Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Travis Hugh Culley

Hey, I know we have discussed The Immortal Class before on the board, but I just finished reading it last night. Is it just me or did you guys notice that THC can write some of the most hauntingly beautiful descriptions of riding fast and then, on the same page, shift gears into the most pedestrian of political assertions.

It seems to me that the 200 plus his pages of conceit have ruined a really great 100-page book.

Just wondering if anyone else got the same impression.

Critical Mass true believers level your largest batteries at me.

THC (Hmmm) is presently a bathroom book. I don't get a lot of time to just sit down and read, and his book is written in such a way that you can read it in the bathroom, and not miss anything.

I agree that he can write some great prose and then take a nose dive into something else, and the mood that was being set is trashed. I think that has more to do with editing than it does THC's abilities as a writer.

http://www.dccourier.com/messengers/messenger_archives_2003/msg01607.html
http://www.dccourier.com/messengers/messenger_archives_2003/msg01600.html
http://www.chicagocriticalmass.org/media/greenfieldtravis.html

and

http://www.chicagocriticalmass.org/ridereports/march01main.html

I read the book at semi-autobiographical fiction. Knowing going in that he was probably going to steal some good material to make his own 'experience' more vivid. Knowing that I enjoyed it. It was a little fragmented between messengering and political activism, but in truth, most normal people really don't want to sit down and read a book about bike activism. If you intertwine it with a bike messenger story that doesn't quite have the material to stand on it's own, then the message gets out and people read the book.
I don't take the critisism of literature very seriously. If 20 pages into a book I want to keep reading it, and at the end I'm glad I read it then it's good. To me anyway.

Hey, I know we have discussed The Immortal Class before on the board, but I just finished reading it last night. Is it just me or did you guys notice that THC can write some of the most hauntingly beautiful descriptions of riding fast and then, on the same page, shift gears into the most pedestrian of political assertions.

It seems to me that the 200 plus his pages of conceit have ruined a really great 100-page book.

Just wondering if anyone else got the same impression.

Critical Mass true believers level your largest batteries at me.

The only astute observation he had politically was the view of the CM crowd make up.

I agree with you about 100%. Great stories on the ride, political commentary is on a level the same with stuff posted on this forum.

I should have bought it used.

Ha Ha Ha I get it. Travis Hugh Culley...THC! So that's what the kids are calling it. First Pot, Weed, Gange, Dope, and now Travis Hugh Culley. Seems a little cumbersome. "Dude pass me the Travis Hugh Culley!"

oh yeah I agree about the book

Yup. After reading 165's post, I think the cycling community at large (and Chicago specifically) would have been well served if that trucker had finished off THC.

The thing that bothers me about his political stance is that he basically says, "We should defeat the car culture and make everyone ride bicycles. Utopia will ensue."

Cars aren’t going away. If we're going to share the road with vehicles that travel four or five times faster than we do and weigh 10 and 20 times more than we do, should we really be out there picking fights?

Just can't figure out how anyone can think tying up intersections and shouting slogans at people as they sit in traffic you've made worse is a good idea.

Just can't figure out how anyone can think tying up intersections and shouting slogans at people as they sit in traffic you've made worse is a good idea.

I'd like to go to a CM just to see what they do, and what they have to offer. My only perception is the people you mention. While sometimes it takes bold action to get what needs to be done complete, I believe the above (blocking traffic) simply makes drivers more angry.. and when I'm a lone, I'd rather not have a driver pre bent on killing me becauce of the idiocy of others. But to be fair, I should ride with them once to see what they are all about. Trouble being there are no CM rides in San Diego... we're lacking in angry cycle culture here I s'pose.

Let me earn that situation due to my own action.

As for Travis.. Well.. I like the Travis from the Clash song..

As for Travis.. Well.. I like the Travis from the Clash song..

[QUOTE=The Clash who have copyright over these lyrics]
I come from a long way away And I know a fine thing when I see it.
See it
For the same reason no one ever Pointed a telescope at the sun
Talking about the red angels of new york city

Chorus
Who shot the shot?
Who got shot tonite?

Not even five enforcement agencies can save their own.
Never mind the people
Tonite it’s raining on the angels of the city
Did anyone prophesize these people?

Only travis
Come in travis
One of these days I’m gonna get myself organized.

