Joey here in NYC made that famous in the early 80s, NY times did an article as the fastest messenger n 1984-5 time frame. Yeah he was the man for that and Davy Jones was the man for track bikes. NOBODY could ride like him .

Yes they were high , high as hell. both good buds to chill with though..I wish it can be like that now.

S/F,
CEYA!

I skitched on my SS a year and a half or so ago. I haven't done it fixed yet. Well, I sort of did it once but didn't hold on very long.

However, I used to skitch on my skateboard all the damn time when I skated regularly (before the bikes!) and we'd go fast. It was hairy because if your trucks were too loose, you'd wobble all over the place.

A friend of mine sort of got into a bad accident because of it. He was skitching his brother's car actually (his brother was giving us a "ride" down the street) and he couldn't control himself (I let go earlier since the speed was too much and I started to feel too much wobble) and thus, he sort of slipped and went face down. He didn't get up, he was convulsing - thoroughly creeped out by that.

He was fine though. He was just unconcious and his body was in shock. Fortunately his brother took him right to the hospital.

Goes the show the difference in readers of bikeforums.

Last month I posted in the commuter forum about leaning on trucks at red lights (I suck at the trackstanding) and got torn apart for being unsafe, ruining the public image of cyclists, and intruding on motorists private property. I'd love to see them react to this thread!

bring them over or post a link there.

S/F,
CEYA!

Joey of the x-men? That dude's legendary. He was gone when I started working here in the early nineties, as were most of the x-men, but there were still tons of stories about him. Bunch of great footage of the x-men in the "need for speed" documentary..

Skitching?

As kids, my freinds and I, used to do that on our feet on snow covered streets.

We also used to tie a rope behind a car to sleds.

Sorry, OT, no bike, but fun.

yeah, skitching on the fixed gear is kind of scary. I've only done it in situations where i know that the skitchee isn't going to get going too fast & burn up my legs.

I did get a great ride from a backhoe one time- driver was super chill.

yay my thread actually turned into some thing... well kinda went off from street speed meter to skitchin'....oh welp

should find a truck next time.. and skitch it

Next time you watch "Breaking Away" look very closely at Dave's chainrings when he's drafting the Cinzano semi...just before he gets to 60 mph there's a tight shot that clearly shows him in the small chainring. That boy is a stud I guess.

I used to do that too! I'll never forget the time that my friend was hanging onto the back of a delivery truck and suddenly hit a patch of bare dry pavement.. *wince*

Back to the OP
(or something similar i think)
today I tried something different on my normal route in.

there's a section of georgetown that gets pretty busy in the mornings.
traffic moves along at a steady 20 - 30 mph
i usually pick a path of least resistance, and like water, the pedestrians, taxis, busses, and cars all blur into stationary ojects i simply flow around.

but not today.

today (with this thread in mind) i fell in pace with a medium box truck at about 25 mph. Keeping right off its rear right edge, I slipped in and out of it's draft stream and physically felt myself get pulled faster and faster and the truck accelerated. As it hit the breaks I would slip back out and to the right lane until it had gained its speed again.

I really had an easy time cutting accross to midtown. and at one point, clocked myself going 36mph!! it felt like 16.

Is this what you guys were talking about?
Some sort of speed check?

not really... i was talking about going down the street NOT drafting and going past one of those " watch your speed" road speed meters by the police...and see how fast u're going...
but anyway the whole drafting and skitching discussion was fun too!

OT, but I couldn't help but posting this small tidbit from the advocacy and safety forum. Immediately I got the image of some messer in Chicago because I don't think commuters hit cars with locks.


thread

I would never lean on someone elses car. It's like touching their property without asking. To me, a handprint on my car isn't a big deal, but to many other people, it is.