Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Little Girls

I get emails from people asking me for copies of Riding Fixed. They ask how much and I tell them on the day they recieve their copy they are to do something nice for a total stranger. What follows is an email from someone who agreed to said terms. Nice to know there are good people in this world:

I received your book Friday... I was riding home from work through
winnetka (yeah I know... i live in evanston and work in northbrook). I
cut through a bunch of residential streets to reduce the chances of
being crushed by some SUV or being squeezed into some of the
mongo-potholes they have out here in the territories. And my girlfriend
happened to be joining me so I wanted a more mellow time in general.

Anyway... we are cruising along, as we approached a quiet
intersection, I notice out of the corner of my eye that there is a lone
little girl (8 or 9 years old?) just sitting on a bike (one of those
horrible little soft tail mountain bikes) on the side walk facing in the
direction we were headed so I can't see her face - she is just sitting
there - away from any houses or other people.

As we move through the intersection I look over my shoulder because, as
I said, she is just sitting there and I am wondering what the hell she
is doing there all by herself...

I see that she is sitting there sort of just crying to herself... So
tell my girlfriend that I am going back to investigate... and 180 back

I roll up kinda slow because I imagine that most little girls don't like
strange men with shoulder-length hair in cut-offs skdding up to them.

So, as I already said, she is crying... so I go through the list of
obvious questions...

1. "Are Hurt?" <sniffly headshake side-to-side>
2. "Did you fall off your bike?" <sniffly headshake side-to-side>
3. "Did somebody do something to you?" <sniffly headshake side-to-side>

Stumped, I ask, "Can I help?"... and she says in a small voice, "I'm
lost...". Ah ha! Something, in theory, I could help with, except I
only know my route through winnetka and none of the street names...
hmmm... so I start asking a bunch of dumb questions...

"What is the street you live on?..."<cherry street> "Do you know your
address?... <no> "Do you live near any stop lights?..." <shrugg> "Do
you live near any stores?..." <shrugg>

At this point my girlfriend (who rolled up during the first round of
questioning) pipes up with the obvious solution.... "Give her your cell
phone" (duh). So I am thinking... "this girl is too young for that..."
but i hand it over and she goes at it like a gameboy. 2 thumbs dialing
numbers like a fiend. Before I know she has dialed 2 or 3 numbers but
no answers... damn.

Well she had said she lived on "cherry street" so we decide to pursue
that... a few block earlier we had passed a winnetka cop car which I had
only subconsciously noticed only because I had planned to blow a stop
sign and was calculating the chances of him being in the postion to
observie this, first, and second, what the chances were of him hassling
me for it... once I decided the chances of both were remote I had
forgotten him...

Anyway my girlfriend suggests that she will go back and look for him...
That sounded cool until I conjured up the mental picture of me (long
haired...etc) being discovered on a street corner by some lawyer in an
audi with his 8 yr old daughter or worse yet, having to explain the
whole thing to the fuzz... much easier for my girlfriend to do than
me... Immediately I said, "No *I* will go look for the cop...".

Long story, short... cop long gone.

Now what? On the way back I flag down a lady in a Camero T-top (sweet
ride) and ask her where "cherry street" is. She points and tells me it
is 6 blocks "that way". I nod and thank her and as so happened this was
within ear shot of the little girl and upon hearing this she takes off
like a bat out of hell in that direction up the sidewalk. My girlfriend
and I look at each other, shrug follow at a respectful distance in the
street out of curiosity as much as anything else... okay that is a lie,
I was feeling pretty sorry for her and wanted to make sure she got home
okay.

So we are crusing along - she on the side walk - us in the street, when
all of the sudden, she pulls a quick stop at an intersection and stops
looking straight ahead... I roll up nice and easy and ask, "Do you
recognize anything?". She looks right and left and sort of nods, "yes"
To tell you the truth all of those streets look exactly alike to me and
I was afraid of getting lost myself.

So off she shoots again... makes a left and heads down another street
and then about a block later stops dead again... I go through the same
dumb question routine and she says... "I can get home by myself from
here..." In this kind of weird way which I interpret as, "buzz off
freak... you are starting to creep me out." So I say, "Are you sure?
<no answer> Okay, well if you get lost again... just knock on any
door... There are Moms all over the place here..." and with that we
strike off back to Evanston...

I forgot completely about the whole thing by the time we stopped for a
little snack and rode the rest of the way home.