All the animals come out at night.
Queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick venal.
Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.

Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk. listen you screwheads:
Here is a man who would not take it anymore.
A man who stood up against the scum, the filth.
Now I see clearly.
Personally I know the alley
Where jack feeds on the birds of night
Not even bubbies on bicycles 2x2
Can stop the blood and feathers flying

Waring overalls and for once and for all
What is the dream?
I’ll tell it
To live like they do in the movies
San juan you listening?

Yeah I bet you are
Hands up for hollywood
Hooray
I hear you
Snappy on the air
Hang in their
Wall to wall
You saved the worled
What else? you saved the girl
Chmpagne on ice
No stranger to alcatraz
To boot
Or strip it down
Chop it a little
Being reasonable
Just freedom to move
To live
For women to take a walk in the park at midnite
Hey, but this is serious
She can’t even get back home

I come from a long way off
And I know a lifegiver over a lifetaker
For the same reason no-one ever pointed
A gun at a policeman
Talking about the red angels of new york city
Yeah

Wow. How apt.

ahhh...The Clash....Taxi Driver....

Travis Hugh Culley = Travis Bickle...hmmm...

"You lookin' at me?...truck driving guy...Are you lookin' at me?"

ahhh...The Clash....Taxi Driver....

Travis Hugh Culley = Travis Bickle...hmmm...

"You lookin' at me?...truck driving guy...Are you lookin' at me?"

Per the movie.. "God's lonley man"

Sure seems neither car, nor messenger likes him. Not that I'm in a place of love or judging love..

critical mass is one of the most ******** things anyone on a bike can possibly ever do.

having gone to a number of them during a two year period, i can safely say that all they really do is fuel the cycle of aggression between cyclists and motorists. i actually feel LESS safe riding with them than i do by myself. and i'd always worry about running into someone who was behind us when i was on my way home and by myself.

also, in boston, the week following a CM ride was always the worst week to ride a bike in the city.

fitting. CMers...not a fan of them. Bicycle Advocacy via something like www.chibikefed.org , you bet.

mmm....actual activism achieving actual results.

the thing i always hate is when die-hard CMers compare what they're doing with the civil rights movement. it really, REALLY pisses me off. and you see a lot of it over at the livejournal community bikepirates....which is why i don't really post on it anymore.

for the record. I've done a handful of cm's and for the most part they're a total party. I once counted over 100 high-fives from ped & drivers alike. My hand was totally sore the next day I gotta wear gloves next time.

oh and they aren't ********, they're mentally challenged.

jeff

To each their own.
I have seen them in passing and have been yelled at to join, but I cannot align myslef with something I do not totally believe in. Some pretty wishy-washy philosophies and some pretty lame grandstanding. CM has come a long way since its inception and being the young movement that it is, I hope it continues to morph into a well-organized, well-voiced group of activists. Great idea, sometimes poor execution.
My favs in Chi-town: the highbikes. That crew rules.

Superchivo-
"Cars aren’t going away. If we're going to share the road with vehicles that travel four or five times faster than we do and weigh 10 and 20 times more than we do, should we really be out there picking fights?"

Dang man what kind of bike do you ride? :eek:

Not a bad book for a first try,(sez the guy that can't even finish a short story) but pretty uneven.
If you really want to have a scanners moment try reading "Nerves of Steel" You will think they shuffled the manuscript just before printing.

Not a big fan of the critical mass. Don't want to be in one, don't want to spend a half hour at an intersection waiting for it to go by.

I was figuring 10 X 200 lbs. (me + bike when I was in college)is 2000 lbs. (car)

20 X 215 (me + bike now) is 4300 (good sized SUV, but less than a Hummer)

All Hummer drivers are out to get you anyway.

I was thinking "weight of bike", then when I was underlining it I re-read it, did a little carry the two, realized my error and said "screw it, I already typed it out". :rolleyes:

I think it is worse than they are out to get us, i think they don't even notice. If I am going to get killed I would rather it be due to deliberate action than because someone was eating a sandwich while chatting on their phone and trying to fire up a lucky.

yeah the lack of biker respect totally sucks. I've been hit twice in pretty ridiculous situations and in both cases it was due to distracted drivers. I split my riding time equally between a pretty bike friendly city to a pro-motor suburb and the difference is so huge.

