Rick@OCRR

alicestrong invited me to a "We Riding.com ride that starts in Upper Whittier every Monday night, 8:00 PM start. It was completely different from ANY ride I've ever been on. And I've been on quite a few!

All in all though, we had a great ride on Monday night! Not what I would call a "social pace," and Alice didn't make it, but it was great with high-speed intervals, then long rest breaks.

It seemed like about half the riders were on fixed gear bikes, with the balance being 70's and 80's multi-speed bikes (3 Peugeots a Motobecane, an old Schwinn Madison, old Raleigh, Panasonic, Bianchi, etc.), with a carbon TREK and a Cannondale in the mix. Perfect weather for the ride though, and a good course through Whittier. I knew where I was about 1/2 the time.

Only two riders had helmets (me and one other guy), and only one rider had lycra shorts and cycling jersey. That would be me. Four girls (very young women), the rest guys with (apparently) high levels of testosterone. Lots of fast sprints, at high rpm's due to the fixie and single-speed nature of the group.

The fixie riders all had amazing control over their bikes, and several riders performed at the breaks, and also on the road during the ride. Long distance wheelies, riding backwards, all kinds of skillful moves , sometimes in traffic.

Many re-group breaks though, so no one got left behind.

And yeah, I was by far the oldest one there, easily twice the age of any of the other riders. No worries though, everyone was very friendly and I didn't have any trouble keeping up with the pace. Lots of tatoos and piercings on display, plus drinking beer and smoking during the rest breaks . . . not what you'd see on a local "bike club" ride. They said it was a "Critical Mass Type" ride, but with only 30 (approx.) riders, it wasn't much of a "mass."

It did (finally) put me in touch with the kind of riding young (18 - 24 approx.) riders are doing these days. One kid told me "I used to race BMX, but this street thing is so much cooler!"

Hope to see Alice next Monday night!

Rick / OCRR

alicestrong

Hey I am so happy you made it out, it sounds like it was maybe a little faster than usual?

I am generally the "oldest" ( always the oldest female ) when I do these "types" of rides but I have never felt unwelcome.

I love the mix of bikes. I like to see what "the kids" are up to...

EDIT Rick I believe that it was a 5fix2 ride. We Love Riding is a different group that has sprung up recently, also. Some riders do both rides.

I'm interested mostly because they are close enough to my house to ride my bike to.

Rick@OCRR

Hi Alice,
At the start of the ride, Jennifer gave me a flyer for We Love Riding.com so I figured that's what it was. Still, you're no doubt right; I sure couldn't tell the difference!

By the way, pls. decipher "5fix2" for me. I get the "fix" is for fixed gear and the 2 is probably for 2 wheels, but I don't get how the "5" part fits in.

Rick / OCRR

alicestrong

Whittier area code 562...

Rick@OCRR

Thanks Alice,

That makes sense. I did a Google search for 5fix2 and got a lot of computer code references!

Rick / OCRR

alicestrong

alicestrong

Watch Rick rock it!!