Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Your favorite riding story

its 1:15 and im pretty much over this homework. so im wondering what your favorite or most memorable riding story is.
for me it was about a month ago i was biking over the hawthorne bridge (pdx) and there was a middle aged commuter in front of me. i ended up passing him as we were going (i just started riding so i had energy to spare) and about a quarter mile later he came back and passed me. we kind of looked at each other and he gave me a 'you down?' head nod. i nodded back and we took off thru traffic on this 2 mile straight away. we ran a couple red lights, passed a bunch of bikers and dodged tons of cars and were swerving threw traffic together at pretty much as fast as i could pedal. we both stayed pretty much neck and neck for the entirety of the race even though he had to avoid a couple more turning cars and by the end i was pretty ridiculously tired. then he turned and said 'nice riding with you kid,' took the next turn and was gone. probably the funnest time i have had on a bike.

riding on the highway, hungover and not really realizing it.

good times.

I was riding on Barnet Highway from Hastings in Vancouver, heading down this big hill that goes towards the velodrome. It was summer and getting late in a very hot day. That part of the road goes around the north side of Burnaby Mountain and the air there was cool and refreshing compared to the summer heat outside the shade of the mountain. In the wet around there, this orchid-like, very vascular flowering weed grows everywhere, and I remember its sweet smell. I guess it doesn't sound very exciting but it was a beautiful moment and for some reason it has stuck with me.

Thirty-five years ago I was riding about two blocks from the apartment where we lived and a policman pulled me over. Milwaukee (WI) had just ruled that you need a city license to ride a bike on the streets. I told the policeman we had gone to a firehouse and made application just a few days before, but we were still waiting for our licenses to come in the mail. He allowed me to ride the rest of the way home and waited while I went inside to get my copy of the application. When I produced it he had nothing further to say.

in portland: this dude in a mini van with a pucca shell necklace spit on me and called me four-eyes

This one time I smoked a pedestrian in the face. It was in downtown Madison. He was drunk and running across the street for no good reason. So I plowed him.

This other time I totally got rear ended by some guy in a Cadillac in Milwaukee. I rolled on his hood and fell on the ground, my bike flew like 20 yards, and the frame and rear wheel were destroyed. My ankle was ****ed up. The guy drove off. But not without us getting his license plate. And that is part of the story where I got $1,100 and bought a new track frame and wheelbuilding supplies off of Ebay. The end.

in portland: this dude in a mini van with a pucca shell necklace spit on me and called me four-eyes

Hahahahaha!

My favorite story happened a few years ago while I was home over winter break. An old friend and i were feeling munchy around 3 in the morning, and decided to take his sisters' bikes on a ride to the local 7-11. We also brought along this boombox and were blasting Project Pat, who's like this really ignorant (and funny) southern-rap dude that we used to listen to all the time. We played it the whole way, including inside the 7-11. The guy behind the counter thought it was hilarious and was dancing along with us.

The absurdity and sheer fun of the whole thing got to me on the way home. I was laughing so hard that I lost control of the bike and crashed it into a fairly large drainage ditch along the side of the road. Good times.

Took off a little early for work, decided to ride around town for a while to blow off steam.

Blowing off steam turned out to be all out sprinting between two lanes running thick with cars, crossing college av on broadway. I don't think I've ever gone faster, even at a velodrome.

That's probably not my favorite. Maybe one of the pieces I wrote for UrbanVelo is my favorite, I'm not sure. It's a hard question :)

When I got pulled over doing 52 MPH in a 35 zone when I was 12 on my mom's Panasonic Sport 1000. Good times

...dunno... about a month ago I was mobbin' down a crazy hill in the SW and threw the chain (?) at easily 140+ rpm. Scared the living **** out of me. I just grit my teeth and waited to get played. Luckily the chain never caught and I just ted shredded to the next intersection. It was actually pretty fun.

Also coming down from the zoo on a wet day brakeless can be quite an experience. Gotta get a camera up there some day.