After swinging by to drop off my girlfriend at her house, I get home and
notice a message on my phone from a number I didn't recognize... I
listen to it and it is the girl's mom (caller ID, I guess from when her
daughter called her on my phone). She thanked me and told me how scared
the little girl had been (I still don't know her name) and how it was
nice of us to help her and all. As it turned out the girl was really
shy and only 6! (big for her age - according to the mom) and had gone
off for a little adventure down the alley and got a little more
adventure than she had barganed for. So I call back and talk to the dad
to make sure she is alright and stuff. According to him she might have
sat there for hours afraid to move and afraid to ask anyone for help if
we hadn't stopped

It wasn't until I hung up that I thought about it being a nice thing to
do... It seemed the obvious, natural thing at the time... hmmm...
something to ponder...

I have read you book a couple of times already... I am carrying it in my
bag with my tools... I like having it to pull out and grab a couple of
sentences here and there. My favorite is the story about cutting
through the southside... I did that not too long ago after bailing out
of the June CM ride just south of china town - not as far south as you
(just in the 20's). I struck east to king drive... north to mccormick
place and then north though it's innards (mccormick place's) - going
over the 18th street ped bridge, etc. Again - not as far south as you
but I got a small flavor of what you mean about once you go in you got
to just keep going... So recently whenever I am out of my comfort zone
on my bike, I just think back to that ride and it makes me smile. Like
that Benjamin Franklin quote: "If you are going through Hell, keep going."

Thanks again

Something nice for a change. Thanks.

Something nice for a change. Thanks.
Always stirring the pot, 'eh?

:beer: Well done :beer:

Always stirring the pot, 'eh?

Yes, very provacative thread title. Indeed.

Mayo
I still have some copies left (say 10 or so) so let me know if you go dry. Enjoyed the story. Thanks again for sharing

Very cute story. Makes me think that maybe I'm falling a little behind on my karma points.

What's "Riding Fixed" exactly? You got me curious...

What's "Riding Fixed" exactly? You got me curious...


Ditto! Where can I get a copy? I try to do something nice for someone everyday.

L8R

Ditto, I need a copy too. where can I get it?

Mayo, check you're PMs. I have a good offer for you.

Let's reprint that thing.

i like that. although, whenever i read stuff like this, it always makes me sad that to think that helping someone has become such a major event nowadays. when\where i grew up something like this wouldn't even require a second thought - it was ingrained in us that we'll always help people in need. especially kids. i was quickly disillusioned of this when i moved to a big city and suddenly found myself ignoring people asking for help and being skeptical when anyone asked me for anything. this story kinda puts things back into perspective.

Finally got a chance to read this, book, er I mean, thread. Now I feel all squishy inside. Thanks for sharing.

Finally got a chance to read this, book, er I mean, thread. Now I feel all squishy inside. Thanks for sharing.

You just now realized you're squishy inside?

Did you figure that out yourself or did the proctologist tell you?

You just now realized you're squishy inside?



No, I always knew that. But it takes either stories about lost little girls or 165 falling down and crying before I recall this quality.

Very cool. Where can I get a copy of this fine book?

Very cool. Where can I get a copy of this fine book?

I think I would like to check this out as well.

What's the deal guys? Is there a place to purchase this book?

Cheers,
David J.

People who theoretically still hav copies - [165] and the man who put it all together, William Karsten, or the man who wrote it, Mayo.

To all who express an interest in getting a copy of this:
I have 15 copies left. PM me with your address if you are interested.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Karsten - told Mayo that I could print 500-1000 for free at work if I can get paper... Mayo's PMd him asking about getting a file that's print ready...

There may be more of them...

We probably have enough copies to fill the current demand so reprinting doesn't seem to be necessary. For those of you that have emailed or PM'd, I'll be sending them out in the next few days (I'm waiting a few more days so I can do it all at once). PM me, Karstens or 165 if you want a copy.

Like the deal above, if you accept a free copy you are to do something nice for a total stranger before sundown on the day it arrives. You then must post your deed on the forum. Possession of book implies acceptance of said contract.

I'm still waiting for my cd and a good copy :rolleyes:

No fair! The copy I read was one that Goatmeal got from [165] and there was no CD...

What band? Is it trackstand forever? They're great!

You didn't send them $15 dollars either. Did you, whiskey boy?

I'm still waiting for my cd and a good copy :rolleyes:

Would that be a carbon copy?

Thank you! I'll be here all the week.

A lawyer with a sense of humor! Who'da thunk it? :D

A lawyer with a sense of humor! Who'da thunk it? :D

Oh, they like their own sense of humor.

Keeper. I get a ton of bike publications of all types. I hold on to very few. Riding Fixed is in my permanent collection at home in the workshop for all to enjoy who hang while cool stuff is built or fixed.

Thanks to Mayo and William.

Yeah, I also just read Riding Fixed. Excellent stuff, Mayo. I especially liked the mentions of all the south side routes you take (55th and 71st), I am quite familiar with those roads on bike now.