are there any super fast weekly rides out there?

i just moved here from LA, I used to ride with wolfpack hustle. and I'm looking for a weekly ride that is really fast road/fix gear ride. are there any in chicago?

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Permalink Reply by Ali on May 8, 2009 at 12:30am

Indeed the brakeless fixie crowd is different than all of us...They have invisible antennae which can detect magnetic and electronic waves a car generates. It's like having a radar attached to your head only better! Indeed I am jealous...How come I don't have those antennae? They are also blessed with Nostradamus like foresight. Afterall they are in Zen with the road right? That fixed gear bike connects them to the road in a way that no freewheel machine can! Also since they lack the convenience/common sense of a brake they have to have foresight into the future even if its only for 5 seconds. Oh wait a second given we are riding a similar bike geometry and tires I can do pretty much anything that they can do too when it comes to evading obstacles save for the elephant trunk skids... And at least give me the benefit of doubt when it comes to my bike handling skills. Because unlike your "weekend warrior" impression I do know how to use which brake under which condition. Also I am well aware of which lines can be stuck and which lines can lead to disaster.

I ride in the city quite often and see the kinda crap they pull all the time. Sure it looks cool to the uneducated, is it safe that's whole another ball game. I have nothing against messengers, they are doing what they can to survive, it is the hipster/scenester crowd(20 something art student/messenger wanna be) that I have an issue with. Are you familiar with the type? Whatever the messenger does its the new fad. First was Deep V's, then came Aerospokes, then came HED3's. Do they even realize that as you go down the list you are sacrificing cornering ability? Nope. Then the 2 fist bars, and the NJS craze, the list just keeps going. I just dislike that particular crowd because they are giving us biker all a bad name. Whether it be crashing into cars, pedestrians, or bashing in windows. I have seen it all done! When I am out cruising with my friends, they blow past you with literally millimeters to spare with not so much as a cursory "On your left!". Or what about the ones that try to draft you, and when I pick up the pace because I do not trust their handling skills they have the nerve to scream at me. If they only asked "Hey do you mind if I jump on your wheel?" given the situation was controllable I would have been O.K. with it. But nope they are under the impression that they are better than the rest. Alas it is not the case. Hence my general dislike towards the fixie crowd.

I am happy to see more and more bikers out there, but these people need to learn the finer points of biking and for god's sake stop mutilating/amputating beautiful road frames that are meant to have dérailleurs. Have the common sense to leave them on there. And install some brakes, don't use them unless you want to but have it there just for safety sake. After all what the hell are you going to do when that chain snaps on you? Stop it with prayer? I think not!

-Ali

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Permalink Reply by Jon on May 8, 2009 at 8:02am

With my ass properly complimented, I'm going to gracefully bow out of this thread, as I see no middle ground to be reached. As always, challenges for an ass-off are always welcome, although foolish in attempt.

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Permalink Reply by joe on May 8, 2009 at 6:22pm

ive had chains and chain rings snap. it is indeed scary and a complete shock...but the good ol never fail foot on the back wheel break seems to work. tho the chainring snapping was just goofy and i kept riding it missing 6teeth .... i like to ride fast and ive been hit and i dont like it. i do have a break and i only use it when i have to...nothing new to add i guess.

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Permalink Reply by Vondo on May 9, 2009 at 2:22am

The whole thing about knowing what cars are going to do, and assuming that brakeless riders are somehow more cognizant of all the potential hazards awaiting them is bull.

Riding fixed allows riders to make relatively small adjustments in speed if they are say, riding in a pack at CCM or at the velodrome but in the most urgent situations, there's no way that skidding your tire is going to give you more stopping power than a front brake, PERIOD. By definition skidding means you've passed the friction envelope of your tire, and are actually losing control of your vehicle, whatever that vehicle is.

I like riding fixed myself, but I do so knowing the limitations of that setup, I don't pretend that I am somehow more skilled or "in a Zen-like connection with the road", just like I know that if I depend on my transmission in my car to slow and stop instead of the brake pedal, I am not more "in touch" with the freeway.

Riding fixed is fun and maybe even fashionable, but its a stretch to try to justify doing it by saying its safer or that it makes you a better rider.

Get over it, we all like bikes. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on May 9, 2009 at 10:29am

Again, I agree with you 100% H3. And as I understand it, you're one of the moderators, so we all need to respect your opinion anyway.

But to recap the chain of events here...

