I was watching The Tour today as I’m re-assembling my bike and getting ready to hit the road tomorrow. By The Tour, I of course mean The Tour d’France. Lance Armstrong put in a pretty big effort in the mountains to sneak into second place over all, giving hope to all of us post thrity’s that there is still athletic prowess achievable.
When I was in San Francisco a few days ago my good buddy Sharif let me in on a very cool SF-Subculture that just blew my mind. Fixed Gear biking. When I say fixed gear what I mean is riding a track bike through the city streets. A track bike has no gears, no freewheel (meaning the pedals turn the whole time, you can’t coast) and more importantly NO BRAKES! It’s utter madness and insane fun! So how do you stop? You just stop pedaling and stand strong on the pedals – this throws the bike into a skid and you slow down. If you think about it, a skateboard doesn’t have brakes either. You really have to see it to understand what it’s all about. Have a look at this clip of the SF Fixe crew hanging out in Austin, Texas with Lance Armstrong and ripping up the city streets. Lance is the guy in the white t-shirt who arrives about half way through. Watch him drop everybody at the 3:20 mark and fly down that hill – remember, NO BRAKES! Right - back to packing!
if you can't see th clip, click HERE to go straight to the source
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