just kidding. You presented an opportunity too good to resist in that post, and you certainly rose, or split, to the challenge. Including the headstand was icing on the cake. Getting some spitting rain in there for the August liquid challenge was clever, too. Thanks for making me laugh 🙂
Back in my generation, a double dare was just upping the ante on a regular dare. Like this. PUNK: “Hey kid, I dare you to throw a rock at that stop sign.” KID: “Naw, I don’t think I wanna do that.” PUNK: “Oh yeah? Well, I DOUBLE dare you!”
Anyway, I agree that it wouldn’t be any fun to just do the same thing I already did. So a unique dare will be coming your way sometime when you least expect it, and hopefully it comes when you’re feeling better.
One more thing: That headstand was supposed to be a headspin like the break dancers do. Had I been doing a headstand, you would have seen perfection. Feet straight up, legs together, toes pointed, and the position held for as long as necessary. (Or until all my blood floods into my head.)
So you say!
Golly, that almost sounds like a dare, Janet! I think I’ll have to video that sometime in the near future–along with a bike ride of course.
Oh yes, I did note that it was a spinning headstand – it was VERY impressive!
Back in 1986, my favourite show was a kid’s game show called DOUBLE DARE. All the kids my age dreamed of going on the show and running the obstacle course at the end. It uses ‘double dare’ in the sense that I knew it as a kid (explained in the rules at about the 2.00 minute mark in this video). Hard to think I was the same age as those kids when this aired!