OK, I will be the dork and ask. Who and or what the heck is a Fred?
04-15-09, 06:53 AM
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I just joined a riding group at a local bike store. I have a 1980 bridgestone road bike and no cold weather clothing so i wear my coat which is 3 sizes too big. I try to keep up with them but the average 21 mph, and i usually lose them at the halfway point. Even though its a no drop ride they don't really wait, except on my last ride whith them. I think they think that i am the poser version of "fred." Am i? and if so, what can i do to not be so freddy? (I make minimum wage so buying expensive clothes are not an option)
on my first ride with them i didnt feel like letting the downhill section get away from me so i sped up down the hill and in the process got yelled at for passing on the right. I just like to get some speed on hills, i wasnt trying to show them up or anything. sorry
on my first ride with them i didnt feel like letting the downhill section get away from me so i sped up down the hill and in the process got yelled at for passing on the right. I just like to get some speed on hills, i wasnt trying to show them up or anything. sorry
Last edited by mushwars; 04-15-09 at 06:59 AM. Reason: adding
04-15-09, 10:49 AM
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[QUOTE=ISOtuxraceINC;8734418]I just joined a riding group at a local bike store. I have a 1980 bridgestone road bike and no cold weather clothing so i wear my coat which is 3 sizes too big. I try to keep up with them but the average 21 mph, and i usually lose them at the halfway point. Even though its a no drop ride they don't really wait, except on my last ride whith them. I think they think that i am the poser version of "fred." Am i? and if so, what can i do to not be so freddy? (I make minimum wage so buying expensive clothes are not an option)
Well the coat is a good start. You can pack on 7 sweat shirts under it to stay warm. Now you need fenders and racks, packed with canping gear and beef jurkey and perhaps a flask of hooch and ride your own path. Quit your lame job and live of the land and enjoy what you have
I am starting to think "that" is Fred
Well the coat is a good start. You can pack on 7 sweat shirts under it to stay warm. Now you need fenders and racks, packed with canping gear and beef jurkey and perhaps a flask of hooch and ride your own path. Quit your lame job and live of the land and enjoy what you have
I am starting to think "that" is Fred
04-15-09, 11:01 AM
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04-15-09, 11:10 AM
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You may be a Fred... but none of us will ever be THE Fred.
The Fred was Fred Birchmore from Athens, Georgia... an adventurer who rode his single speed bicycle around the world back in the mid 1930's. (Extra credit for anyone who knows why he named his bike "Bucephalus"). During his bike trip, he was reputed to be the first white man to make it out of Afghanistan alive since Marco Polo. He also hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Inca Trail in Peru both solo.
One of his most famous incidents came in South America during his bicycle circumnavigation. He apparently was penniless and starving out in the jungle... until he came upon a huge snake. He killed and ate the snake, skinned it and sold the skin at a village for enough cash to get him further down the road. Check Amazon for the books that he wrote about his adventures.
His marks still show in his hometown of Athens, GA in a massive stone wall that he built by hand when Fred was in his 70's... a wall 14 feet high in some places and dug 4 feet into the ground.
Here's to Fred:
The Fred was Fred Birchmore from Athens, Georgia... an adventurer who rode his single speed bicycle around the world back in the mid 1930's. (Extra credit for anyone who knows why he named his bike "Bucephalus"). During his bike trip, he was reputed to be the first white man to make it out of Afghanistan alive since Marco Polo. He also hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Inca Trail in Peru both solo.
One of his most famous incidents came in South America during his bicycle circumnavigation. He apparently was penniless and starving out in the jungle... until he came upon a huge snake. He killed and ate the snake, skinned it and sold the skin at a village for enough cash to get him further down the road. Check Amazon for the books that he wrote about his adventures.
His marks still show in his hometown of Athens, GA in a massive stone wall that he built by hand when Fred was in his 70's... a wall 14 feet high in some places and dug 4 feet into the ground.
Here's to Fred:
04-15-09, 11:14 AM
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04-15-09, 11:19 AM
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ok i retract my statement that fred is goofy. well maybe he is but ive been reading about him and he is probably one of the coolest people to ever live. therefore i am going to get his book
04-15-09, 11:34 AM
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If I am not mistaken... his bicycle (that he named Bucephalus) is on display at the Simthsonean Museum.
Last edited by Hydrated; 04-15-09 at 11:38 AM.
04-15-09, 11:40 AM
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Yes, that is me.
04-15-09, 11:44 AM
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Oh snap, I guess I am a fred, I am gonna have to embrace it. I refuse to wear lycra and jerseys, and am a utilitarian cyclist and tourer. It's weird that its a derrogatory word, because I kinda like my fred status. People who wear lycra to ride to work are just plain nerdly. I know this dude who skinsuits it out and rides an orbea orca thats all red and he looks like a total tool with the rain marks up his back because he doesn't have fenders. He seems like a good rider, but he looks like a sticker book. Sure he might get to work quicker than me, but I dont have to shower and change and my bike doesn't scream "steal meee"
People that race to work are just another form of cagers. Calm down tighty tights, and enjoy the ride.
Fred out
People that race to work are just another form of cagers. Calm down tighty tights, and enjoy the ride.
Fred out
04-15-09, 11:46 AM
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04-15-09, 11:47 AM
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OK, this IS Fred!
This is not Fred.
This is not Fred.
A bit Fred.
SoooOO not Fred.
This is not Fred.
This is not Fred.
