Doesn't anyone listen to hip hop, eat meat and drink liquor around here?
Im no where near a vegitarian, i couldn't name an idie rock band, PBR tastes like A$$.
If there is a fixie standard, im way out of the loop. But then whats a big black guy doing on a bicycle anyway.
Somebody give me a basketball and some jordans.
You're not posing if you ride your bike. You are not your messenger bag.
Im no where near a vegitarian, i couldn't name an idie rock band, PBR tastes like A$$.
If there is a fixie standard, im way out of the loop. But then whats a big black guy doing on a bicycle anyway.
Somebody give me a basketball and some jordans.
You're not posing if you ride your bike. You are not your messenger bag.
King of the Hipsters
HexagonSun wrote:
"...for your next feat will you be riding your fixie up K2?"
I have lived 58 years now.
I have flown helicopters for 36 of those 58 years, and I love my job.
I want more than anything else (that I want for myself) to keep doing my present job for at least another 10 years, to age 68 and beyond.
Riding a fixed gear bike plays a major role in acheiving that goal.
Some years ago, about ten years ago, I started having too many training injuries, and actually had two back surgeries and a knee sugery all in the period of about two years.
Doctors and friends described this as the normal aging process and suggested that I simply consider my active athletic years part of the past.
OK.
So I healed from my surgeries, sat on the couch, put on 65 pounds of blubber, and I continued to experience injuries and pain, becoming a cripple.
The couch potato thing didn't seem to work for me, and so I researched aging and, in a couple of weeks I turned myself into a leading authority on aging.
Please allow me to share what I learned.
If from age 18 we eat, sleep and exercise perfectly; and, if we experience no physical nor emotional trauma, or disease; and, if we have meaningful work and wholesome, satisfying relationships; then, our bodies and minds will not age until we reach our 63rd year of life.
Everything we see in our bodies and psyche prior to the age of 63, and which we interpret as evidence of the normal aging process, represents not aging at all but rather damage due to stress and imperfect body management.
Please consider the following analogy.
If an airplane has a glide ratio of 20 to one, that means, without an engine providing thrust, the airplane will glide twenty units of distance forward for every unit of altitude it descends.
This same airplane, with its glide ratio of 20 to one, will glide 200 miles if it has an altitude of 10 miles when and if the engine quits.
Similarly, our bodies and minds have a glide ratio.
Genetically, as a general analogy, our engines quit at age 63.
The height of our health at age 63 determines how much altitude we have, and how far, and for how long we can glide before we hit the ground.
Now, if we have bomb in our cargo compartment, like cancer or some other genetically preordained disease, then forget about altitudes and glide ratios.
Generally, though, on the average, if we arrive at age 63 with lots of altitude, in terms of health, then we have a long ways to go before hitting the ground.
An honest examination of my health issues showed my pain and injuries to come from over-training, inadequate training, and from inelegant repetitive movements.
My ruptured disks came from too many hours in the gym per week, too much weight, too many reptitions, too many miles of roadwork and not enough recovery time.
Similarly, the pain in my knee came not from anything wrong with my knee, but from decades of doing the same thing in my upper back and ribs, without realizing how movement in one part of my body affected my body as a whole, and all the years of repetitive stresses finally coming to focus in my right knee.
My knee doctor gets birthday cards from the US Olympic Ski Team.
People fly here from all over the world to have him do their knee surgeries.
He knows knees.
When he told me I didn't have anything wrong with my knees, and that he had done everything he could surgically, I had to listen.
After all, the guy has the credentials and the international reputation.
When he used the Xrays to show me the load paths and movement patterns in my whole body, originating in my upper back and leading to the pain in my knee, I had to believe him.
When he sent me to the physical therapist, and a physical therapist that specializes in movement, I had to believe in that process, as well.
The general public believes a man my age cannot ride a fixed gear bike.
They all say the same thing, regarding the knees and age and fixed gear bikes.
Well, I think we all know of exceptions to the public's perceptions of old guys riding fixed gear bikes.
And yet, we also know the public has grasped some degree of truth about fixed gear bikes and knees and older riders, even if they and we lack clarity about the connections and relationships.
It turns out that fixed gear bikes require especially good body mechanics of the rider.
If the rider does not have perfect and elegant body mechanics, this will quickly evidence itself as pain, and especially pain in the knees.
In a younger man, youth, resilience and the ability to rapidly heal will mask many inelegances, and will do so over a relatively long period of time.
However, in an older man, such as myself, the body almost immediately responds to inelegance with pain, and, conversely, to elegance with comfort.
A fixed gear bike, more than any other constraint, as they call it, gives the body very clear and immediate feedback regarding the quality and the organization of movement, as well as the quality of body maintenance.
Not only does pain in my knee help me see the organization of my upper back and neck more clearly and immediately, it also give me feedback regarding my diet and hydration.
