s2sxiii

out for my evening ride today on the fixie, and i hit the local bike path. About a mile in, i see two older gentlemen on their knobby tired, geared MTB's and smile. They're older, maybe in better shape, but i'm riding fixed, road geometry and tires. In my mind i'm gonna smoke these guys. What are they doing on a paved path anyway, there are all sorts of trails running through the woods on either side of the bike path. I stand up, start mashing the pedals, and fly past with (an only mildly sarcastic) "on your left."

then i hear the click click as they downshift.

ten seconds later i'm pulling these guys. One of them is right on my back tire, staring at the back brake, and the other is right on him. I'm still flying, but now I don't want to slow down cause i feel like i should be pacing these guys. No way they can keep up with me with those fat tires.

Wrong. I'm out of shape, and wretchedly so. They're right there with me, every inch of 4 miles. I'm panting, trying to do it quietly enough so they can't hear me. Finally i can't take it, i slow down and they pass. Again, i'm out of shape. So i ride on at my normal pace. Get to the end. There they sit at the end of the bike path, enjoying the sunset. I turn around, hoping they don't see me

Too late. They're on me again. This time the whole way. Another 6 miles. Awesome. And i'm pulling again. in a headwind. Fantastic. Finally we come to a stoplight where the path crosses the road.

"Fixed gear huh? Tricky riding that on the bike path." one says. I'm seething. We talk for a minute waiting for the light. They're impressed with the weaving i managed through the pedestrians. They are not even breathing hard. I begin to hate mountain bikes. Or people who are in better shape than me.

The light changes. I was too busy talking to remember where my feet were on the pedals. Failed track stand. I'm lying in the street beside them. Awesome. They were nice enough to say "it happens to all of us, usually when everyone's watching." Urge to kill rising. I tell them "nice riding with you," and take another route home.

Any other humiliating story's out there?

trekkie820

why not just tell them to switch bikes? they have 27 combos of gears, you have one! They can coast, you can't! get what im saying? they can't knock it until they have tried it, you know? Also, they were admiring you it sounds...ANYway, yes, I have had some embarassment in my day. I was cruising around campus, blasting through the pedestrian gaps, weaving in and out, dodging buses and everything(I do this every day), then I came up to two HOT girls who liked my bike, so i figure that i would show off some and try a track stand(stupid idea, my SS freewheels). I kept it up talking to them for about 15 seconds, then i could feel that terrible lean beginning. BAMM!!!!! on the ground, stupid me forgot to loosen my straps before i stopped. Worse, it was in the middle of a class change right out in front of the huge lecture hall building, with literally hundreds of people that saw it happen. I just got up and rode away as fast as i could.

stevo

"why not just tell them to switch bikes? they have 27 combos of gears, you have one! They can coast, you can't! get what im saying? "

I dont. They were more aged. They had much greater rolling resistance. Greater wind resistence. Dont ever get into the 'choice of equipment' arguments.

It's bad enough that the recent cult status of the FG has resulted in callling the ride a 'fixie' rather than, quite simply, a 'bike' (I.e., "I'm going for a ride on my fixie" ???). Lets not get into using it as a crutch, too.

A bike's a bike's a bike. Admit defeat when necessary.

DanFromDetroit

Why do so many of these encounters turn into impromptu races ?

You are creating "humiliation" and "hubris" where none need exist. You ride your ride, they'll ride their's.

If you really feel the need to race, then go to a velodrome and experience the real thing, or sign up for a duathalon or triathalon.

Dan

auk

An ass whippin is still just that. BTDT (still doin it) on too many rides. Can remember getting toasted in a district time trial about 8 years ago by a guy in his fifties. Sure he had a Hooker TT rig and double discs, but the fact remains he could, and still does, flat out haul regardless of the bike.

Dave

hair07

here here (should that be "hear hear"? or "hear here"?). i couldn't agree more. ride what you want, let others do the same, and don't give the bike more credit(positive or negative) than it deserves.
dan

SD Fixed

Today I'm in my zone on base.. You know, that place that's below reality yet you can't touch the bottom of it? I'm rudely awakened by a voice. "You're holding up traffic". I glance over to a uniform in a white pick up. I ask somewhat winded "how fast am I going?" He looks at the dash and reports "20, you're holding us up". I look forward at the speed limit sign.

