fresh fixie fun... or, minutes for march 27

First post hockey, klub ride of the season. "Super sweet," says sanguine secretary.

I swung by The Shoppe around 16:00 thinking there might be a bit of work to do to get the new fixie going... but, P-diddy rolls out this sweet blue machine with new blue bar tape and everything. (Check out the bottom picture on this post... it's the beautiful blue... do try and avoid the disturbing pic in the middle.)

Maybe it would be good to back up a bit... Fixie say you? Well, you've seen the pictures in a previous post of the start of things, but that Friday ended with P saying, "Well, SS or Fixie?" Despite a few verbalizations in the past week or two about the idea, it hadn't really seemed like fixie would be the way... but, in that moment of decision... I have to admit I saw the face of Cycling Dave flash before me... One evening last fall, he sat at the clubhouse, post ride, turned to me, and started sharing about the virtues of fixed (being himself a newbie to "the way")... I need to admit to you, the reader that, considering I didn't really know him at all, my response was less than generous... I thankfully don't remember what I said... I could at least have said something like, "That's nice Dave"... but I think it was more disparaging... you know, those of you who still need gears, how tiring it can be to hear about all this stuff... I blew him off... not without noticing the look of massive disappointment...
Anyway, back to the moment of decision... The Dr, (who, while highly knowledgeable about many things, did not know all the options regarding drive train) had thought that fixed would be somewhat more expensive than ss... P suggests that fixed would likely be cheaper or the same... so cheaper, plus Dave's face did it... It is what is known in the parlance of the scene, as a suicide fixie. ie. loctite is the glue (so to speak) which is binding the whole business into it's fixed state.

Well, those who rave about fixed are right in doing so... it is something worth raving about... and yet, I'm not sure how to put words to the uniqueness, so I will almost reserve comment and let you know that, "It's beyond words." (I am loath to leave a paragraph hanging with a cliche of this magnitude, but so it must be for now.)

The ride took us from Dr. H's (who, incidentally did not ride do to a domestic issue), to The Shoppe, where that concerning picture of Tom was taken, to a search for post-ride peanuts, which turned out to be more difficult than expected, to Garbage Hill and finally to the Klubhouse. At various points, Paddy, Cycling Dave, Tom, Ian, Jonny G and I were pedaling.

A few highlights: Track-standing outside the shoppe, waiting for Tom, one dedicated rider was pushing the limits and went down (although he claims the ground came up)... just as a fatty SUV comes along with a bunch of punks... we could hear them laughing from inside...
Snowball fight crossing the field by Garbage Hill.
Another rider was just into a one handed catwalk at the base of Garbage Hill when his momentum overcame him and he went over backwards with a beauty crash.

The gathering at the Klubhouse saw the Dr, the president and Alberto join in... it would have been a good night for pen and paper, as there were many quotable exclamations... I either can't remember, or can't repeat them... There was a good deal of talk around presidency... some failed, some endured, some desired... OK, Tom was campaigning... but his major plank was membership fees (to bring needed resources to the people...) so his rhetorical clamouring was eventually tuned out.

All in all, a great start to the spring season. I am looking forward to commuting like never before... I am fixed.