If I eat inappropriately and under-hydrate, I feel it in my legs and wind and in my (lack of) enthusiasm.
My pain and strength levels also give me insight into my rest and recovery and the number of miles I ride in a week.
I have devoted an entire year of my life to nothing except learning to orgainze my body's movements so that my body in turn can comfortably ride a fixed gear bike and enjoy it.
If I feel pain in my knee while riding, I can generally FIX it within minutes by attending to my whole body's mechanics.
It can get quite complex and requires huge amounts of concentration and discipline which I did not previously have, and especially the ability to look inward and see how my body works and interacts with itself.
In many ways, the fixed gear bike reminds me of the sword, and most notably the Yagyu Ryu school of the sword.
It does not surprise me that the Japanese have such a passion for Keirin racing.
Similarly, I have a life long fascination with violence and non-violence.
In Aikido, one practices with the sword in order to develop an understanding of distance, relationship and intent.
At the very highest levels, both Aikidoka and Judoka seem to have the ability to read minds.
They can't, or don't read minds; rather, they have learned and incorporated in their awareness hundreds and thousands of subtle clues, which they get from the slightest nuance of orientation, distance, closure, timing, rhythm, and, which makes the intent of their dance partner transparent to them.
Similarly, the rider of a fixed gear bike handicaps himself with a constraint that forces him or her to the highest levels of awareness, whether they consciously choose this awareness or not.
Further, the vulnerability and constraint of a fixed gear rider sailing through a sea of giant, mindless fish; or trekking amidst a stampeding herd of angry, cell-phone infested water buffalo teaches the rider more about self-defense and the so-called martial arts than he could ever learn in the dojo. I tell my friends I practice Bikido whenever I ride my fixed gear bike.
Yes, and riding my fixed gear bike as a martial art takes me back to the Yagyu Ryu school of the Sword.
From KINGFISHER WOODWORKS:
"The Yagyu bokken is a sword of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the Yagyu Ryu involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This wooden sword is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another weapon through heavy contact."
Try reading it this way:
"The fixed gear bike is a bike of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the fixed gear bike involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This fixed gear bike is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another vehicle through heavy contact."
If I can arrive at 63 years of age without a car, and riding an 81" fixed gear bike every day, then I will have attained a great height from which to glide, and perhaps even soar.
If I can ride a fixed gear bike into my 70's, then I will very probably have attained a black belt in Bikido.
I will have no special costume to wear signifiying that attainment.
However, other Bikidokas will see me as pass each other riding, and I will see them, and we will exchange nods and smiles, and confer upon each other the black belt of Bikido.
Furthermore, the intent of the giant SUV riders will become so transparent to us, we will see through them as through the wind.
I see and feel the wind in ways the SUV riders will never understand, as do we all, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
"...for your next feat will you be riding your fixie up K2?"
I have lived 58 years now.
I have flown helicopters for 36 of those 58 years, and I love my job.
I want more than anything else (that I want for myself) to keep doing my present job for at least another 10 years, to age 68 and beyond.
Riding a fixed gear bike plays a major role in acheiving that goal.
Some years ago, about ten years ago, I started having too many training injuries, and actually had two back surgeries and a knee sugery all in the period of about two years.
Doctors and friends described this as the normal aging process and suggested that I simply consider my active athletic years part of the past.
OK.
So I healed from my surgeries, sat on the couch, put on 65 pounds of blubber, and I continued to experience injuries and pain, becoming a cripple.
The couch potato thing didn't seem to work for me, and so I researched aging and, in a couple of weeks I turned myself into a leading authority on aging.
Please allow me to share what I learned.
If from age 18 we eat, sleep and exercise perfectly; and, if we experience no physical nor emotional trauma, or disease; and, if we have meaningful work and wholesome, satisfying relationships; then, our bodies and minds will not age until we reach our 63rd year of life.
Everything we see in our bodies and psyche prior to the age of 63, and which we interpret as evidence of the normal aging process, represents not aging at all but rather damage due to stress and imperfect body management.
Please consider the following analogy.
If an airplane has a glide ratio of 20 to one, that means, without an engine providing thrust, the airplane will glide twenty units of distance forward for every unit of altitude it descends.
This same airplane, with its glide ratio of 20 to one, will glide 200 miles if it has an altitude of 10 miles when and if the engine quits.
Similarly, our bodies and minds have a glide ratio.
Genetically, as a general analogy, our engines quit at age 63.
The height of our health at age 63 determines how much altitude we have, and how far, and for how long we can glide before we hit the ground.
Now, if we have bomb in our cargo compartment, like cancer or some other genetically preordained disease, then forget about altitudes and glide ratios.
Generally, though, on the average, if we arrive at age 63 with lots of altitude, in terms of health, then we have a long ways to go before hitting the ground.
An honest examination of my health issues showed my pain and injuries to come from over-training, inadequate training, and from inelegant repetitive movements.
