I took the langster home for the weekend to the tiny, NW ohio town of tiffin (Population around 19K), just for the the satisfaction of being the only person in town on a fixed gear. I rode over to the house of one of my old teachers, and avid triathlete from boston and a monster of a man, (6'4" 250), and we were talking bikes in the living room, so he took me out to show me the new wheels for "Eddy," his vintage steel merckx racer, and i was impressed. So was he when i rolled my bike into his garage... his eyes got really wide, he picked it up and immediately got a little miffed, since my bike was lighter than his, even with his fancy wheels. I was proud.

Then I took it into town to show off to all my old riding buddies, a lot of hard-core mtb'ers and skateboarders, and we rode around town. Had a run in with some punk teenagers in a jeep who felt we were blocking traffic...So we blocked off their lane for about a mile riding around 10 mph. We chased them around for a bit, just for entertainment....me having to ride at a leisurely pace so my friends could keep up. After we got bored, we sat down on a corner of the main drag to enjoy some frosty beverages and watch traffic, got compliments from the punks on how fast we were and i managed to sell my best friend on getting a fixie -- he's going after a surly this week. All in all it was just a great weekend to be on the bike...I didn't even flat on our crappy streets, and there's nothing better than one of your friends saying "Its not fair, your bike weighs about as much as a gallon of milk" as they chase after you on a 40 pound ellsworth dare. I feel like a million bucks...I'm sure i'll get hit by a car this week or something..

just reflecting...

I love my Langster too!!

while we're on a langster kick...
sunday.10pm.washington dc.humid as a heck.
just picked up a couple of burritos for me and the missus. come to a relativley busy intersection. trackstand attempt fails miserably, i blame it on the shifted weight of the burritos. look up and see a dude on a bike on the other side of the street with a motorcycle helmet on. curious. he starts crossing the street parallel to traffic and perpendicular to me. i see it's a fellow langster brethren.
then i see a subaru outback making a left turn from said parallel traffic (she had the light by the way). helmet guy doesn't see her (probably due to limited periferal vision), she doesn't see him (just cause) til the last minute and she brakes hard and slams on her horn. helmet guy must've locked up cuz he almost flipped over, he begins to lose his footing and just barely stays up. the horn is still going. helmet guy regains composure and rides off kinda clumsily trying to clip in while going as fast as he can. subaru drives off and i cross the street in her direction. she immediately pulls off to the side and i'm thinking "crap she thinks i'm the guy cuz i'm on a langster and she waiting to give me a piece of her mind". so i ride up cautiously and seeing that she's not looking in the rearview mirror i start to pick up the pace. i ride by her and she has her forehead in her hands with a scared to death/pissed off look. i wonder if she thinks i'm the guy. but i don't have a helmet on and at least i've got some bright lights on. so i look back as i ride off and she's still there. i think she was just shaken from almost killing someone.
moral of the story? they're more afraid of you than you are of them.
no really. sometimes it is your fault. ride safely guys and girls.