Steve Jobs vs Me on my bicycle

Why I chose this photo will become apparent in a moment.

This is fairly well known, but at the Infinite Loop campus, Steve Jobs used to park his car in a small lot right next to the Infinite Loop 1, often in a handicapped spot.

One day I was riding my bike on Infinite Loop (the road), approaching the entrance to said parking lot. I was riding at a pretty good clip. Ahead of me on the right, a Mercedes whipped around the corner in the right turn lane and stuck its nose too far into the road for my comfort.

I squeezed both my brake levers as I was not very far away. The back wheel of my bike lifted off the ground a little. When I came to a stop, I was ready to scowl at the driver until I saw it was Steve.

He looked at me, ducked his head down a little, and stuck his hand up in an apologetic way, similar to the photo at the beginning of this article.

Remembering a face

I’ve heard stories of Steve remembering faces well. I know of at least one story of him recalling a face years later that he had only seen once. At the time this bicycle incident happened, I was wearing sunglasses and a helmet, so it seemed unlikely he’d remember my face the next time he saw me.

At the time, I worked in Infinite Loop 2, which is where Jony Ive’s industrial design lab was. Steve was in Infinite Loop 1, with the other executives. He wore out the floor going back and forth from his office to the lab.

I worked right on the hallway where he hiked between buildings, so it was very common to see him. A few days after the bicycle incident, we were walking towards each other in the hall.

He looked at me, ducked his head, and did the same apologetic gesture with his hand. I couldn’t believe he remembered. He did this duck and wave about a dozen times in the next month or so. Then one time he passed me with a grin on his face and just said “Hey”

Perhaps he felt he had done enough apologizing.