My ruptured disks came from too many hours in the gym per week, too much weight, too many reptitions, too many miles of roadwork and not enough recovery time.
Similarly, the pain in my knee came not from anything wrong with my knee, but from decades of doing the same thing in my upper back and ribs, without realizing how movement in one part of my body affected my body as a whole, and all the years of repetitive stresses finally coming to focus in my right knee.
My knee doctor gets birthday cards from the US Olympic Ski Team.
People fly here from all over the world to have him do their knee surgeries.
He knows knees.
When he told me I didn't have anything wrong with my knees, and that he had done everything he could surgically, I had to listen.
After all, the guy has the credentials and the international reputation.
When he used the Xrays to show me the load paths and movement patterns in my whole body, originating in my upper back and leading to the pain in my knee, I had to believe him.
When he sent me to the physical therapist, and a physical therapist that specializes in movement, I had to believe in that process, as well.
The general public believes a man my age cannot ride a fixed gear bike.
They all say the same thing, regarding the knees and age and fixed gear bikes.
Well, I think we all know of exceptions to the public's perceptions of old guys riding fixed gear bikes.
And yet, we also know the public has grasped some degree of truth about fixed gear bikes and knees and older riders, even if they and we lack clarity about the connections and relationships.
It turns out that fixed gear bikes require especially good body mechanics of the rider.
If the rider does not have perfect and elegant body mechanics, this will quickly evidence itself as pain, and especially pain in the knees.
In a younger man, youth, resilience and the ability to rapidly heal will mask many inelegances, and will do so over a relatively long period of time.
However, in an older man, such as myself, the body almost immediately responds to inelegance with pain, and, conversely, to elegance with comfort.
A fixed gear bike, more than any other constraint, as they call it, gives the body very clear and immediate feedback regarding the quality and the organization of movement, as well as the quality of body maintenance.
Not only does pain in my knee help me see the organization of my upper back and neck more clearly and immediately, it also give me feedback regarding my diet and hydration.
If I eat inappropriately and under-hydrate, I feel it in my legs and wind and in my (lack of) enthusiasm.
My pain and strength levels also give me insight into my rest and recovery and the number of miles I ride in a week.
I have devoted an entire year of my life to nothing except learning to orgainze my body's movements so that my body in turn can comfortably ride a fixed gear bike and enjoy it.
If I feel pain in my knee while riding, I can generally FIX it within minutes by attending to my whole body's mechanics.
It can get quite complex and requires huge amounts of concentration and discipline which I did not previously have, and especially the ability to look inward and see how my body works and interacts with itself.
In many ways, the fixed gear bike reminds me of the sword, and most notably the Yagyu Ryu school of the sword.
It does not surprise me that the Japanese have such a passion for Keirin racing.
Similarly, I have a life long fascination with violence and non-violence.
In Aikido, one practices with the sword in order to develop an understanding of distance, relationship and intent.
At the very highest levels, both Aikidoka and Judoka seem to have the ability to read minds.
They can't, or don't read minds; rather, they have learned and incorporated in their awareness hundreds and thousands of subtle clues, which they get from the slightest nuance of orientation, distance, closure, timing, rhythm, and, which makes the intent of their dance partner transparent to them.
Similarly, the rider of a fixed gear bike handicaps himself with a constraint that forces him or her to the highest levels of awareness, whether they consciously choose this awareness or not.
Further, the vulnerability and constraint of a fixed gear rider sailing through a sea of giant, mindless fish; or trekking amidst a stampeding herd of angry, cell-phone infested water buffalo teaches the rider more about self-defense and the so-called martial arts than he could ever learn in the dojo. I tell my friends I practice Bikido whenever I ride my fixed gear bike.
Yes, and riding my fixed gear bike as a martial art takes me back to the Yagyu Ryu school of the Sword.
From KINGFISHER WOODWORKS:
"The Yagyu bokken is a sword of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the Yagyu Ryu involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This wooden sword is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another weapon through heavy contact."
Try reading it this way:
"The fixed gear bike is a bike of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the fixed gear bike involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This fixed gear bike is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another vehicle through heavy contact."
If I can arrive at 63 years of age without a car, and riding an 81" fixed gear bike every day, then I will have attained a great height from which to glide, and perhaps even soar.
If I can ride a fixed gear bike into my 70's, then I will very probably have attained a black belt in Bikido.
I will have no special costume to wear signifiying that attainment.
However, other Bikidokas will see me as pass each other riding, and I will see them, and we will exchange nods and smiles, and confer upon each other the black belt of Bikido.
Furthermore, the intent of the giant SUV riders will become so transparent to us, we will see through them as through the wind.
I see and feel the wind in ways the SUV riders will never understand, as do we all, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
Lord Carlton of Worksop
Quote:
If I can arrive at 63 years of age without a car, and riding an 81" fixed gear bike every day, then I will have attained a great height from which to glide, and perhaps even soar. [...]
