fixed impressions

Hey all:

Slack time has come to an end and I’m back on the FI train. Funny how the fixed addiction comes and goes, but always comes back stronger than before. I’ve riding only my fix for about 2 and 1/2 months. Just haven’t needed anything more. Old news I know!

I’ve had a few good micro-shreds and am looking forward to some winter commuting. I had to endure quite a bit of petrocommuter world with all I’ve had on my plate. Now a lot of the errands and trips and visits have been taken care of, I’m thrilled to get back to chugging up hill to work….and leg locking down the muddy singletrack on the way home. Sweet!

Since I first climbed on a fix back in 1994, the first and only one I’d ever seen up to that moment, the fixed world has grown beyond the messengers and trackies to trails, commuting, cross, and even “fixed gear dirt match-sprints”. If you search you tube, you may find some Swedes flat track dirt fixed gear match sprinting. I don’t have time to find the link at the moment, but if you have time, It’s so worth checking out. Here in the biggest city in Vermont (40,000) I’ve seen tons of fix. There’s an LBS here that single-handedly has converted hundreds of old road frames to fix. And people buy them and ride them. There’s a certain practicality of Burlingtonians that makes the fix a natural choice for the VTmuters. I think I’m fairly “core” when it comes to bad weather riding. But here, there are folk out there that fix to work every day, all winter! I know I’m just a shell of “core” compared to them. If I could only get some clipless winter boots.

OK, time to go make more donuts, so that during vacation next week, I can tune the Uni for winter and get a few more rides in before the, um…..snow falls.

Over and Out.

G

Check it out, finally:www.gonterian.com. Please feel free to download the tracks and encourage your friends to do the same. Someday I’ll set up a donation button. Enjoy.

G

Argh!

Smack in the middle of the final mastering for Cacophony, my prized little iBook quit. Short of it: I’ve been hyper-busy with life. Pretty much stuff just started happening and I’ve been doing my best to roll with it.

Weather has been typical late-fall dark and de-motivating. Reeling from the shock of having a great new car….I’ve been a 4 mile a day petroleum wonk for more than a few weeks.

On the up side, I’ve got new hardware and new motivation to bust out the CD. I think it’s my best stuff (of course) yet and the years of hard work are starting to pay off (think self-actualization, not $$)….

I promise to put up some pre-masters of the tracks over on www.gonterian.com. Really, I’ve made a lot of promises here and not delivered. But I’m proud of this stuff and just need some time to get the job done.

Fixed notes:

1. After all, fixed is what got me started on blogger.
2. East coast corrosion is frightening. The rain here carries the signature of mid and west industry. Dust + H20 + var. exhaust gases = steel disintegrates. The correlation between wet bike and rusty bike is 100%.
3. Rusty chains don’t affect “shifting” on the fix.
4. They make for good picts.
5. Chronic fixed-simplicity-life-simplicity is habit forming, even if the habit goes dormant, it will almost always return. Often with vengence.

Over and Out.

G

Oh….I’m on the internet airwaves live 5-7pm PST, 8-10 EST.

Here’s the link: Gonterian Live