so last night after working all day while the girl was off with her girlfriends on a northern california coastal trail....i'm was never mad, but given the choice of work or coastal trail, i would have probably taken the trail...

but anyway i decided that i would head out after work for a bit of a ride and catch the sunset somewhere...do something nice for myself....but after a series of stoner moments...i settled on a picking up a couple of new dvds, music and misc bs that i needed....then get a wild hair...i'll pick up BBQ for dinner...the place is kind of out of the way but what the hell they have been resurfacing so many streets that i have been taking new routes everywhere these days...

kind of a boring story......until i decide to follow the bike route, which alone isn't bad...but this route is straight through the hood, and for every stop sign removed i see numerous how do you say this...ok straight up always works.....everywhere i look i am seeing crack deals go down....funny how that seems to make the legs move a little faster after dark...

every turn i make i am turning into a deal...i am laughing inside to myself and at some of the cracked out people, make a final left where there are several groups of oaklands' young urbanites getting their hustle on...

which translates into there are several groups of 5 or more on this block where both sides of the street are lined with apartments...these 5or mores are all watching their sellers and all the other groups of 5's..their sellers are running back in forth from the apartments, under fences, wherever they have their stuff stashed, and back to the cars of those pulling up to pick up their crack.....

talk about your wrong turn...i can't get off this block fast enough, and turning around isn't an option..

thats just about the time i heard my tire pop, the gods bust out laughing...no problem i think...i'll just have to true my rim, cause i'm not stopping...funny thing was that i'd just got it right...kind of laughed to myself as i felt the wobble in my wrist and i realize its not my rear wheel but my front tire....a flat on my front tire...i can't remember the last time i had one....but this is going to be the fastest repair i have ever done, and i had the tire i swear the back tire was still moving...but wait...something is missing...where is the spare tube?....oh i know where it is...its on my girlfriends bike....no worries pull the patch kit...patch it and start to pump it up all before the first guy comes over....the mini pump is performing like a champ...up to 50psi in a snap...which was more than enough to get me the hell up out of there...

enter mr murphy...as i take off the pump, the valve stem snaps.. as second homie steps towards my well...

a couple of thoughts entered my mind...but most importantly was i really wished i'd not had $300 cash plus 3/4oz in my bag....as third homie came over i stood up in disbelief that i was going out like this...think fast rabbit....they can smell fear...i ask fourth homie if he had a swisher...he said no, but 2nd homie did...as i pulled a small bag with a couple of smashed nuggets i'd had in my pocket all day at work, then taking the swisher and rolled a perfect blunt....2 of the guys went back to work, while the other 2 called over a couple more lieutentants and we got faded, talked a little s*#t, then i took off walking my bike thanking the stars above....

Maybe its just me that just smacked of covert racism. "They smell fear" what the heck is that? Most of those guys are just products of the enviroment they aren't bad people bent on taking what you have. So...strange.

Covert racism??? Race was never mentioned. Maybe there was an assumption...

I've had street dealers break into my home. Reality. Not good people, no matter what the environment they grew up in my have to do with it.

And where did he mention race at all? "Homie" easily refers to any given thugged out dude. Isn't it more racist to assume he was speaking of some race, rather than his surroundings in general?

How about you, Offhof, take YOUR racism elswhere, eh?

-brad

Let's face it, 95% percent of us here would have had a little fear in ourselves if placed in the same situation. Racist or not, if it's not your daily element, you're going to be a bit apprehensive.

Ha, you obviously haven't met Karmical. He's just about the nicest guy I've met.

Kendall, glad you got out of it ok, this is a perfect example of why bags have stash pockets

i was going to post this long reply to that first post....but couldn't stop laughing long enough...between that and this lady coming into my coffeeshop last week and arguing with me that I just do not have any idea what it is like to be black and to live in Oakland..


my boss was sitting next to me and had to walk away he was laughing so hard ....

Don't keep me in suspense!

Did you get the BBQ?

well, after he blazed that blunt, i'm sure he had to. duh.

Great story, Karmical! Nothing quite like the nug to calm a tense situation.

Once, living in Santa Cruz, I was present when a fist fight nearly broke out between a hippie guy who was loudly complaining about some loud motorcycles, and a biker dude who was angry at him for disrespecting the rock and roll culture that 'built that town'. They started yelling at each other, and with each volley, they got closer and closer to each other. I was cringing and expecting to see a knife or gun as the hippie reached in to his pocket and screamed, "YOU KNOW WHAT, MAN?!?" and then he pulled out a big fat J and said, "We should smoke a J." The biker, who had reflexively raised his fists in defense, lowered them to his side, and said, "Hmm, ok." As they shared the fat one, they had a chance to talk things over, and see each other's viewpoints. By the end they were friends, and no one even remembered the bloody fight that almost ensued.