Originally Posted by Ken Cox
[...]If I can arrive at 63 years of age without a car, and riding an 81" fixed gear bike every day, then I will have attained a great height from which to glide, and perhaps even soar. [...]
I sir, wish to tell you that you have made me think a whole lot while reading your post. It is, I think, great material for everyone to reflect upon.
Condiser me your first white belt student.
THC Freedom Fighter
Quote:
"...for your next feat will you be riding your fixie up K2?"
I have lived 58 years now.
I have flown helicopters for 36 of those 58 years, and I love my job.
I want more than anything else (that I want for myself) to keep doing my present job for at least another 10 years, to age 68 and beyond.
Riding a fixed gear bike plays a major role in acheiving that goal.
Some years ago, about ten years ago, I started having too many training injuries, and actually had two back surgeries and a knee sugery all in the period of about two years.
Doctors and friends described this as the normal aging process and suggested that I simply consider my active athletic years part of the past.
OK.
So I healed from my surgeries, sat on the couch, put on 65 pounds of blubber, and I continued to experience injuries and pain, becoming a cripple.
The couch potato thing didn't seem to work for me, and so I researched aging and, in a couple of weeks I turned myself into a leading authority on aging.
Please allow me to share what I learned.
If from age 18 we eat, sleep and exercise perfectly; and, if we experience no physical nor emotional trauma, or disease; and, if we have meaningful work and wholesome, satisfying relationships; then, our bodies and minds will not age until we reach our 63rd year of life.
Everything we see in our bodies and psyche prior to the age of 63, and which we interpret as evidence of the normal aging process, represents not aging at all but rather damage due to stress and imperfect body management.
Please consider the following analogy.
If an airplane has a glide ratio of 20 to one, that means, without an engine providing thrust, the airplane will glide twenty units of distance forward for every unit of altitude it descends.
This same airplane, with its glide ratio of 20 to one, will glide 200 miles if it has an altitude of 10 miles when and if the engine quits.
Similarly, our bodies and minds have a glide ratio.
Genetically, as a general analogy, our engines quit at age 63.
The height of our health at age 63 determines how much altitude we have, and how far, and for how long we can glide before we hit the ground.
Now, if we have bomb in our cargo compartment, like cancer or some other genetically preordained disease, then forget about altitudes and glide ratios.
Generally, though, on the average, if we arrive at age 63 with lots of altitude, in terms of health, then we have a long ways to go before hitting the ground.
An honest examination of my health issues showed my pain and injuries to come from over-training, inadequate training, and from inelegant repetitive movements.
My ruptured disks came from too many hours in the gym per week, too much weight, too many reptitions, too many miles of roadwork and not enough recovery time.
Similarly, the pain in my knee came not from anything wrong with my knee, but from decades of doing the same thing in my upper back and ribs, without realizing how movement in one part of my body affected my body as a whole, and all the years of repetitive stresses finally coming to focus in my right knee.
My knee doctor gets birthday cards from the US Olympic Ski Team.
People fly here from all over the world to have him do their knee surgeries.
He knows knees.
When he told me I didn't have anything wrong with my knees, and that he had done everything he could surgically, I had to listen.
After all, the guy has the credentials and the international reputation.
When he used the Xrays to show me the load paths and movement patterns in my whole body, originating in my upper back and leading to the pain in my knee, I had to believe him.
When he sent me to the physical therapist, and a physical therapist that specializes in movement, I had to believe in that process, as well.
The general public believes a man my age cannot ride a fixed gear bike.
They all say the same thing, regarding the knees and age and fixed gear bikes.
Well, I think we all know of exceptions to the public's perceptions of old guys riding fixed gear bikes.
And yet, we also know the public has grasped some degree of truth about fixed gear bikes and knees and older riders, even if they and we lack clarity about the connections and relationships.
It turns out that fixed gear bikes require especially good body mechanics of the rider.
If the rider does not have perfect and elegant body mechanics, this will quickly evidence itself as pain, and especially pain in the knees.
In a younger man, youth, resilience and the ability to rapidly heal will mask many inelegances, and will do so over a relatively long period of time.
However, in an older man, such as myself, the body almost immediately responds to inelegance with pain, and, conversely, to elegance with comfort.
A fixed gear bike, more than any other constraint, as they call it, gives the body very clear and immediate feedback regarding the quality and the organization of movement, as well as the quality of body maintenance.
Not only does pain in my knee help me see the organization of my upper back and neck more clearly and immediately, it also give me feedback regarding my diet and hydration.
If I eat inappropriately and under-hydrate, I feel it in my legs and wind and in my (lack of) enthusiasm.
My pain and strength levels also give me insight into my rest and recovery and the number of miles I ride in a week.
I have devoted an entire year of my life to nothing except learning to orgainze my body's movements so that my body in turn can comfortably ride a fixed gear bike and enjoy it.