When I was probably about 8 years old, my brother and I were racing each other to the bottom of the hill we lived on. My parents were active cyclists at the time but they bought us awful wal mart bikes because they knew we would **** them up. Anyway, my brother lost control and ended up skinning his chin and knees on the road. At dinner my parents were going to let him have some soda instead of milk to make him feel better, (we rarely got to drink soda). They poured him a cup of pepsi or something and before he got the chance to drink it, i drank it. Maybe thats not my favorite story but I still remember it 13 years later.

Essentially riding down a bike path at night with no lights, listening to ipod, no hands on the bike--but one hand on a tallboy of bud. travelling well above the posted speed limit (15mph). I was about to run a stop sign to cross a rarely travelled side street when I noticed a car speeding down the street (also sans lights). I managed to crash/skid/slide to a stop. The car also skidded to a stop. The cop who got out of the car was far more worried about my well-being than the myriad of infractions I was obviously guilty of. After helping me up, he commented that it was a good thing I didn't spill my beer, and then he drove away.

...dunno... about a month ago I was mobbin' down a crazy hill in the SW and threw the chain (?) at easily 140+ rpm. Scared the living **** out of me. I just grit my teeth and waited to get played. Luckily the chain never caught and I just ted shredded to the next intersection. It was actually pretty fun.

Also coming down from the zoo on a wet day brakeless can be quite an experience. Gotta get a camera up there some day.

what hill in SW were you going down? i threw my chain going from 32nd and ankeny down and it DID catch and lock the wheel but luckely i was able to just let it skid to a stop. and city bikes was right down the street.
and yeah zoo is way more fun when its wet. have you ever chilled at that park at the bottom before you hit vista? theres this statue at the top with an awesome ledge to sit on and look down on the city

we should get a portland ride going sometime. funny stuff is bound to happen, like crashing, throwing chains, getting spit on etc.

we should get a portland ride going sometime, seeing as how like everyone in this thread is from portland...

always down. iv been meeting a whole lot of bikers lately who have been wanting to get something together. a couple kids i know have been talking about putting together an allycat next sunny weekend. is anyone going on the worst day ride?

after some weird messenger fashion show in nyc in i guess 2005 riding home in short shorts cause it was pouring rain and we didnt want to get our clothes wet, skidding the eintire brooklyn descent of the williamsburg bridge, and stopping at foodswings for milkshakes before heading home, it was also march and still pretty ****ing cold,.

this isn't my favorite, but on saturday, i went biking with my friend from providence to a field in lincoln. after going up a fairly large hill, we got to go down it. i bombed down somewhere between 30 and 35. i probably would've gone faster had i known where the field was. i had to slow down 'cause i lost my buddy. but here's the cool part: we got to the field and saw what we had gone to see--a partially albino red-tail hawk. it was pretty incredible.

My favorite ride, riding to the post office in just shoes/cleats and boxers during the summer.

i've got a favorite one about a couple messenger acquantances. not my story but possibly the most bad ass thing i've heard.

so two pdx messengers are riding together in an alleycat. to save a little time, they cross the fremont bridge, which is basically a cars-only highway and about as ballsy as riding on the freeway, except you've got a small barrier preventing you from going into the williamate river. while riding through it, one of them pops a flat. he keeps riding it out the whole alleycat for competition's sake, and ends up having to rebuild the rim later on. total badassness.

Sneaking onto the University running track at 3 AM in January and just doing laps in the dark, dodging the hurdles that they left up. The wind is strong so for one half of the oval you're hammering away into the wind and it just roars in your ears. Then you turn the corner of the loop and the wind is now at your back and everything goes silent and you just accelerate, pulling away.

riding along the major highway in New Brunswick and watching a 18 wheeler pass me (with about 10 cm of room) at 150kmh. And dragging me from my steady 33km/h to 40km/h just from the draft.

This was on my loaded touring bike though

yelling at rowan college students via bike, being chased, offroading trails on the MTB in the summer, riding in the summer.

i enjoy all of those

Never really thought to tell this story on the forums but now it seems perfect. One day I was riding my bike down the street and these people drive up next to me in a big black SUV like an escalade or explorer. As they pass me they yell out "BIKE ***" really loud. I never really understood the insult, and had a good laugh about it.

