Bike messengers take to track racing

Strayhorn wrote:
Interesting story from today's NYT - bike messengers form track team.
Sheldon will be gratified to see they prefer single-speeds.

Ahh, those were the days! I remember once in around 1988 I was doing a
track stand at the intersection of Centre Street and Houston. I was
northbound and was waiting for an opening to cross Houston. I noticed a
guy also on a fixed wearing some red BMX pants, a tank-top, and a
hockey goalie mask going against traffic on Houston in the middle of
the street betwen lanes of oncoming traffic. He noticed me and I guess
wanted to show me how crazy he was. With his eyes locked on mine he
continued toward me and just as he reached me he did one of those super
sharp leaning turns (timed with his pedal stroke of course) where you
can hear the front tire scrubbing. All while staring me in the eye. The
crazy part was just a millisecond after he zoomed across the lane right
in front of me, a bus whizzed by. So he basically saw me, decided to
show me he was crazy, saw his oppurtunity, and timed zigging in front
tof the bus while riding the wrong way looking me in the eye. Mission
accomplished!

Nice to see the crazies are looking to more constructive pursuits these
days!

Joseph

wrote:


Strayhorn wrote:

Interesting story from today's NYT - bike messengers form track team.
Sheldon will be gratified to see they prefer single-speeds.


Ahh, those were the days! I remember once in around 1988 I was doing a
track stand at the intersection of Centre Street and Houston. I was
northbound and was waiting for an opening to cross Houston. I noticed a
guy also on a fixed wearing some red BMX pants, a tank-top, and a
hockey goalie mask going against traffic on Houston in the middle of
the street betwen lanes of oncoming traffic. He noticed me and I guess
wanted to show me how crazy he was. With his eyes locked on mine he
continued toward me and just as he reached me he did one of those super
sharp leaning turns (timed with his pedal stroke of course) where you
can hear the front tire scrubbing. All while staring me in the eye. The
crazy part was just a millisecond after he zoomed across the lane right
in front of me, a bus whizzed by. So he basically saw me, decided to
show me he was crazy, saw his oppurtunity, and timed zigging in front
tof the bus while riding the wrong way looking me in the eye. Mission
accomplished!

Nice to see the crazies are looking to more constructive pursuits these
days!

We have a "crazy" in the local CTC. Coming down the 16% hill from
Uffington White Horse, there is a crossroads with a major road, which
has priority. He was having too much fun to stop, and reasoned that the
1/2 second it would take to cross the main road at 45mph was worth the
risk. He made it.

Many years ago, a schoolfriend built himself a bike with a *freewheel*
and no brakes except "sneaker brakes" and did a similar thing in our
village - only he also had a passenger on the top tube at the time.
They started off at the top of a dirt road which runs down to a
crossroads, then into a ford 100 yards later. A car missed them by a
couple of feet as they shot over the crossroads and then came to a
gentle, if wet, stop in the ford. Stupid and irresponsible, but oh so
impressive ;-)

Zog The Undeniable wrote:

We have a "crazy" in the local CTC. Coming down the 16% hill from
Uffington White Horse, there is a crossroads with a major road, which
has priority. He was having too much fun to stop, and reasoned that the
1/2 second it would take to cross the main road at 45mph was worth the
risk. He made it.

Many years ago, a schoolfriend built himself a bike with a *freewheel*
and no brakes except "sneaker brakes" and did a similar thing in our
village - only he also had a passenger on the top tube at the time.
They started off at the top of a dirt road which runs down to a
crossroads, then into a ford 100 yards later. A car missed them by a
couple of feet as they shot over the crossroads and then came to a
gentle, if wet, stop in the ford. Stupid and irresponsible, but oh so
impressive ;-)

I know a kid who tried that same stunt sitting in a tractor tire down a
steep hill. Where he got a tractor tire in Brooklyn, I don't know. Just
before he rolled off, he made the preposterous claim that he could
steer.

Well, he couldn't steer, so instead of "steering" in the middle of the
street and zooming into the busy intersection he gutter-balled it and
went up on the sidewalk and hit a fire hydrant at full clip. The tire
bounced straight up what looked to be at least 15 feet before he fell
out and landed on the sidewalk.

He was so dizzy he was practically unconscious which made it had to
tell if he was injured and we thought it was curtains for him. But
after about a minute he was up and about and was as ok as he ever was.

This story is relavent to the thread because this guy became a
messenger when he "grew up". God looks out for fools, I guess.

Joseph