"Speed limit's 15. Slow the **** down sailor." I yell over to him.

And I peel off to the right.

That felt sooo good to say. My toes almost curled.

edk

Well put, bravo! on all counts.

hair07

in the spirit of the thread:

this weekend i went out on a group ride w/ a bunch of local racers, i think they're referred to as the "a group". i usually ride w/ the b's. so i was able to hang w/ them for 90% of the ride(god bless drafting). unbeknownedst to me, there's a designated sprint near the end of the ride from the hill after the bikepath ends to the beginning of manayunk. mind you, this sprint starts off up a hill. so when we got to the hill, the other 5 guys took off like i smelled rotten or something and w/in a minute i couldn't even see them anymore. they were just gone. this is after a pretty long ride (40 miles) on which the pace was faster than any pace i'd ridden before on a similar, hilly ride. it was like gravity and wind resistance just weren't a factor. i thought i was a pretty strong rider(still do, kind of), but now i know there are whole different levels of riders between myself and the guys who race not even on tv but in those big crits in philly and chicago and whatnot. it's like, i just look silly when they decide they want to ride hard. humbling, but lots of fun. can't wait to go again.

trekkie820

Well put, I didn't think of it that way. I guess it is a mans nature to find excuses instead of admit defeat.

s2sxiii

I certainly am admitting defeat in this case. And a bike is a bike is a bike, no offense to our fat-tired friends was intended. I was merely explaining the rationalizations my ego sent through my brain for why i should have been pulling away instead of gasping for air.

and speaking of ego...
Why does any human being, especially male, have an intrinsic need to compete? I'll agree that it need not exist, but seriously; are you going to deny BOTH nature and nurture, our desire to win out over the other males and pass on our genes, harkening back to our animal days, AND the culture of male competitiveness, driven into us since birth since the dawn of civilization? We've always had competition, sometimes friendly, sometimes not. If you've attained that zen-like state where you can exist outside ego, outside all emotion relating to competition with others, then more power to you my jedi friend. I wrote the post intending to show how embarassing our human foibles like ego can be.

robertsdvd

When I fall down by accident and anyone is around that can hear me either I swear or I say "HA, betcha can't do THAT!"

isotopesope

on sunday i decided after some beers that i need to learn to wheelie on my bike. so i'm riding down the street pulling wheelies for about two pumps of the pedals. so i'm in a wheelie and starting to fall back down, but decide to pull hard on the bars to try and stay in it.... and pulled off a real nice ear plant. of course it was right in front of this good looking girl who was sitting outside of her house. classic.

another time scott and i were riding in denver on a bike path with tons of running shorts and walking shoes abound. i am on his left, but he is leading and i notice a large pack of bikes approaching in the distance. just as i start to slow and pull over to the right of the path, scott turns over to his left to ask me a question. we collided, i got one foot out of the cage, but couldn't get the other one out fast enough. my bike tossed me, but was still attached thanks to the stupid cage. we get up dazed, not quite sure how that happened, and that pack of cyclists approach. all hot women, one of which is only wearing electrical tape x's over her nipples. "hey bike punks" they say to us. it was too weird.

stevo

S2, fully understood your position; my comment was really directed at another post. peaceout.

As far as other humiliating stories and beer. 'bout 10 years back a girl I was dating (who is my wife now) and I stop at a bayfront bar for lunch. beautiful day. Good food. Good beer. Lunch turns to dinner. After dinner a band starts playing out on the back deck. Dinner turns to 'nightclub atmosphere'.

12 hours later, we walk out from 'lunch', clip in our bikes, and go. My wife is riding my race-bike. Her first day in clips. ever. falls on her back, bike suspended directly abover her; pedals spinning, in front of a large crowd.

No problem, the bike I was on had duel-sided pedals. Swap bikes. Now its her first time ever on a fixed gear. Pedal twice. Coast. Crash again in front of the same crowd.

ouch.