Keep on riding, and remember, "Stash Pockets: Not Just For Pie Anymore!"

peace,
sam

beef/rib/chicken dinner...

made it all worth it....do it all again tonight... like i said...i can't remember the last time i got a flat front tire....ran over a piece of glass in the dark...didn't have my front light on, only red rear lights...people have been pulled off their bikes, i turn off the front light when going through places like this, gives you some what of an advantage...but it doesn't take long for everyone to take notice of you when you have a problem...the key is not to panic, or whip out your cellphone which sends the message that you have $$$ or something worth taking...then from there figure out some kind of way to get the hell out of dodge, exit stage right usually i don't sweat it that much because i usually don't carry anything on me, but this time i made a couple of bad calls on my end, and i'm lucky that it all turned out all right....i ended up jumping into the first cab i could...had to double back to a bart station, since there were none in the area that i was in....

Ha. Nice story Kendall. I used to have to go through a really rough neighborhood in oaktown every evening. There was one block where literally, like every other house was a crack house, INCLUDING an old boarded up church on the corner.

*ouch* you just got owned hard lol

My solution is just to live next door to the dealers. That way everywhere else I ride is nicer! Generally speaking if I'm doing on-the-street repairs where stuff is going down, it's their little brothers' and cousins' bikes. (Cheap bikes require an astounding amount of maintenance to keep them running.)

Man. That's crazy. We don't have crackheads in this posh-ass city I live in, but you can overdose on Abercrombie and American Eagle everytime you walk down the street...

santa barbara....


been there back in the day....from what i can remember pretty damn good powdered version though....ahh the 80's.....memories....

Offhoff, I think you made BIG assumption. Why don't you enlighten us as to which race you think he was talking about?

I used to live in West Oakland for a minute and there are Asiain, Caucasian, Afro-American, and Latin hoods like that I was scared ****less to ride through.

C

Yeah. I'm sure there's still a ton of that out here. Some of those BMW X5 driving moms've gotta have closet coke habits...

I was out on a night ride last week when one of a group of teenagers yelled out "I'ma TAKE yo bike!" and half lunged at me.

I waited until I was just far enough away that they couldn't catch me if they tried and yelled back "you'll take my (richard) up your (donkey) too".

They stood there dumbfounded. Apparently the threat of forced butt sex confused them. I laughed all the way home.

i go through the "hood" alot here and when little kids ask rudely for my bike i usually respond that they would hurt themselves on it because they wouldnt know how to ride it, then i track stand or something. then they say something like "woah thats some X games sh*t" and i go on my way. i understand that this would not deter all. i would like to see some unwitting thief attempt to steal my fixed and bike the dust, (provided he doesnt F up the frame). i was actually thinking of making a dummy fixed bike and leaving it in front of my house "unattended", to see if some young vagrants attempt to steal it (been happenning in w phil alot recently). ill keep you updated

it's the price our gov't makes us pay for riding a nice bike.

People are people, whether its the hood, the country club, or other exotic parts. If you are obviously "not from around here", its natural that some folks are going to come up and poke you a little bit, to see how you react. If you come off all "get out of my face" or "don't touch me I'm better than you" you can expect trouble of one kind or another. On the other hand, if you are relaxed and treat folks with some tolerance (because after all, they live there, not you) and humor, mixed with some basic decency you'll usually be ok. I've been lost/stranded/alone on the street at night in some god-awful places (Mogadishu, Port-au-Prince) and had the local fun boys come up and nose around, and there's nothing like sharing a smoke and a joke to set things right. At least that's been my experience; mostly. On the other hand, smiling and being nice to the true right bastards doesn't work either, so who can say what to do? Ya pays your money and ya takes your chances.

JMO, FWIW.

i broke down late night once in oakland and i have to admit it was a bit scary. i had to walk quite a few miles thru some sketchy hoods and i've never felt like such a mark, especially considering i had everything of value i could fit in my pockets. anyone who thinks people are people, go take a nature hike thru oakland after midnight.

Oh I see.... you mean that people in Oakland after midnight aren't people? Never been there, so I can't say.

People are people. That doesn't mean that life is always all peas and carrots, does it? "they can crawl.....they can fly too" as the song goes.

Precisely