On the lookout for love? Try greasing the wheels Dave Ford		Friday, February 8, 2002

It's almost Valentine's Day, birds are singing, love is in the air and -- hey, where are you going? This time of year is so gross, don't you think? Especially because we in the media parrot the same stories year after year. But Wheel Life eschews the obvious. It lurks on the fringes and dedicates itself to higher pursuits, such as: Is "eschews" actually a word? So you won't read any sappy romance stories here. That's because Wheel Life is not in the least romantic, much to the chagrin of its long-suffering partner. It's also because Wheel Life refuses to join the thundering media herd writing about a manufactured holiday that only really benefits greeting card companies, therapists and heroin dealers. Let us, then, turn our attention to a topic that warrants our unvarnished attention. I'm speaking, of course, of the Enron scandal. No, wait, I admit it: I'm talking about Valentine's Day. But hold on! I'm talking about Valentine's Day on bikes! Right: romance, pedals and rock-hard calves. Love, sex and oily chains. Love and sex with oily chains. It's your call! On Thursday, our friends at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition are tossing a little party at Curve Bar. It will feature "The Dating Game," sure to be a laugh-a-minute reenactment of the brilliant -- I mean, supernaturally cheesy -- 1960s TV game show. I used to watch the show as a lad. It left me with a lasting insight: Adults and heterosexuals can seem seriously weird. I believe I have successfully spent my entire life becoming neither. "Dating Game" organizer and coalition member Julie Soller can sound downcast when she talks about finding a guy in the city -- but only when you can't hear her constant laughter. "The dating scene in San Francisco really sucks, for women especially," she says, sighing that lots of hot guys are gay. (That's a problem? Oh, for women.) "Men my age are still immature," says Soller, who is 30. "If you don't want to have sex with them by the fourth date, why would they want to hang out with you?" But instead of being bitter, she says, she threw together the "Dating Game. " Soller, who has studied improvisational theater, will emcee the event. A bachelorette will ask three bachelors four questions apiece, mimicking the original format. (Example: "You're a new flavor of Clif Bar. What are you called?") Winners will enjoy a restaurant dinner. Soller says consolation prizes include, ahem, "aids for solo sex for the poor losers who will spend the rest of the night alone, or aids to getting a date, like deodorant or a toothbrush." There also will be rounds with bachelors grilling bachelorettes, as well as lesbian and gay versions if demand is high enough. (So that's where all the good-looking guys will be.) The party promises to be tons of fun even for those not participating. Why? Simple, Soller says. Bicyclists will get to meet other bicyclists, and bicyclists know how sexy bicyclists can be. "The women are more independent, less whiny and certainly more athletic than the women who just go to the gym and jump around on an aerobics matt," Soller, a Web editor, says with a laugh. "And the guys -- their butts, first of all. They're a fun bunch." Just ask Jean Davis. She met her husband, Pi Ra, in 1997 on one of the weekly Friday after-work mini-Masses -- group rides starting in Justin Herman Plaza. When she heard a bike horn tooting, she responded by ringing her bike bell. "It was like we were having a conversation with bike toys," she says. That turned into a real conversation later that night. Two years after that, Ra proposed to Davis at another mini-Mass. The pair married in Golden Gate park on Sept. 17. Bride and groom rode classic three-speed Raleigh bikes to the aisle. "I think the potential for bike romance is just fabulous," Davis says. "I know a lot of people who have gotten together that way. You automatically have something in common." There are any number of reasons that cyclists make attractive potential partners -- not least is physicality. "People that bike are so attractive," Davis says. "They have a twinkle in their eye. We're a pretty feisty bunch." And that's the main reason Soller is so keen on the "Dating Game," which promises good, clean -- I mean, dirty -- fun for the wheel-and-spokes set. There is another reason Soller is excited about the event, as she explains with the battle cry of the single person near Valentine's Day. "Who knows?" she says with a chuckle. "Maybe I'll get a date out of it." The party runs from 6 to 9 p.m. (a band continues playing after that) on Thursday at Curve Bar, Third Street (at King Street, a block from Pac Bell Park). $7. Free valet bike parking. To become a contestant, e-mail loveonwheels@sfbike.org.