hey fixie

@ the tennis/polo courts on 8th near atlantic. 7pm til the cows come home. if you’re less than inclined, just meet them at marble brewery afterwards. dont let the wind carry you away.

it was shortly after 530 when i found myself rolling south on broadway towards the unknown. i was unsure of my chosen route as gravel, glass and vehicular shrapnel flirted with the idea of making me walk home. the harsh wind was corrupted by the smells of burnt fuel and stress as speeding commuters raced traffic lights. i blocked out the cars as they drove too close, too fast…focusing only on the white line as we rode on the crumbling remains of the shoulder. it looked apocalyptic.

…a wave of relief washed over me as i realized that desert rd. was paved. after the turn to the west, everything changed. the roar of wind and constant traffic faded into nonexistence. it was like entering another life…one with cowshit, green grass and water. by the time i covered the first mile on 2nd st., my mind swam with the memories of a rebelious kid riding his bike past windswept kansas fields. the ride down was hypnotic.

a few brave souls showed up. even fewer showed without cars. the racing was great if not brutal with the longest straight directly into the wind. i did a practice lap between races. my giant gear ratio (52×16) was crushing my will to live. i fell in behind 2 roadies as they took off around a small group. drafting them was easy enough. as i turned to the right and the noise dropped, i heard the snick of a chain hopping to a taller gear in front of me. i pushed harder to keep up in the crosswind…no problem. suddenly, we leaned to the north and i heard that noise again…crisper that time as the tailwind silenced the world, and then they’re gone…. leaving me spinning as they embraced their smallest cog.

btw, when it came time for the fixed run, matt took the lead from jacob c. for the win (ftw…no!!!).

where was paul? probably changing a flat to our north somewhere.

much thankage to hawk for setting this up! tuesday night crits happen on tuesdays…past the desert (rd).

i bet this will be better than last weekend.

bike swap this sunday april 25th from 10 -4 at CAFE GIUSEPPE on the corner of silver and wellesley in nob hill . there will be live music also .
if you have items you want to try to sell email here or call the Cafe at 268 1858 . Or just come to see what’s going on . there will be bikes , parts , clothing new and used.
thanks

today is marble brewery’s 2nd birthday! it’s hard to believe it’s been two years. i can’t quite remember exactly how many times i’ve been there sipping (swilling) thier fine brews, but according to my girl it’s been far too many. if you’re not familiar with marble then you are an outcast…all your friends are there and they don’t want you to ruin it. or maybe you’re just one of those healthy types, all ‘i only do things that are good for me, like eating sprouts’ …also not welcome. but if you are a degenerate like the rest of us, then it must just be bad karma that’s kept you out of the loop.

fret no mas! go to marble tonight. drink beer! watch belly dancers! belly dancers? yes, belly dancers…. why? why not.

and drink a red ale for me.

111 marble nw.

look at this rad shit!  fgg #11100.

are you ready for some pedal-grinding, brakeless, fixed gear criterium action? i’m not (need a 17 tooth cog), but i’ll be there to watch you fools crash.

are you ready for some holy shit where is this place action? from the fixed and free it’s about 11.14 miles to the start, depending on your route. that equals, @ 75 gear inches, about 267 pedal rotations per mile. so like 3000 spins of the crank. not really that far, but the traffic down there is brutally fast in spots and there’s around 600 dumps in the area so you’ll have plenty of chances to change a tube.

this all goes down on 4.27 (if the pending usac permit is permitted) way the hell south on 2nd st. at vidal. so close to the isleta casino you could throw pennies at it. i wouldn’t recommend it though. everything starts at 515 and the fixed ish begins at 7pm. bring a helmet and $5 for a one day dacing license, leave your common sense with mom.

bcdracing.com/informal.html for the real info.

by the way, bike swap sucked. maybe it was the weather that made them do the sale inside the store? maybe it was for security purposes, as i heard one brainwashed douche say as he climbed into his mccain ’08 bestickered volvo. whatever it was, it made the experience less than…well, it just sucked.

i rolled up with matt around 815 to find that it wasn’t going down in the parking lot this year…bummer. we were about 15 people deep in line. as i waited out the morning i learned some things; some girls don’t know how to put up scaffolding;  when dipping, having to carry a cup to spit into is equal to having to carry a small toilet with you…especially when it backs up all over the sidewalk; friends let friends skip in line; etcetera. we’re told in advance that they have a bag check at the front door which completely ruins any purpose for showing up early since you can’t check them until you enter…bummer.

so finally 10 o’clock rolls around, in the door we go and instantly there is mass confusion. they have parts downstairs, and upstairs. the bikes are in a decent enough spot but there just wasn’t enough room for all the people there (where’s the fire marshall when you need him?). i heard ‘cluster fuck’ once or twice…one friend said he was getting claustrophobic…people were taking bikes that had the tags pulled off (you were supposed to pull the tag and take it to the registers) and getting in fights with the true tagholders. good times!

i like to think it was the lady in the red jacket that told me i couldn’t park my bike out front’s fault, but i’m probably wrong. big thanks to bikeabq and sport systems for giving it the old team try…but next year, try outside again.

last nights poker ride was great. mad props to trixie for the excellent stops and the sparklers. a little lost we got at times, but fun was had by all…except maybe when we were being shot at.

…yes, shot at.

we were crossing commanche @ the diversion trail around 11pm. there were about 20 of us, all in the median, heading north. bzzzz…crack, bzzzz…crack. we heard 2 bullets zip past overhead, followed by the muted pops of the muzzle blasts. it sounded like they came from the baseball fields to our se. nobody was hit, although one girl said she peed her pants. fucking sweet. so anyhow, somebody called the cops and away we went, up the diversion trail to the near impossible (for some of us) to find hallenbrick brewery (3817 hawkins ne). after that we headed down osuna to edith and once more got lost only to end up at one of the most epic (i hate that word) chill spot that i’ve seen on these poker rides…down in the rocks off the frontage roads under i-25/40. after watching chris fix a flat by the motel 6 bench, we ended up at the duck pond with karl winning with a pair of aces.

be there!

saturday night, the poker ride rides again. bring your bike, bring your booze (or buy some at jubilation preride), bring your lights. meet @ hidden/mcduffie park at 9pm, jubilation liquor at 845, or geckos at 830. 5 bucks, 5 stops, 5 cards, 1 winner gets da pot (you don’t have to pay to ride. only to play) and plans the next ride. i was told someone named trixie(?[i could be dead wrong]) won last time.