If I feel pain in my knee while riding, I can generally FIX it within minutes by attending to my whole body's mechanics.
It can get quite complex and requires huge amounts of concentration and discipline which I did not previously have, and especially the ability to look inward and see how my body works and interacts with itself.
In many ways, the fixed gear bike reminds me of the sword, and most notably the Yagyu Ryu school of the sword.
It does not surprise me that the Japanese have such a passion for Keirin racing.
Similarly, I have a life long fascination with violence and non-violence.
In Aikido, one practices with the sword in order to develop an understanding of distance, relationship and intent.
At the very highest levels, both Aikidoka and Judoka seem to have the ability to read minds.
They can't, or don't read minds; rather, they have learned and incorporated in their awareness hundreds and thousands of subtle clues, which they get from the slightest nuance of orientation, distance, closure, timing, rhythm, and, which makes the intent of their dance partner transparent to them.
Similarly, the rider of a fixed gear bike handicaps himself with a constraint that forces him or her to the highest levels of awareness, whether they consciously choose this awareness or not.
Further, the vulnerability and constraint of a fixed gear rider sailing through a sea of giant, mindless fish; or trekking amidst a stampeding herd of angry, cell-phone infested water buffalo teaches the rider more about self-defense and the so-called martial arts than he could ever learn in the dojo. I tell my friends I practice Bikido whenever I ride my fixed gear bike.
Yes, and riding my fixed gear bike as a martial art takes me back to the Yagyu Ryu school of the Sword.
From KINGFISHER WOODWORKS:
"The Yagyu bokken is a sword of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the Yagyu Ryu involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This wooden sword is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another weapon through heavy contact."
Try reading it this way:
"The fixed gear bike is a bike of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the fixed gear bike involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This fixed gear bike is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another vehicle through heavy contact."
If I can arrive at 63 years of age without a car, and riding an 81" fixed gear bike every day, then I will have attained a great height from which to glide, and perhaps even soar.
If I can ride a fixed gear bike into my 70's, then I will very probably have attained a black belt in Bikido.
I will have no special costume to wear signifiying that attainment.
However, other Bikidokas will see me as pass each other riding, and I will see them, and we will exchange nods and smiles, and confer upon each other the black belt of Bikido.
Furthermore, the intent of the giant SUV riders will become so transparent to us, we will see through them as through the wind.
I see and feel the wind in ways the SUV riders will never understand, as do we all, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
Originally Posted by Ken Cox
HexagonSun wrote:"...for your next feat will you be riding your fixie up K2?"
I have lived 58 years now.
I have flown helicopters for 36 of those 58 years, and I love my job.
I want more than anything else (that I want for myself) to keep doing my present job for at least another 10 years, to age 68 and beyond.
Riding a fixed gear bike plays a major role in acheiving that goal.
Some years ago, about ten years ago, I started having too many training injuries, and actually had two back surgeries and a knee sugery all in the period of about two years.
Doctors and friends described this as the normal aging process and suggested that I simply consider my active athletic years part of the past.
OK.
So I healed from my surgeries, sat on the couch, put on 65 pounds of blubber, and I continued to experience injuries and pain, becoming a cripple.
The couch potato thing didn't seem to work for me, and so I researched aging and, in a couple of weeks I turned myself into a leading authority on aging.
Please allow me to share what I learned.
If from age 18 we eat, sleep and exercise perfectly; and, if we experience no physical nor emotional trauma, or disease; and, if we have meaningful work and wholesome, satisfying relationships; then, our bodies and minds will not age until we reach our 63rd year of life.
Everything we see in our bodies and psyche prior to the age of 63, and which we interpret as evidence of the normal aging process, represents not aging at all but rather damage due to stress and imperfect body management.
Please consider the following analogy.
If an airplane has a glide ratio of 20 to one, that means, without an engine providing thrust, the airplane will glide twenty units of distance forward for every unit of altitude it descends.
This same airplane, with its glide ratio of 20 to one, will glide 200 miles if it has an altitude of 10 miles when and if the engine quits.
Similarly, our bodies and minds have a glide ratio.
Genetically, as a general analogy, our engines quit at age 63.
The height of our health at age 63 determines how much altitude we have, and how far, and for how long we can glide before we hit the ground.
Now, if we have bomb in our cargo compartment, like cancer or some other genetically preordained disease, then forget about altitudes and glide ratios.
Generally, though, on the average, if we arrive at age 63 with lots of altitude, in terms of health, then we have a long ways to go before hitting the ground.
An honest examination of my health issues showed my pain and injuries to come from over-training, inadequate training, and from inelegant repetitive movements.
My ruptured disks came from too many hours in the gym per week, too much weight, too many reptitions, too many miles of roadwork and not enough recovery time.
Similarly, the pain in my knee came not from anything wrong with my knee, but from decades of doing the same thing in my upper back and ribs, without realizing how movement in one part of my body affected my body as a whole, and all the years of repetitive stresses finally coming to focus in my right knee.
