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10-24-08, 01:54 PM
I just now found this story online:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/tacoma/24hour/consumer/outdoors/story/517788.html
Quote:
"Annual oddity pairs tough guys and Barbie bikes
By DAVE PHILIPPS ; The Gazette
Published: October 24th, 2008 11:18 AM
COLORADO SPRINGS -- COLORADO SPRINGS-The whole thing was probably a bad idea from the start: Spend 10 bucks on a yard sale kiddie bike built for a 5-year-old, strip off the training wheels, then line up for a full-contact, mass-start ride down a mountain.
It's called the Pixie Repack - "pixie" for the pintsize bikes, "repack" for what riders have to do to their rear hubs once the high speeds make the bearing grease go up in smoke.
"It was a bad idea, but we seem to have a lot of people who are very good at it," said Jon Hurly, one of the riders.
So when a pack of bikers finished the first running of the Pixie Repack four years ago, they had such a good time they decided to do it again the next year. And the next.
A few more riders each year started hunting for little pink Barbie bikes at lawn sales.
Some even started customizing the frames and adding extras, such as hand brakes.
In a way, the annual exercise in the absurd gets to the heart of what bicycling is all about.
"It makes you feel like a kid again," one of a dozen racers said as they perched at the top of High Drive, ready to bomb down.
"Yeah, a really dumb kid," another murmured.
In front of them, the dirt road plunged 1,700 vertical feet into Bear Creek Canyon in Denver, twisting through switchbacks like a gravel version of an ice luge. The road ahead was fraught with pixie-eating gullies and head-size boulders. The bikes were wobbly and poorly built - better at breaking than braking..."
http://www.thenewstribune.com/tacoma/24hour/consumer/outdoors/story/517788.html
Quote:
"Annual oddity pairs tough guys and Barbie bikes
By DAVE PHILIPPS ; The Gazette
Published: October 24th, 2008 11:18 AM
COLORADO SPRINGS -- COLORADO SPRINGS-The whole thing was probably a bad idea from the start: Spend 10 bucks on a yard sale kiddie bike built for a 5-year-old, strip off the training wheels, then line up for a full-contact, mass-start ride down a mountain.
It's called the Pixie Repack - "pixie" for the pintsize bikes, "repack" for what riders have to do to their rear hubs once the high speeds make the bearing grease go up in smoke.
"It was a bad idea, but we seem to have a lot of people who are very good at it," said Jon Hurly, one of the riders.
So when a pack of bikers finished the first running of the Pixie Repack four years ago, they had such a good time they decided to do it again the next year. And the next.
A few more riders each year started hunting for little pink Barbie bikes at lawn sales.
Some even started customizing the frames and adding extras, such as hand brakes.
In a way, the annual exercise in the absurd gets to the heart of what bicycling is all about.
"It makes you feel like a kid again," one of a dozen racers said as they perched at the top of High Drive, ready to bomb down.
"Yeah, a really dumb kid," another murmured.
In front of them, the dirt road plunged 1,700 vertical feet into Bear Creek Canyon in Denver, twisting through switchbacks like a gravel version of an ice luge. The road ahead was fraught with pixie-eating gullies and head-size boulders. The bikes were wobbly and poorly built - better at breaking than braking..."