Responding out of politeness, but keeping it short:

- They threw them away and being a nice guy about it, I wasn't about to tell them to fish it out of the trash for me.

- I flipped the stem later. You are right, it was INCREDIBLY uncomfortable riding like that on the track. But you took that pic as SOON as I got to the velodrome, before I had made any adjustments. How is ANY of this for fashion??? That bike is EXACTLY how I purchased it off eBay (cept the pedals).

- Since you care, here is the exact eBay listing I purchased this bike from: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330326753300

- The pedals are crap, I agree. As you can see though, the bike did not come with pedals and I have not found a good deal on used Speedplays yet. I know you think I am an impulsive buyer but I actually wait until I find exactly what I want for what I believe is a fair price. Same deal with the wheels I am buying for the bike. If you check the threads I've posted in the past asking questions about gear, they go in order of purchase. First the post about Speedplays, then the post about wheels.

- Putting a brake on THAT bike is silly. I did it for Charleston and I took it off immediately after. I barely even used it and besides, cross brakes don't even FIT on those bars and I wasn't about to get a new stem and bars.

- OR I could just throw on the $8 hipster cyst (which isn't even a Knog, it was just the cheapest thing that would fit the bike). Sorry you read a bike snob article and now you have a grudge against these types of lights.

- I have a brake on my other bike, clearly I don't have a problem with brakes in general. I've said many times on this forum that if someone wants to use a brake, please do. I think for me on this particular bike, it is not a bad thing to go brakeless. I think it is a track bike, meant to be ridden brakeless and that this is within my capabilities to do safely.

- What tarck uniform? I was wearing a plain t-shirt and plain shorts that weren't even cutoff shorts. In fact, in my opinion, I was looking pretty rough, but hell, it was early on a Saturday morning. I am not posting about spandex because it is simple compared to wheels. Jerseys ordered? Check. Do I need to write a thread about that? No, I really don't.

- I've already been looking for helmets. Just because YOU don't know I have doesn't mean I haven't. I had been borrowing that Bern helmet so I wasn't going to rush the purchase. If you don't believe me, fine, but any of my friends will tell you I have been fretting about the purchase for a while. I don't really care if you think I am full of **** or not.

- I didn't say the track was the only place to train, please show me where I said that. I said I don't do solo training because it is boring. I do however do weekly fast rides in groups with my friends several times a week, which, imo, counts as strength training.

- The only time I "won" (came in first) was in the 200m sprint against two people who were geared lower than me in the 84-86 gear inches range, which I believe is considered appropriate. I am not saying they are wrong. Certainly they had adhered to general advice. I don't even think I won because of my gearing. I think I won out of luck and the fact that we were all new to it. Anyhow, I don't see your point.