patience, tactics, longboards, and back ridin ??

nicky quit ridin, and racin road/XC bikes a few years ago. retired, more like. not that he stopped loving bikes - from from it. he just tended to street/park BMX and DJ/urban styles of ridin. if anything, his cycling thusly has been MORE of a lifetyle thing than straight up road/XC.

but, i always hoped he would find his way back. he might be on the way. above we see his new fixie he threw together one recent afternoon. went like this . . . . i meet him comin home from his job at the cool coffe shop in town. with him is a 20-something co-worker, with a longboard. i walk up, say hi, and grab the longboard from the young man. at this point the young man gives nick a look of grave concern, as in "dude-your-old-bald-dad-is-gonna-break-his-arm-in-this-parking-lot-like-every-oldbald-dumbass-dad-when-he-falls-off-my-longboard" sorta way.

now, indeed there are a LOT of things in the modern sk8 world i can't do - but ripping/shredding/sliding on a longboard in a low-slung-pivotal-z-boy style is not one of them. i proceed to do so. the young man is stunned. talk turns to bikes, fixies in particular . . . . . the young man has a shittily conveted fixie, and nick and i - as frank zappa would say: ". . . tell him how to do it right".

nick starts to think . . . . . . cool coffee shop job = style to work via longboard or fixie = not a bad thing. presto - a new fixie is born. i've been keeping the frame, and an ENO rear wheel around for just such a day. he went with the mustache bars for now, because i kept singing the line from the viral "performance" video to him . . . . . " you can barely fit your hands on the handlebars - you look kinda shaky, weaving thru cars ". of course many friends chime in wondering when he will start wearing girls pants . . . . . . " anodized chain? cards in your spokes? how can you ride, your pants are a joke". and so on. which is cool with nicky, he is fun. bubba should bring him a pair of meghans to try on at lake geneva next weekend! :)

mostly tho - he's back on the road. it's a start.