SD Fixed

The, uh, visual of that, made me start laughing to no end.

dobber

Ahh, the Pee-Wee Herman approach

UNCLECHET

I think competition is a good thing. I makes us better. So does getting beat up! It's all a lesson. I want to race everybody all the time no matter what the bike. Problem is it's like being a gun fighter. Somebody is always faster. I do love riding Cat 5's roadracers off of my wheel when I'm riding my mountainbike however. Geared or SS. Oh yeah, I'm probably considered an old guy also. I also like sprinting with people and then pulling up along side and asking "When are we going to sprint?" If you do that though be prepared to be called some names. Ha! There's good riders out there no matter what they're riding. One other thing, those guys you were dicing with probably have some fixed gear bikes at home. Maybe even ex-track riders. You never know.

OneTinSloth

i got dusted by a guy on a mountain bike last week. i was on my road bike. i wasn't trying to race him or anything...there were these two assmonkeys, one riding a moped and swerving all over the place, the MTB guy slowed down behind them, and i just held my breath and closed my eyes and prayed and blew through them and never looked back. so i continued sprinting to the end and the guy shows up on my rear wheel...i can hear the treads of his tires going WRRBVVVVRRRRRRRR behind me and i just eased off a bit and let him get around me. i didn't have the patience to try to race this guy, and i hate it when people suck my wheel.

i usually ride fast along the path just to avoid becoming bored with the whole thing. and i usually either try to push myself to go faster for longer.

sometimes though, i will "race" people and i end up feeling pretty crappy about it...the other day i was riding and i blew by this guy on an all white bike. and i was like "OMG!! HE HAS AN ALL WHITE BIKE AND I HAVE AN ALL BLACK BIKE WE WILL RACE AND IT WILL BE COOL!!" yeah, so i dusted him, obviously he didn't care, and wasn't going to play my game. i pulled off at a bench to enjoy the view of the golden gate. he rides past me and i get a really good honest look at him. yeah, he's probably like 60 something. so now i'm thinking to myself "good job slothy, you just pwned some old geezer riding an old school road bike..." then i felt bad.

eh...i like the gunfighter analogy. there's always someone better and faster...when someone just blows past me when i'm out cruising i just think to myself "there's always a bigger fish."

UNCLECHET

Well there's always the risk that the other person doesn't really want to play and that's ok. I figure if they're drafting me or some other racey type thing they're game. Sometimes they're not. Then I feel bad too. But I never feel mad at the other person if I've started it, or join in and they finish it. That's my fault.

pitboss

A few thoughts (recycled) on this:
Thousands of dollars,
Titanium and carbon,
Cannot change a flat.

Colors of colors,
The jersey for all jerseys,
Please buy a mirror.

Nature abhores you,
Your technicolor vomit,
I just cut your spokes.

And my favorite:

Sweet mist and asphalt,
the terminus unforeseen,
my pump in your spokes.

UNCLECHET

Well said, er, written! BTW 42/16 is my favorite. Sweet............

auroch

someone said: "Any bike ride with more than one rider is a race"

I was rolling into Daley Plaza for Critical Mass when I smacked one of those stone benches that match the pavement. I endo-ed with my bike on top of me strapped in. excellent. and I got chased by a dog today (more on that later). jeff

pitboss

Seconded
I met this guy on the LFP on the way home today, riding a stock 2002 Pista he just picked up. We chatted, drafted, etc, and just north of Belmont Harbor, he piked this rollerblader (who thought he could quickly get across the path...moron). I was in tow about 10m back...and had to chuckle. No one was injured, no bike was damaged. He was thankful for his brake. As I am sure the rollerblader was too.
Spring is here and the fixies are coming out more and more. I am still on my beater, Trizec Hahn disapproves of me bringing my pride and joy in. So Surly brings me home.

skitbraviking

mildly humiliating anecdote: was riding around through strong winds on saturday, winds that almost knocked me over. Paced myself well and heading away from the lake into Andersonville. I was feeling rather superior on my bike with new clipped pedals and rest up against a post. The post did not hold me or I did not hold myself up well enough against the post. Nevertheless, I slipped out of my pedals as the bike fell and walloped the handbars with a whack strong enough to mess up my steering. I tried ever so hard to play it cool. But alas, I was the only one who noticed and felt all the more stupid for trying to play it cool in front of nobody.

lucklust

It's ok... you keep on practicing being cool in front of nobody and maybe, just maybe, someday you'll be good enough to play it cool in front of the world!