My knee doctor gets birthday cards from the US Olympic Ski Team.
People fly here from all over the world to have him do their knee surgeries.
He knows knees.
When he told me I didn't have anything wrong with my knees, and that he had done everything he could surgically, I had to listen.
After all, the guy has the credentials and the international reputation.
When he used the Xrays to show me the load paths and movement patterns in my whole body, originating in my upper back and leading to the pain in my knee, I had to believe him.
When he sent me to the physical therapist, and a physical therapist that specializes in movement, I had to believe in that process, as well.
The general public believes a man my age cannot ride a fixed gear bike.
They all say the same thing, regarding the knees and age and fixed gear bikes.
Well, I think we all know of exceptions to the public's perceptions of old guys riding fixed gear bikes.
And yet, we also know the public has grasped some degree of truth about fixed gear bikes and knees and older riders, even if they and we lack clarity about the connections and relationships.
It turns out that fixed gear bikes require especially good body mechanics of the rider.
If the rider does not have perfect and elegant body mechanics, this will quickly evidence itself as pain, and especially pain in the knees.
In a younger man, youth, resilience and the ability to rapidly heal will mask many inelegances, and will do so over a relatively long period of time.
However, in an older man, such as myself, the body almost immediately responds to inelegance with pain, and, conversely, to elegance with comfort.
A fixed gear bike, more than any other constraint, as they call it, gives the body very clear and immediate feedback regarding the quality and the organization of movement, as well as the quality of body maintenance.
Not only does pain in my knee help me see the organization of my upper back and neck more clearly and immediately, it also give me feedback regarding my diet and hydration.
If I eat inappropriately and under-hydrate, I feel it in my legs and wind and in my (lack of) enthusiasm.
My pain and strength levels also give me insight into my rest and recovery and the number of miles I ride in a week.
I have devoted an entire year of my life to nothing except learning to orgainze my body's movements so that my body in turn can comfortably ride a fixed gear bike and enjoy it.
If I feel pain in my knee while riding, I can generally FIX it within minutes by attending to my whole body's mechanics.
It can get quite complex and requires huge amounts of concentration and discipline which I did not previously have, and especially the ability to look inward and see how my body works and interacts with itself.
In many ways, the fixed gear bike reminds me of the sword, and most notably the Yagyu Ryu school of the sword.
It does not surprise me that the Japanese have such a passion for Keirin racing.
Similarly, I have a life long fascination with violence and non-violence.
In Aikido, one practices with the sword in order to develop an understanding of distance, relationship and intent.
At the very highest levels, both Aikidoka and Judoka seem to have the ability to read minds.
They can't, or don't read minds; rather, they have learned and incorporated in their awareness hundreds and thousands of subtle clues, which they get from the slightest nuance of orientation, distance, closure, timing, rhythm, and, which makes the intent of their dance partner transparent to them.
Similarly, the rider of a fixed gear bike handicaps himself with a constraint that forces him or her to the highest levels of awareness, whether they consciously choose this awareness or not.
Further, the vulnerability and constraint of a fixed gear rider sailing through a sea of giant, mindless fish; or trekking amidst a stampeding herd of angry, cell-phone infested water buffalo teaches the rider more about self-defense and the so-called martial arts than he could ever learn in the dojo. I tell my friends I practice Bikido whenever I ride my fixed gear bike.
Yes, and riding my fixed gear bike as a martial art takes me back to the Yagyu Ryu school of the Sword.
From KINGFISHER WOODWORKS:
"The Yagyu bokken is a sword of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the Yagyu Ryu involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This wooden sword is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another weapon through heavy contact."
Try reading it this way:
"The fixed gear bike is a bike of finesse and evasion. The techniques of the fixed gear bike involve moving into positions quickly and lightly. This fixed gear bike is very thin and fast and not oriented to influencing the path of another vehicle through heavy contact."
If I can arrive at 63 years of age without a car, and riding an 81" fixed gear bike every day, then I will have attained a great height from which to glide, and perhaps even soar.
If I can ride a fixed gear bike into my 70's, then I will very probably have attained a black belt in Bikido.
I will have no special costume to wear signifiying that attainment.
However, other Bikidokas will see me as pass each other riding, and I will see them, and we will exchange nods and smiles, and confer upon each other the black belt of Bikido.
Furthermore, the intent of the giant SUV riders will become so transparent to us, we will see through them as through the wind.
I see and feel the wind in ways the SUV riders will never understand, as do we all, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
i usually chop up long posts and just highlight this or that.....but ken, i must say....although i have enjoyed reading most of your posts, this has to be one of the best posts i have read in quite a long time...well said...
Good Afternoon!
Quote:
Doesn't anyone listen to hip hop, eat meat and drink liquor around here?
