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Post by gpickle on Feb 11, 2006 22:01:23 GMT -5
Trackstands.
I have been trackstanding since last century and I have long held the belief that a stopped group of cyclists should never have more than one rider exhibiting the skill at any one time. These motorists you all are hoping to impress need to believe that what they are seeing is truly miraculous, that the rider able to stay upright on a bicycle that is not in motion is not a simple trickster or a lost soul in league with lucifer - NO! They need to see the rider they are fortunate enough to be in the prescence of as God. It is just that simple. If they see many cyclists trackstanding at the same time it sends a clear message that trackstanding is nothing special. EVERYONE can do it. Do me, and yourselves, a favor and designate a single trackstander for each traffic control on your rides. We must keep the secret.
gpickle
ps: Impressive that I wrote this while trackstanding, eh? After all I HAVE been trackstanding since last century......
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Post by the weiner posse on Feb 11, 2006 22:55:06 GMT -5
but then how am i supposed to knock thehelpingfriendlybook over if only _one_ of us is trackstanding...?
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Post by david on Feb 11, 2006 23:52:25 GMT -5
Cool see how this thread (and the helmet one) are hot threads -- evidenced by the little flaming folder?
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Post by helpingfrendlybook on Feb 13, 2006 15:01:22 GMT -5
but then how am i supposed to knock thehelpingfriendlybook over if only _one_ of us is trackstanding...? he makes an excellent point. that is something we do.
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Post by david on Feb 13, 2006 18:02:36 GMT -5
I had a great hoo-rippee-ific moment a few days ago . . . encountered a fellow commuter on my way home. We chatted up the weather and each other's frames for a block and then parted ways -- I turned onto Prentiss Street. I was floating on a cloud so I didn't even notice the big hill there by the Broken Spoke till I was at the top!
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Skinny
Junior Member
Posts: 21
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Post by Skinny on Feb 14, 2006 18:50:48 GMT -5
I encountered a fellow commuter the other day, and to my surprise, he asked about my new bike. Seems he has seen me riding my new Trek(sucks) when my lemond was bent out of shape, kinda crazy what we riders notice. On the subject of track stands, I do it to impress my commuting friends as well. I've yet to see anyone in a car take much notice, even though it sometimes impresses myself if it's done well. It's less then impressive when it resembles a wobbly apple balanced on a straw. I had a great hoo-rippee-ific moment a few days ago . . . encountered a fellow commuter on my way home. We chatted up the weather and each other's frames for a block and then parted ways -- I turned onto Prentiss Street. I was floating on a cloud so I didn't even notice the big hill there by the Broken Spoke till I was at the top!
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Post by gpickle on Mar 5, 2006 9:56:52 GMT -5
The bicycle never fails!
A few days ago Cootie and I lost a cat. He did not come in for his morning meal, then he did not take his midday nap in the clothes basket and then he missed his evening cuddle on the couch.
Cootie and I gave him 24 hours but when he still did not turn up we started to pass out flyers to the neighbors and post signs on the local telephone poles. We called all the vets and the animal shelter, too. We worried.
Yesterday morning as we were riding to the Bike Library to open it up for the season Cootie heard a crying cat on Fairchild St. I was wearing a hat with ear flaps because I lost my nice big fleecy style hat that I love so much and the ear flaps make a roar in my ears so I could not hear anything much. So, Cootie heard a crying cat. We stopped, I took off my hat and I heard it too. We looked around and the crying grew frantic. One of us finally spotted the little bugger, there was our cat on top of a roof!
The bike gods were smiling on us that morning, for sure. The house that our Wayne was atop was next door to our friends house. We know them from cycling and while they were down in Louisiana doing some crazy 100 mile road race on old sunken country roads they, luckily, had left their ladder collection outside and unlocked! We dug out the proper ladder and Wayne was rescued! We took him home and he went right for the food. We locked him in and went to the Bike Library for "work" marvelling that he had called to us when he saw us ride by and at our good fortune that he chose a roof to freak out on that was right next to a big pile of ladders. A Hoo-Rippee moment if ever I have had one and of course bicycles were a part of it!
g(purringkittyonmylapasiwritethis)pickle
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Post by gpickle on Dec 14, 2006 18:04:43 GMT -5
Yesterday as I was leaving work I gave my trusty townie a couple of good pedal strokes and coasted. I work on top of a hill and the winds were favorable in addition to the traffic so in a very short while I found myself 5 blocks away, still coasting. It was a fine moment I enjoyed, marvelling at the beautiful simplicity of the bicycle (to say nothing of the wheel!) that can take a person so far, so fast...
I love bicycles!
