I’d come home many days and tease my wife, “Hey, I saw your ‘buddy’ today!”

Many of you have seen him, too, because you told me you did.

One guy at church challenged me recently – “You should do a story on him! Everyone wants to know what his story is.”

And that’s true, because I’ve been thinking the same thing for about two years now – I need to pull that guy over and offer him that well-deserved but elusive 15 minutes of fame.

So I did.

Hopefully by now you’re stark raving mad – “What guy, Mike!?”

You know…that guy who rides his bike all over town – always standing up – sporting black shorts pulled kind of high, never wearing a shirt, donning headphones, often singing at the top of his lungs and ALWAYS smiling.

He more or less rides a commuter-style bike – it’s not a mountain bike nor is it one of those long-distance racing bikes the serious riders prefer along with the fancy shirts, shorts and helmets.

Nope, this guy eschews a helmet, opting instead for his black hair to be blown back by the wind.

He is also seen more in the hot summer months, preferring the late afternoon hours when the mercury is the hottest and the sun the highest. And he doesn’t seem to carry much water with him…

I spied him last week coming down the sidewalk adjacent to Fountain Park alongside Saguaro Blvd. as I was heading home from work.

Dude, I work for the local newspaper and I want to do a story on you. People want to know your story.

“Oh, thanks, but I don’t think so,” he says. “I’m kind of a private person.”

I didn’t tell him this, but I’m thinking – Private person? You’re out here every day, riding around half naked on the town’s busiest streets, singing at the top of your lungs, and you call yourself a private person?

“People wave to me all the time,” he says of passing motorists. “I get my picture taken every day.”

Guess he doesn’t need The Fountain Hills Times to make him a locally famous person…

But people want to know your story, why you’re riding out here every day in the darn heat. And that smile?

He proceeds to tell me he was in an accident a year or two ago…he was out of commission for a while. People offered him bikes during the interim. “I’m really blessed,” he says.

How come you don’t get sunburned? “Yeah, you’re right, I guess I don’t.”

I gave him my business card, telling him to call if he reconsiders the story offer.

Because, simply, we are ALL dying to know – What’s your name? Background? Family? Former rock star? Future rock star? Do you work now? If so, when and where? If not, how is that possible? Why are you into biking so much? Do you have a favorite route or do you just go where the spirit leads? What kind of tunes are on that iPod? How long do you ride? Every day? How come you don’t sit down – ever? And that smile?

Until then, we’ll just have to keep waving at the biker dude and taking his picture with our cell phones…