The ride started late under mostly sunny skies in the shade of the skyscrapers. I didn't see many fixes while waiting but noticed a girl who had to be a messenger, sporting a huge chain like an anchor around her waist while taking a picture of my fix against the construction barricade .
Waiting I saw there were a lot of "casual cyclists" and most of them wore non-cycling specific clothing, including one young lady in flipflops (!)
Black Bomber, pre-ride...
As seen above, the Black Bomber prior to the ride. I had a lock in the seatbag and one water bottle. I carried another in a Mountainsmith pack around my waist, as well as a spare tube, pump and tire lever and wrench. Also took some snack bars.
The crowd at the start... May 7, 2006
A lot of people were riding mountainbikes towards the start although those on rigid or hardtail mtb's, and road bikes, quickly moved to the front. Most of the mtb crowd noticed at the beginning didn't have street tires. One we got moving I saw a whole group of fixes. First one I noticed was a brakeless Bianchi Pista Concept. Then to my right there was an orange motobecane with a nice clean frame and even a water bottle mount on the downtube.
I didn't see many other fixed gear conversions, though. Just one, an old Raleigh, which ran drop bars and a bmx brake lever for the front stopper. The rider had flipped her rear wheel to the freewheel side.
The ride had a few bad crashes, one pile up happened right in front of me. But I made it through with no flats and no damage. Credit for lack of flats is due tpo the Continental Duraskin tire on the rear wheel. Mad props for Conti!
.... this page under construction!
The end is near... the crowd with the bridge in view
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