Chicago drivers tend to give me more space and seem more aware of us. Heck most loop cops even wave me through intersections with a wave as thanks. Naperville drivers always cut it as close as possible have an annoying habit of honking at me. also the cops never seem to make up their minds as to whether I am or not supposed to be on the sidewalk (grrr)

Kurremkarm: remember most drivers are cool, its just the jerks that stick out

As for CM I completely understand not being into it, but must say if you haven't tried because of the politics you keep an open mind and show up for kicks, its a party.

165: Penny bikes and choppers are sooooo cool. I want to learn to weld!

jeff

I was figuring 10 X 200 lbs. (me + bike when I was in college)is 2000 lbs. (car)

20 X 215 (me + bike now) is 4300 (good sized SUV, but less than a Hummer)

All Hummer drivers are out to get you anyway.

Curb weight on a Hummer is 7600lbs! :eek:

Chicago drivers tend to give me more space and seem more aware of us. Heck most loop cops even wave me through intersections with a wave as thanks. Naperville drivers always cut it as close as possible have an annoying habit of honking at me. also the cops never seem to make up their minds as to whether I am or not supposed to be on the sidewalk (grrr)
jeff

At the end of a recent group ride a cop in Melrose Park turned on her lights, pulled into the intersection, stopped the cross traffic and waved all 30 of us thru the red light. Closet critical masser? Who knows but man was she cool.
Mark

I think it is worse than they are out to get us, i think they don't even notice.

Ding Ding Ding Ding!!!

As I DROVE HOME yesterday (don't even ask why that's happening) I counted the times I made left turns and the gal/guy infront of me didn't look to see if there was a bike in the bike lane. Z goshdarn ro. Number of times a car pulled into the bike lane before looking for a cyclist when getting out of a drive way? consisistantly all.

Admit it. We don't exist.

Curb weight on a Hummer is 7600lbs! :eek:

I (ahem) own an offroad vehicle that I used frequently. I've seen NO H2's offroad ever (socal area where they are pretty common). I've not seen that many H1's to boot. And I tell you what, as a pro keep trail open anti sierra club guy, the H1's are scarry to watch. Thier wheelin' philosophy isn't slow climbing/crawling.. it's "ramming speed scotty". They pretty much smash thier way up down and through stuff. Seems to carry over to thier traffic habits as well.

"Kurremkarm: remember most drivers are cool, its just the jerks that stick out"

Yeah, I decided to delete my rant rather than subject people to it. I went four blocks today on a busy street and some jerk leaned out the window and told me to get on the sidewalk.

I flipped him off, yelled **** you and did my part for bicyle advocacy.

4 blocks, i kid you not.

I (ahem) own an offroad vehicle that I used frequently. I've seen NO H2's offroad ever (socal area where they are pretty common). I've not seen that many H1's to boot. And I tell you what, as a pro keep trail open anti sierra club guy, the H1's are scarry to watch. Thier wheelin' philosophy isn't slow climbing/crawling.. it's "ramming speed scotty". They pretty much smash thier way up down and through stuff. Seems to carry over to thier traffic habits as well.
Ah yes, one of the better sites regarding the "waste of everything" Hummer vehicles:
http://www.fuh2.com/submissions.php

" Originally Posted by streetdog
Curb weight on a Hummer is 7600lbs! "

When I worked across Canada one summer we went to fairs selling stuff and got there by semi. One of my friends was this big guy, 6'3", 300 pounds, something like that. One day we went to a weigh station and we were very very close to the weight limit. One of the guys that worked there said," ****, just have the driver get out and you should be OK."

Hey, it was funny at the time. :P

If I ever get another four-by, I am not screwing around. It is Tatra time

If I ever get another four-by, I am not screwing around. It is Tatra time

Only drawback is parallel parking could be expensive. I saw one of those take out a small building in Husavik, Iceland. I'd say go Unimog, 1300xl. Big enough to put a camper, tough enough to get through it, small enough to manuver in a city.

Personnally, I'd go with a 404doka, place to put bikes, seat 4, get around.. camping gear..

I use to ride Critical Mass for fun and socializing, but it's original message of saying that "bikes are traffic too" isn't working by stopping traffic and annoying the hell out of drivers. It' just makes bicyclist look bad in my opinion.

Miyataphile