Android created a post looking for training rides that are friendly to fixed gear people who don't use brakes and don't wear helmets. He was very clear what he was looking for.

--Anne made a helpful suggestion about the training nights at the Northbrook Velodrome
--a few people mentioned some training rides, but added that they are oriented more toward traditional road bikes
--Josh and I suggested the knife ride
--Steve made a helpful suggestion about the CCC ride.
--A few people said if Android organized a ride, they would participate.

Admittedly, I fanned the flames quite a bit (well, a lot, actually), but in my mind, all was going well until someone made a post suggesting that Android (a former SF messenger with lots of group training ride experience) wouldn't be able to ride safely in his group because once upon a time, some hipster wearing skinny jeans rear ended the guy. It seemed a pretty unfair assumption from a Chainlink member who has a long history of showing his distaste for fixie riders, and it was a low blow to the very guy who started the post in the first place.

I tried to hold my tongue...until I was ripped a new one because of a comment I made, in passing, about trying to maintain a 20mph average including intersections. I was essentially called "stupid" and basically told that when I get my skull crushed by a bus or whatever, I will have gotten what was coming to me.

So my question is this: If Android creates a post looking for training rides that are friendly to people who don't wear helmets and don't run front brakes, why do people participate in the thread if they clearly have a problem with people who don't run brakes and/or wear helmets? Shouldn't these people simply participate in other threads?

I mean, do these people randomly go into people's houses and criticize their decorating? Do they put their Cub jerseys on, take the Red Line to a White Sox game, walk up to Sox fans and tell them that they are stupid and when the Sox lose, these fans will have gotten what they deserve?

And my other question is this: why don't people read stuff more completely, and think about what they read before commenting back. I never said anything about "antennae" or "clairvoyance" or anything like that.

All I said is that a less skilled and less experienced bicycle rider keeps his attention focused on the bumper of the car ahead of him...or the crotch of the bicyclist in front of him.

A more skilled and experienced bicycle rider is scanning several hundred feet ahead, trying to spot potential hazards in the road (like wet man hole covers or potholes, or patches of ice, or broken glass), looking for places a car could unexpectedly appear (such as an alley or a blind corner), scanning the parked cars looking for signs one could pull out or a door could open (a face in the side-view mirror, a crack in the door, the tail lights are on, smoke coming out of the tailpipe). This rider is paying attention to how people are driving, noticing when someone is driving aggressively or erratically and always leaving himself an escape route. This isn't mysticism or magic. This is common freakin' sense.

And I actually agree with Ali about a few things...I too worry about poseurs riding brakeless fixies as a fashion statement. These bikes often have flat pedals with no toe clips (and therefore no good way to slow down, skip, or skid stop). They don't have horizontal droputs or concentric bottom brackets so there is no way to keep the chain properly tensioned. I see these riders struggling to haul the bike to a stop at intersections, with their chains flopping around, ready to come off, and I know they are an accident waiting to happen.

But the true fixed gear riders I see are among the most skilled in the city. They ride way better than I do and I'm not afraid to admit it. If you have a problem with them, fine, but stay the hell out of their threads if you can't keep your mouth shut.

h3 said:

I'm usually an avid consumer of threads that wander off in unexpected directions, but in this case I think it's become extremely difficult for anyone looking for fast rides to pick out the useful information.
I'm particularly disappointed because I made the effort to reach out to CCC folks to see if they'd contribute about their ride (See Steve Kramer post) and the result ended up getting buried in fruitless bickering, reinforcing the perception that message boards such as this are not worth the effort to participate in. Is it really that hard to bite one's tongue or show some respect for the person who started a thread seeking specific information?

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Permalink Reply by alex on May 9, 2009 at 3:54pm

Get over it, we all like bikes. :-)

Vando's got the right idea...So who wants to ride fast!?

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Permalink Reply by shar on May 9, 2009 at 9:19pm

amen alex!
wolfpack man from cali... I know one little fixie rider who would you most definanlty join in your ride if you organize it. Iggi on the white bianca...
you start it and you will have riders. welcome to chicago... at least you made it when it started getting warm out :)

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Permalink Reply by Jake Larson on October 15, 2012 at 11:26pm

We have an semi-organized ride almost every Thursday night starting in Whicker Park at the fountain. We meet around 10pm, its a drink and ride kinda deal. Been calling it Cynical Mass.. Most of the people are somewhat fast... My girlfriend and I bomb like no one else, if you wanna put together a late night fast speed romp through Chicago, we'd be down.