Im no where near a vegitarian, I couldn't name an idie rock band, PBR tastes like A$$.
If there is a fixie standard, im way out of the loop. But then whats a big black guy doing on a bicycle anyway.
Somebody give me a basketball and some jordans.
You're not posing if you ride your bike. You are not your messenger bag.
Doesn't anyone listen to hip hop, eat meat and drink liquor around here?
Im no where near a vegitarian, I couldn't name an idie rock band, PBR tastes like A$$.
If there is a fixie standard, im way out of the loop. But then whats a big black guy doing on a bicycle anyway.
Somebody give me a basketball and some jordans.
You're not posing if you ride your bike. You are not your messenger bag.
No, Yes, and Yes.
Me neither, I listen to a mix of country, folk and classic rock, with a smattering of 80s/early 90s from my mispent youth. It does taste like a$$, but it's been free all the times I've had it. Can't beat free.
Definately wear your Jordans, good foot protection and it'll hurt the wallet of those that feel the need to identify
Quote:
hahahahahaha... too true.Originally Posted by boots
moe, who runs keiren cycle cafe in berlin, put it perfectly. "everywhere you go in williamsburg, you see them. the hipster walking his pista next to his japanese girlfriend."
Quote:
it's my understanding guinness still uses isinglass. Originally Posted by phidauex
There used to be, but not really any more. Some 'fining' agents used for clearing beer or wine are made from fish parts (called isinglass), but that is not a common fining agent anymore.
all you vegan beer drinkers may now heave a collective gasp.
THC Freedom Fighter
Quote:
Im no where near a vegitarian, i couldn't name an idie rock band, PBR tastes like A$$.
If there is a fixie standard, im way out of the loop. But then whats a big black guy doing on a bicycle anyway.
and on top of that, a big black guy living in hawaii......Originally Posted by inkdwheels
Doesn't anyone listen to hip hop, eat meat and drink liquor around here?Im no where near a vegitarian, i couldn't name an idie rock band, PBR tastes like A$$.
If there is a fixie standard, im way out of the loop. But then whats a big black guy doing on a bicycle anyway.
sellout....
i love hip hop, and most other genres of music...only one qualification...it be good & make the ladies wanna party....
remember samuel jacksons' line, "well my girlfriend is a vegitarian, so basically that makes me vegitarian"
well my girlfriend was a vegitarian when we first met and is now about 90% veg...
pbr.... i haven't figured that one out either, but whatever...i can buy pitchers of that sh*T for those that like it while i continue with my micros and whiskey...though lately i have been on a citron kick...
Ken Cox, well said.
There should a "flag" system like craiglist for "best of bikeforums".
There should a "flag" system like craiglist for "best of bikeforums".
Quote:
all you vegan beer drinkers may now heave a collective gasp.
And Smarties use cochineal – made from crushed beetles. yummy...Originally Posted by HexagonSun
it's my understanding guinness still uses isinglass. all you vegan beer drinkers may now heave a collective gasp.
In so far as beer goes, luckily the local liquour board has a whackload of ales. Hobgoblin is my current favourite with St. Peter's Winter ale running a close second.
Good Afternoon!
Quote:
I will have no special costume to wear signifiying that attainment.
However, other Bikidokas will see me as pass each other riding, and I will see them, and we will exchange nods and smiles,
ya see that's the part I don't really get, folks that don't acknowledge other cyclists on the road. I mean on the road we're a minority no matter what you ride and a marginalized minority at that, seperate but equal, acknowledged by the law but not the majority road users we share it with. So it just makes sense to me to be friendly to cyclists in general as a sense of solidarity is at least some comfort is it not?Originally Posted by Ken Cox
I will have no special costume to wear signifiying that attainment.
However, other Bikidokas will see me as pass each other riding, and I will see them, and we will exchange nods and smiles,
Lurker for Life
Quote:
Blackalicious, steak, and vodka. But those picket fences got nothing on me.Originally Posted by inkdwheels
Doesn't anyone listen to hip hop, eat meat and drink liquor around here?
Quote:
I see and feel the wind in ways the SUV riders will never understand, as do we all, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
I should have taken a picture of my Pathfinder loaded up with my bikes yesterday. Ichi Ryu Ni Jitensha. But my tires see more than a gravel parking lot on any given weekend. Originally Posted by Ken Cox
Furthermore, the intent of the giant SUV riders will become so transparent to us, we will see through them as through the wind.I see and feel the wind in ways the SUV riders will never understand, as do we all, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
Senior Member
Quote:
Aceyalone, Sausage, and Maker's Mark - thank you very much...Originally Posted by inkdwheels
Doesn't anyone listen to hip hop, eat meat and drink liquor around here? <snip>
- but I don't shy away from Modest Mouse, tempeh, and PBR ... it's all good.
Get on yer bikes and ride!
switching to guns
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Cox
words
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us here.
-Well, my great grandfather was one of the men who created the first track bike.