gpickle
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Post by red on Dec 22, 2006 2:04:15 GMT -5
Five Blocks of Life as seen through Red Eyes I was riding west on Washington Street. I took advantage of cars turning left onto Clinton Street to move to the left lane, preparing for a left turn onto Madison Street. A motorist apparently had the same idea, but he must have been disappointed to find himself stuck behind a bicycle. He revved up his engine and passed me, rather closely, on the right, thereby communicating his displeasure and maybe something else also, which I did not bother to attempt to decipher. It was nothing unusual. Nevertheless, I asked the scribes to prepare an incident report for the record. As they went about it, I started pondering how much of my potential energy I wanted to convert into kinetic energy and how much of it I should waste on the brake pads. Since I was going to have to pay for it all climbing up Grand Avenue, I was reluctant to waste too much, but I was apprehensive of the pending left turn onto Madison Street. I was interrupted by the movement of my head. The eyes had reported something in the field of peripheral vision and the scribes had ordered the head to move and vision to be fixed on the object, knowing that the activity would draw my attention. It was a long-haired girl. She was on a bicycle. She was looking at me. She was climbing the sidewalk up Clinton Street using such a low gear, that she looked like she was pedaling in place. Her bicycle was not a racer, not a clunker. Something shiny. Friendly. She was not in gear. She was wearing a long coat and had some sort of a bag about her person. She was looking at me, pedaling contentedly. She looked healthy and, beautiful. I liked her. I wanted to give something to her, do something for her, wish something for her. I decided to wish her a good day and I wished her a good day. " A find! A fi-i-ind!" someone screamed. It was Pike. Not one of the more experienced scribes, but a bold one, who was not afraid to make a mistake and raise a false alarm. We all looked at him expectantly. He took a moment to organize his thoughts and went on to explain his find: " Remember," he said, " when we decided to cast off social customs and personal habits? I can not tell the exact date, because it has not been recorded." Here, he cast a quick glance at one of the younger scribes, who blushed profusely and tried to make himself small behind his desk. " Well," Pike went on, " we thought we would either determine that these are not necessary and continue to refrain from using them, or we would discover the reason behind their origin and reinstate them, using them deliberately and discriminatingly. Here, we saw a person, whom we did not know and whom we liked..." Pike gave me a wary look, which I ignored, thus encouraging him to go on, " and we wanted to do something for her. There was neither opportunity, nor occasion for an actual present, or physical service, so we gave her a wish! A good day wish! As it was pure and sincere and spontaneous, it was a very precious gift from us. It is evident that the common use of the phrase 'Have a nice day. ' is a degenerated form of what we have just experienced. In conclusion, I suggest that we consider using said phrase on special occasions." All the scribes murmured approval, partly because they approved, but also to prevent Pike from rambling on forever with his dissertation. I asked that a find report be filed. Younger scribes made detailed records of the reports from the six senses and Pike compiled it all and added a presentation of his find and submitted it to me. As I was reviewing it, I was interrupted by a scribe, who came by to report that we were at a stop sign and that we had caught up with the impatient motorist, who had passed us so closely a few moments ago. I told him to make a note of it in the incident report and to leave me alone for a while, because I had noticed my friends Thoreau and London approaching. Thoreau said that he came by to congratulate me on my continued efforts to rid my existence of redundant and obscuring elements and he assured me, as disorganized and ignorant as my efforts were, I was sure to succeed eventually in finding a deeper meaning in and in deriving greater pleasure from existence. He was very impressed when I ditched my car for a bicycle. He is encouraging me to ditch the bicycle for a horse, but even he allows that I might not be able to surmount the practical difficulties. London always teaches me to never say anything I do not mean. He was very pleased with my spontaneous gift to the girl. As usual, he urged me to try and attain magnificence by being nothing more and nothing less than an intelligent animal. After they left, I was thinking about the hundreds of times that I, before my awakening, had wished a good day to people, whom I knew I should have punched in the face. I started to try to think of some other rags that my life is wrapped in and which I should try to peel away in order to ... I was interrupted despite of my request to be left alone. A scribe reported that the eyes had sighted Grand Avenue and previous experience indicated that the scribes could not handle this climb alone and my presence was required in the body I inhabit. So, I went down and made the rounds. First, I asked the butt to move back on the seat. Then, I told the hands to tighten their grips on the handlebar and be ready to pull. I asked the feet to reposition their balls on the pedals. I issued standing orders to the skin and the hair to monitor the direction and the force of the wind and to the eyes to be on the lookout for potholes, cracks and bumps, which are nasty killers of momentum and which abound on that climb. I reminded the lungs to start pumping early and to flood the blood with oxygen before the muscles call for it. Finally, I looked at the underdeveloped leg muscles. I knew that they would want to quit halfway up and I was going to have to will them on. Just then, I noticed something unusual. I smiled as I recognized it as the lingering presence of the long-haired girl on the shiny bicycle. I asked the visual department for a captured image of her face. Just as I was looking at it, a scribe informed me that the eyes had reported that the lights had turned green and that the legs had been ordered to start pedaling. I quickly, but reluctantly returned the image. In the last moment before I turned my attention wholly to the climb, I noticed the faint sound of music coming from the desk of one of the scribes. I recognized the song. It was saying: " Ride on you crazy diamond." -
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Post by the weiner posse on Dec 22, 2006 21:51:03 GMT -5
holy crap red... and i thought i had a hoo-rippee moment the other day when approaching summit via sheridan...i met an oncoming gritty and then caught and rode with a certain new beat society( www.newbeatsociety.com) saxophonist from summit to the shop...
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Post by grittystash on Jan 2, 2007 11:52:23 GMT -5
That's how you start a new year!
Took the bike out on the town yesterday around high noon for a relaxing pedal with camera. I had established a couple rules before the ride.
1. No destination. 2. No bike clothes.
So, with nothing but an eagerness to cruise around and snap a picture or two I set out for a very nice and pleasant ride about our fair city. It won't be the longest, shortest, hardest, easiest, most fun, relaxing, ride I'll be on this year, but it was what it was...a hoo-rippee moment if there ever was one.
Happy This Year!
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Post by jay on Jan 2, 2007 12:57:14 GMT -5
Hey Gritty, I'm sure we'd all like to see some of those pics whenever you get a chance to post them. I also took a nice random ride yesterday, with similar rules as yours (though rule #2 was pretty easy considering I don't own any such clothes......yet). I took the opportunity to try my skill at riding my newly-converted Schwinn fixie (thanks to Michael W. Posse). It rides like a dream, though my stopping skills could use some improvement. Such a great day for a ride.
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Post by grittystash on Jan 3, 2007 13:09:53 GMT -5
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Post by Mark Wyatt on Jan 4, 2007 12:03:15 GMT -5
There are no people in this town. Where did they go?
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Post by the weiner posse on Jan 4, 2007 12:46:25 GMT -5
gritty is...the omega man...!
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