Any time I go for a ride at 3am on a summer night. The street's are empty, the air is warm, and all I can here is my tires humming over the asphalt.

Also: when I was 10 or so, my brothers and I would ride our department store coaster brake BMX bikes down to the water-retention ditch in our neighborhood and set up a big wooden ramp aimed into it. Then we'd haul ass down the sidewalk and launch into the ditch. At the time, I felt like I was jumping 15-20 feet in the air. And in fact, I used to have dreams where I would jump off the ramp but my bike would just keep going up, and I never came back down.

2 sexy women cyclists going up a hill with a band of men behind them, each taking turns do enjoy the curves. Women seem to enjoy it and pull and tease them. On the rest stop the more masculine woman still pretty goes to the female toilet. The taller one with better hair goes just behind a tree and does her thing standing up - She was a he!

Band of men scatter out of there fast!

what hill in SW were you going down? i threw my chain going from 32nd and ankeny down and it DID catch and lock the wheel but luckely i was able to just let it skid to a stop. and city bikes was right down the street.
and yeah zoo is way more fun when its wet. have you ever chilled at that park at the bottom before you hit vista? theres this statue at the top with an awesome ledge to sit on and look down on the city

It was SW Corbett just after crossing over I-5. Certainly not the most gnar spot it could have happened, especially for the SW, but it made my manparts go back where they came from for at least the next half hour.

I've never checked out that view in particular. Next time I will take the opportunity. I seem to be fairly winded at that point in the climb (salmon! :o) so it would be a nice place to stop.

I was riding down eastcliff drive on my geared bike with the sun behind me, low on the horizon. I glanced down at my feet and the cranks were flashing with golden sunlight on every revolution. it was mesmerizing.

On the topic of SUV's, last spring I was riding from my old house to my new house after a long, ****ty, frusturating day of moving. My friend was supposed to help with his huge superduty pickup, but bailed so I had to make a bunch of trips in my roomates tiny hatchback. Anyway, I was riding home at 11 at night, and some ***** ass high shcool kids in their daddy's suv egged me. I burst into a sprint, trying to catch up and get a plate #. Karma finally caught up with them and they ran over something and flatted a tire, pulling over 60-70 feet in front of me. Right as I caught up to their truck, I jammed the handle of my pocketknife against the SUV, leaving a huge ugly scratch from the taillights to the middle of the driver's side door, then broke the wing mirror off.

I took off, turning off my lights and bailing down a bike/ped path, laughing the whole way to my new home as I was imagining the driver explaing what happened to his dad.

they call them peckerstretchers for a reason

Today I was bombing a parking lot with my friend who rides fixed with no brakes, who can't skid stop, and isn't a very good rider to begin with. We were going down a down a small hill with a sharp turn, I skidded down the whole slant and then turned a bit at the end and avoided that support beam. My friend on the other hand lost control of his speed, just missed the beam, and smashed into a wall smashing his face off of a metal drain wall cutting his nose and chin up. He also bent the forks back really bad. I know this isn't a good story, but I laughed so hard after I helped him to good health/fixed his forks.

fixed his forks.

You sure they're fixed? Sketchy forks aint nothing to **** with, he could smash his face a second time.

As for me, lazy summer days blazing with a friend and riding around town looking for stuff to climb on.

he keeps riding it out the whole alleycat for competition's sake, and ends up having to rebuild the rim later on. total badassness.


Well...?

Did he place?

Well...?

Did he place?

can't remember, i didn't race in that one.

i wouldn't be surprised if he did though.

How about sprinting from evil dogs? That gets my heart pounding every time. Last time it was some kind of a chow mix who was out for blood. Kept up for easily 50 yards.

You sure they're fixed? Sketchy forks aint nothing to **** with, he could smash his face a second time.

As for me, lazy summer days blazing with a friend and riding around town looking stuff to climb on.

I told him not to take the chance and get new forks. But we still needed to fix the forks so that he could roll the bike the few kilometers home.

well this is the most bad ass story, its a co workers of mine.

his mom lives in hayward and he was riding back to bart. Well some kids in a truck come up and egg him on his fixie. Well he follows them and ends up throwing a brick at the window (it misses and hits the door. then he goes up to the drivers window and Maces all 3 of them.