-My grandfather raced them with the best of the best.
-My dad works at a PBR factory. I was raised on it... forget breast milk
-My brother is in Modest Mouse
-I skid to my destinations as oppose to riding to them
-I have 12 track bikes, all of which I never built myself
-Both of my arms have tattoo sleeves
-I can deliver a package 50 blocks in 2 minutes
-Never ate an ounce of meat in my life
-I invented the rolling of the pant leg
-I own 56 cycling hats
-I wear camy everything
-All of my t-shirts are black
-I only go to "hip" bars and my tab, from drinking PBR, is about $750
-I have the biggest mess. bag on the planet
So there, I think Im in the clear.
See you POSEURS on the street... and stay out of my way!
-My grandfather raced them with the best of the best.
-My dad works at a PBR factory. I was raised on it... forget breast milk
-My brother is in Modest Mouse
-I skid to my destinations as oppose to riding to them
-I have 12 track bikes, all of which I never built myself
-Both of my arms have tattoo sleeves
-I can deliver a package 50 blocks in 2 minutes
-Never ate an ounce of meat in my life
-I invented the rolling of the pant leg
-I own 56 cycling hats
-I wear camy everything
-All of my t-shirts are black
-I only go to "hip" bars and my tab, from drinking PBR, is about $750
-I have the biggest mess. bag on the planet
So there, I think Im in the clear.
See you POSEURS on the street... and stay out of my way!
Senior Member
Quote:
Heh. I guess I'll never be a fixie-poseur unless Puma comes out with a stylie spd-compatible shoe. 'Cause I'm not going back to toe-clips just so I can wear cool shoes.Originally Posted by wangster
I'm sorry, but I'm gonna be a poseur and buy these... https://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/1492427/c/19887.html they look cool and I have to have them.
Toe clips are a pain in the ass. I realize they're low-tech and simple and therefore part & parcel of the fixie-aesthetic (Or at least what I'm interpreting as the "fixie aesthetic.), but they still suck. I'm not riding a brakeless track-bike with deep drops, so I'm already in violation of the fixie aesthetic anyway, might as well have pedals I actually like.
Closest I could find to an "urban casual" shoe that's spd compatible is this: https://www.lakecycling.com/mx105.html
By the time I found those I'd already purchased a new pair of 661 Launch shoes for my "errands/around-town/bar-hopping" bike shoe.
-Trevor
><
i had my first "are you a messenger" conversation as i was locking my bike up outside the theater on union sq yesterday. it kind of bugged me, because i was wearing regular clothes (well, slightly dirty "regular clothes") and my bag.
running late, so i gave them a perplexed "no habla engles", put my helmet in my bag and went to watch my movie. love it when i get there and miss the trailers.
hip-hop, burgers, whiskey. and great words, ken. and i'm not sold on the clipless. my road bike, fixie, and mountain bike all have clips.
running late, so i gave them a perplexed "no habla engles", put my helmet in my bag and went to watch my movie. love it when i get there and miss the trailers.
hip-hop, burgers, whiskey. and great words, ken. and i'm not sold on the clipless. my road bike, fixie, and mountain bike all have clips.
flaneur
no one ever asks me if i'm a messenger. which is annoying, because that's why i became one.
THC Freedom Fighter
now i think about it, i seem to always get the "you messeng" greeting...like if i say yes they would bow down and kiss my pinky ring or something....but by saying nope, there is kind of a let down....i don't get it
which is probably a good thing
which is probably a good thing
Spoked to Death
Quote:
I listen to anything Dan the Automator has touched, I still don't eat meat, and Missouri is bourbon country so I get more than my fair share. Originally Posted by inkdwheels
Doesn't anyone listen to hip hop, eat meat and drink liquor around here?
2 outta 3 ain't bad, can we be friends? peace,
sam
switching to guns
hmmm
maybe in the future to avoid these threads coming up every other week there should be a questionaire stickied for reference:
-what do you ride
-what kind of booze do you drink
-what do you wear and why
-what do you listen to and can it be heard on the radio (trick question)
-what kind of bag do you got
-how hard have you tried to prove your worth
-what kind of booze do you drink (another trick)
-who do/did you ride for
-what trends/anti-trends do you follow/despise: __________________
-who do you love/despise: ________________
-are you sure of all this? y/n
extra credit:
-"...is it safe?" y/n
maybe in the future to avoid these threads coming up every other week there should be a questionaire stickied for reference:
-what do you ride
-what kind of booze do you drink
-what do you wear and why
-what do you listen to and can it be heard on the radio (trick question)
-what kind of bag do you got
-how hard have you tried to prove your worth
-what kind of booze do you drink (another trick)
-who do/did you ride for
-what trends/anti-trends do you follow/despise: __________________
-who do you love/despise: ________________
-are you sure of all this? y/n
extra credit:
-"...is it safe?" y/n