A bit Fred.
SoooOO not Fred.
04-15-09, 11:50 AM
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04-15-09, 11:55 AM
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Oh snap, I guess I am a fred, I am gonna have to embrace it. I refuse to wear lycra and jerseys, and am a utilitarian cyclist and tourer. It's weird that its a derrogatory word, because I kinda like my fred status. People who wear lycra to ride to work are just plain nerdly. I know this dude who skinsuits it out and rides an orbea orca thats all red and he looks like a total tool with the rain marks up his back because he doesn't have fenders. He seems like a good rider, but he looks like a sticker book. Sure he might get to work quicker than me, but I dont have to shower and change and my bike doesn't scream "steal meee"
People that race to work are just another form of cagers. Calm down tighty tights, and enjoy the ride.
Fred out
People that race to work are just another form of cagers. Calm down tighty tights, and enjoy the ride.
Fred out
As to the bike clothes, I find that they actually keep the sweat and stank off of me. They are sort of designed to do that. I can only imagine the itchy Sass, if I rode in the same clothes that I sit in at my desk.
I totally agree on not being a floating billboard though. I hate that schtit.
04-15-09, 12:00 PM
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Baby Fred?
Sad young Fred?
Fred pet.
Fred food.
Sad young Fred?
Fred pet.
Fred food.
04-15-09, 12:14 PM
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You are probably right....but as a dude who commutes 27 miles, each way, I would have to leave the house shortly after mid-night to get here on time if I didn't fly in. Seriously, I can make my run in an hour and a half. What would you propose, that I take 3 hours?
As to the bike clothes, I find that they actually keep the sweat and stank off of me. They are sort of designed to do that. I can only imagine the itchy Sass, if I rode in the same clothes that I sit in at my desk.
I totally agree on not being a floating billboard though. I hate that schtit.
As to the bike clothes, I find that they actually keep the sweat and stank off of me. They are sort of designed to do that. I can only imagine the itchy Sass, if I rode in the same clothes that I sit in at my desk.
I totally agree on not being a floating billboard though. I hate that schtit.
27 miles is a hell of a commute and you make great time. I go 9 miles in about 45 minutes at my fredly pace. I could bring it down to 30, but why? Thats 15 more minutes on my bike!I wear smartwool clothes for pretty much everything I do. They are awesome, keep the stank and sweat at bay and I dont look like I was injected into them
04-15-09, 12:35 PM
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I propose you do what you gotta. 27 miles is a hell of a commute and you make great time. I go 9 miles in about 45 minutes at my fredly pace. I could bring it down to 30, but why? Thats 15 more minutes on my bike!
I wear smartwool clothes for pretty much everything I do. They are awesome, keep the stank and sweat at bay and I dont look like I was injected into them
27 miles is a hell of a commute and you make great time. I go 9 miles in about 45 minutes at my fredly pace. I could bring it down to 30, but why? Thats 15 more minutes on my bike!I wear smartwool clothes for pretty much everything I do. They are awesome, keep the stank and sweat at bay and I dont look like I was injected into them
04-15-09, 12:35 PM
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04-15-09, 01:04 PM
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So... i was riding to school today thinking OMFG im like fred :'(
THEN i saw an old guy with a trench coat
on a old road bike.
He had big black drew carrey glasses
I think he was smoking a ciggerette,
but it might have been a sucker cause it wasnt smoking.
he was wearing an orange baseball cap and no helmet.
under the hat he had long grey hair, and a long grey beard
So, now i feel better that im not very freddy.
(lets just not go into the fact that i have a BRIGHT yellow windbreaker... and its a womans. )
THEN i saw an old guy with a trench coat
on a old road bike.
He had big black drew carrey glasses
I think he was smoking a ciggerette,
but it might have been a sucker cause it wasnt smoking.
he was wearing an orange baseball cap and no helmet.
under the hat he had long grey hair, and a long grey beard
So, now i feel better that im not very freddy.
(lets just not go into the fact that i have a BRIGHT yellow windbreaker... and its a womans.
)
Last edited by mushwars; 04-15-09 at 01:28 PM.
04-15-09, 01:34 PM
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I think I saw her zipping by me the other day in a really funky part of town where many of the young folks ride fixies and dye their hair like that. No helmet, B&W Converse sneakers..yup that was her. If I was 20 years younger I would have tried to catch up, but now I’ll just enjoy the scenery.
04-15-09, 03:32 PM
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I think I saw her zipping by me the other day in a really funky part of town where many of the young folks ride fixies and dye their hair like that. No helmet, B&W Converse sneakers..yup that was her. If I was 20 years younger I would have tried to catch up, but now I’ll just enjoy the scenery.
She's in A town? She ride a pink fixie? I think I may have saw her riding in the Ga Ride to Capital ride in March. She was hanging with the "No Brakes" "faster mustache" crew. She was hauling ass on the flats. I could take her on the hills only because of the gearing but she managed every hill.
https://www.nobrakesatl.com/
04-15-09, 07:53 PM
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I think I saw her zipping by me the other day in a really funky part of town where many of the young folks ride fixies and dye their hair like that. No helmet, B&W Converse sneakers..yup that was her. If I was 20 years younger I would have tried to catch up, but now I’ll just enjoy the scenery.
well the female version of that bike... sure its a fuji, but that sure looks cool and makes a good impression. I am not really digging the 2 colored hair, she would look better if it was all black. lose the blond