Did he have the brick in his bag for just those occasions?

That'd be a funny toolkit:
spare tire
spare tube
tire levers
pump
allen wrenches
cog/lockring tool
15mm box wrench
brick
mace

Did he have the brick in his bag for just those occasions?

That'd be a funny toolkit:
spare tire
spare tube
tire levers
pump
allen wrenches
cog/lockring tool
15mm box wrench
brick
mace

There's a real old-timer around here who always rides his MTB with a police whistle in his mouth and a slingshot in his back pocket.

Badass.

People who yell **** at bicyclists don't really bother me, even if it's really offensive. I've chased people down because of this and kicked good size dents in their cars and spat in their windows and such. However, I like to think that the next person to throw something at me, whether it is dangerous to my health or not, is going to be receiving something more appropriate, such as a visit from the police, or perhaps a sock full of quarters, golf balls, or half a brick through their rear window.

2006 Colorado MS150. Road trip. Great friends. Day one was epic. Cold, rainy, hilly, partially closed course that they let some of us ride after asking. Day two was epic. More climbs. Broke the speed limit on a decent with a state trooper on a motorcycle riding next to me. Wanted a ticket but he left me in the dust. Finished by climbing the backside of the Royal Gorge, county road 3A. It was the combination of comraderie and challenge and good cause. If it had been sunny and mild both days it would have been a great ride with friends. Being cold and wet and hot and sunburt added up to somehow feeling spiritual.

Not a ride story, a hub story. My favorite.

http://www.ebykr.com/?p=46

Seen quite a bit of nature on the road tours; it's nice, but the one that stays with me most is rather sad. I was near downtown Cleveland on an 18 speed road bike in a run down area where the freeway has an exit before running through the city. I saw something shiny in the tall uncut weeds at end of the exit ramp. I decided to go look and found a guy pinned underneath his Harley! People were just slowing up at the stop sign and leaving like he wasn't there! wtf anyhow... I remembered seeing how to get a big bike like that up and I actually got it off of of him! (I'm only #140 little runt). He looks wacked and I see he's talking to me but can't hear him. He's probably in his late 50's; he motions me closer to hear. He thanked me while grabing my hand then he started to cry. I could hardly hear him talk; he tells me he just found out he was dying of lung cancer and only had time for a few more good rides. Omg, I was speachless, shocked, there was a long silence..... I pushed on his arm and told him, well, then ya beter go ride, and I got back on my bike. That day hit me real hard, so now I use it to remind myself to make the most out of the days do I still have.

Did he have the brick in his bag for just those occasions?

That'd be a funny toolkit:
spare tire
spare tube
tire levers
pump
allen wrenches
cog/lockring tool
15mm box wrench
brick
mace

i found a pile of bricks a few days ago and decided to keep one in my bag

Seen quite a bit of nature on the road tours; it's nice, but the one that stays with me most is rather sad. I was near downtown Cleveland on an 18 speed road bike in a run down area where the freeway has an exit before running through the city. I saw something shiny in the tall uncut weeds at end of the exit ramp. I decided to go look and found a guy pinned underneath his Harley! People were just slowing up at the stop sign and leaving like he wasn't there! wtf anyhow... I remembered seeing how to get a big bike like that up and I actually got it off of of him! (I'm only #140 little runt). He looks wacked and I see he's talking to me but can't hear him. He's probably in his late 50's; he motions me closer to hear. He thanked me while grabing my hand then he started to cry. I could hardly hear him talk; he tells me he just found out he was dying of lung cancer and only had time for a few more good rides. Omg, I was speachless, shocked, there was a long silence..... I pushed on his arm and told him, well, then ya beter go ride, and I got back on my bike. That day hit me real hard, so now I use it to remind myself to make the most out of the days do I still have.

i just refound this thread and read this. im glad you posted it

i found a pile of bricks a few days ago and decided to keep one in my bag

why?

Most of my country road rides include exploration of nearby villages and farmlands that are completely abandoned. Needless to say, it's hard to justify staying on the bike with all the ridiculous post-apocalyptic stuff around here in Southern Maryland.