GMJ

:48
1:03
1:20
1:35

I see a water bottle.

And apparently, people do think he's cool enough to videotape. You watched it, didn't you?

Chad1376

Ok, I'll admit I didn't watch that closely. I didn't think it was all that compelling.

redpear

There's a water bottle in his jersey. Relax dudes.

Trust me, I want to talk a whole bunch of crap like you guys because there's obviously stuff he does 'differently' than the BFSSFG cult/groupthink/sheep, but it's really not that jack...not as much as some of the ridiculous bikes posted in here that don't get ridden.

/surly blog post

carleton

Wow.

https://www.bikeforums.net/www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DVI5B1TAHY It seems that he doesn't understand how jerseys work.

It's because he uses track drops to look cool...but can't stand them because they are uncomfortable

No. It's because he doesn't use the track drops. He needs road bars.

carleton

All attention isn't "good" attention. Ask Lauren Katlin:



No, see, the activity in the video was pretty dumb. Period.

If he can ride 60 miles with:
- Track frame
- Track sprint bars
- No gears
- No freewheel
- Blue jean shorts
- No jersey (at least not using it)
- No food or water on him (except for the support truck)

Then just imagine what he could do if he had proper equipment. Or maybe he's reluctant to do proper road riding/racing?

I'm not going to offer him props for doing a long silly ride with the wrong bike and equipment for hipster points.



How many hipster points do I get for riding a century on the road using a downhill bike?

GMJ

I guess its the whole counter-culture thing, which I kind of think is BS. Still, I have a lot of respect for the rider.

TejanoTrackie 

Please elaborate. What exactly makes you respect him so much ? Is it the fact that he did something that under normal circumstances would be relatively easy, and made it difficult and uncomfortable ? Like someone who rides a unicycle up a mountain ? Hey guys, look what I can do. Ain't I just the coolest ?

LesterOfPuppets

I'll award 10 points if you do it with the saddle slammed.

To be fair that emi dude does climb in the drops but yeah, the rest of the time he looks like his body is saying "get me out of this super aero 40° tuck, help!"

The whole thought of trying to pass off a 60 mile ride as something epic, even if it is fixed, is just kinda funny.

xavier853

60mi on fixed is not epic/long/toomuch/hard

carleton

For what, exactly? 60 miles isn't considered long as far as road rides go. I'm not being snarky. Please answer.

GMJ

I didn't necessarily gain any respect for him from the specific ride, I just like the way he rides. I liked his segment in Mash (sw8). From what I've seen, he loves riding, which I can relate with. He has gained notoriety for riding his bike, and I don't care where this popularity stems from and for what reasons. The same reason why I have a lot of respect for Ranier Schafer; they ride hard.

carleton

What a lot of people are missing is part of what made track bikes cool in the first place decades ago.

Take a guy who races on the track but needed basic transportation one day, so he busts out his track racing bike and rides it to work/school. That's pretty cool. It would be just as cool as if some some guy's daily driver broke down and he had to drive his SCCA Rabbit to work:



...which is pretty bad a**.

That's not what's happening in this video.

redpear

I'm not saying we should give him super props for what he did/does.

I just don't think it's that jackass. If he wants to ride his bike that way, then I don't see how we should be in up in arms because he doesn't do it the right way or 'our' way.

carleton

Again, serious questions here:

You are obviously one who is touched by this scene. Are you into the riding, the accomplishments, or the attitude? When you write that you have a lot of respect for them because they "ride hard", what exactly does that mean? Are you being swayed by music and video camera techniques?

Drummerboy1975

Look at his left two fingers. He's doing it with broken fingers guys.

carleton

Well, see, the problem comes when this "journey" is recorded, edited, photographed, a soundtrack is added and it is published to the world for consumption.

It's really not a big deal. This is like someone recording their weekly trip to the grocery store, editing it, adding a soundtrack, etc...

Everyone's big question is, "What's the big deal? Why is this hyped up to be a 'journey'?"

60 miles is a weekly Sunday morning ride everywhere around the world.

Drummerboy1975

https://surlybikes.com/blog/post/some..._ive_ever_read

redpear

I agree that it's pretty hyped up in a stupid way. I guess I just feel really neutral about it. Videos like this are a dime a dozen.

jimmytango

Can we get back to posting/mocking pictures of stupid bikes?

solipsist716

yo guyz it's cool, the orthopedic surgery branch of bfssfg is here ^

tape on fingers. must be broken!

Scrodzilla

Just wait until you see my sick edit.

EpicSchwinn

I think a dionysian "whatever makes you happy" approach to a serious sport is pretty jackass. I can agree with them on the points about riding for fun or casual recreation but saying that whatever saddle angle makes you happy is good or endorsing the use of any bike for racing really makes a mockery of people who take their riding and racing seriously. I don't expect any olympic coaches or nutritionist tell their riders to eat whatever makes them happy and smoke a pack a day if you think it looks cool. Same with having the proper equipment for any kind of riding you want to take seriously.

In the case of Massan, it doesn't grind my gears too much because he (for the most part) seems to be doing it for fun. When it's touted as some sort of epic touring journey in an astonishing time I think he's crossing the line of taking a novelty ("track" setup on the street) too seriously.

I do think this discussion is worth having though because most of us here fall somewhere on the spectrum from ridiculous tarck to utilitarian and we tend to determine jackassary along that scale. And I'm not trying to call anyone out - hell, I have a spinergy, lots of saddle to bar drop, and a bike with track geo that hasn't seen a velodrome ...yet. coming summer 2012

nuhtowel

Wait, I'm a little late to the party on this one, but if riding 60 miles of flat road with beautiful southern california weather and a support car makes you e-famous, why aren't I e-famous? Should I make a sweet edit?

ruskiantonov

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMUiwTubYu0

For some reason discussions like this one remind me of this segment.

Personally, I don't like that particular edit, but that doesn't mean I'm going to say that its objectively silly or that the rider is a poser. I'm sure he is fully aware of what he's doing and that people do longer rides, faster and on different bikes. I don't understand the point of giving people grief about something as trivial as what bike they ride.

Love the surly post.

EpicSchwinn, its not a serious sport if you don't take it seriously... just like almost anything else. Just my opinion.

I drove a 1980 Diesel Rabbit for years, not the most practical car but my favorite ride by far, am I a poser...?

Lastly, making edits is just fun, artistic and expressive. You don't have to look into it too much.

ruskiantonov

You should totally make a sweet edit if you want to. You'll have fun and it'll be a good memory.