These are my kind of group rides. While we don’t get as large a turnout, we occasionally have these types of “anything goes” social rides here in our town. I’ve never, ever had fun on a traditional roadie group ride. Ever. The first time I experienced a social ride like this, it was a game-changer.
Brian Lex KY On Aug 31, 2024, at 7:24 AM, ascpgh <asc....@gmail.com> wrote:
What an awesome collection of bicyclists and rides!
Everyone has their own history, it can be read in the build of their bikes (I've pointed this out before). They've all had adventures in their own pursuits and defined what is "the line" for themselves on those rides. Put them all together and you get those great GR event rides (and bikes), with Leah documenting them! A little planning, some patronage and some ad hoc action.
It appears that the magic is a minimum of cohesion within a core group who bear a breadth of experiences attracting others on who are the front end of their own bell curve of riding adventures.
What is precious are the memories, the pictures and the ability to share those experiences. Not the things. Precious things haven't crossed the line yet nor bear record of events of excursions from the comfort zone.
Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh
On Thursday, August 29, 2024 at 4:16:02 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:
I went out wilding again in GR last night. This time I took a young guy I know from a bike committee we served on together. He is almost a kid. Like, mid 20s. I’ll call him Jack. This is his Surly, which he is proud of:
The bikes began to roll in and Jack was STOKED about all of them. We live in a roadie city, and rare is it we see anyone on bikes like ours. Jack saw bikes IRL he has only seen online. He was absolutely elated.
I mentioned that the most dangerous spots would be the front and the back. Also, we’d be running any and all red lights.
“I’m down,” he said, coolly.
J rolled up on his Atlantis. “All your bikes are in the same state of filth and disrepair, I exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.
“It’s C&O dirt”, J said, defensively. That ride was months ago.
Last night was a special event - the bike polo event. J took us on a winding route through the city and ended at the new bike polo courts, which J tells me are the best bike polo courts in the country. He routed us through GR historic bike polo places along the way, like this scary space, where they used to play until they were removed from the property as they were a “liability.”
We had the usual hair-raising experiences. A guy took a stick to the wheel riding up a hill and went over his bars. Our mob of 86 riders was forced to suddenly veer off the road to allow the screeching ambulance to roar by. We had to scramble down an embankment and lift our rigs over train tracks before ascending one final grassy hill to reach our courts.
The bike polo people were waiting with speakers and microphone, alcohol and other things at the ready and for the taking. I did not do the taking. Revelry ensued. The bike polo matches began. There were novices and experts. Lots of crashing. The bikes for this are special - they have one brake, a front disc, usually, and it’s got a guard. Polo bikes have low gearing and twitchy handling. Some have nets in the spokes.
Pictured, some of the 86 bikes that were ridden to the courts that night.
The Platypus attracted excessive attention by both folks who knew Riv and who had never heard of it. One man said, “The more I look at this the more I see..this bike is CURATED. You thought about this bike when you built it.” The words “deep custom” were bandied about. I must say that men have been overwhelmingly fond of the tacky My Little Platy, which I did not expect.
At 11 pm, J rallied us to leave. He mentioned that he would be “shooting from the hip” for the route and that it would have “a little gravel.” But I know what he really means. I warned Jack. We headed out in the dark, along the railroad tracks. Sure enough, we had to make our way along those tracks with the earth sloping on us and the “gravel” was actually rocks - like golf balls. We ended up hiking our bikes for a lot of it. In the dark. On uneven ground. An older man took a bad fall, landing splayed across the railroad tracks, still clipped in to his bike. He managed to get up but he might not be getting up out of bed tomorrow.
I’m learning not to be precious on these adventures. My stuff always comes back worse than when I brought it. I found my beloved custom Oakley night riding glasses in the grass, nosepiece and one bow laying separate from the frame. One lens is irreparably scratched. My Platypus was knocked about as I hoisted it over obstacles and one fender is now rubbing, one PDX breakaway tab cracked. I’m missing a little hide on my shin from the pedal pins.
I dropped the kid back at his place and got home just before 1 am.
I am too old for this.
I am doing it again next week.
Leah
Ohh, it’s worse than you think. I have 3 (three) Platypuses. The original, my raspberry, which goes on club rides. My mermaid, which has Hexlox everything and is racked and bagged so I can take it shopping and lock it up, and my purple Gravel & Travel Platy which is more compact for travel/Amtrak and has fat tires for off road stuff. I had no idea that purple build would be perfect for these Wednesday night rides, but I’ll never be able to bring anything else on that ride! <image0.jpeg>
I hope you get your purple Platy and soon - Ben has a hot lead on a 55, so you should stop by that shop!
Thanks, too, for the kind words, Ben. ❤️ Leah
Thank you for the warm welcoming words Leah. I went to the mothership a couple of months ago and among others, tried Clems and Platys as set up by Antonio. I love your unique “rasberry?” colored Platy and now a second purple Platy? Will said Platys are coming but I have my heart set on a purple one which will hopefully be available later next year. Meanwhile, I’ll ride what I have which are older highly geared road bikes as well as mountain bikes. “Need” a Riv to ride civilized and upright. Haha. The light within me honors the light
within you!
"I'd
put my money on solar energy... I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal
run out before we tackle that."
-Thomas Edison, in conversation with Henry
Ford and Harvey Firestone, March 1931
It's not (just) about the bike. It's about the people you get to know and the places you get to go ... faster than walking, and slower than an automobile. Perfect!
Great writing piece Leah. All smiles here.
On Friday, August 9, 2024 at 5:29:48 PM UTC-7 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:
Welcome, Menos. Whether you just got a Rivendell or you are interested in them, you’ll find a lot of helpful, kind people on the List. I look forward to seeing you around here. Glad you liked this ride story!
Thoroughly enjoyable piece of riding writing. :) Made me feel like I was on this adventurous romp. I’m new to this group but see there are regular contributors to help me learn the world of Riv. Thank you.
On Thursday, August 8, 2024 at 6:56:12 PM UTC-7 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:
The sweetest little brother. Ben was an Instagram find, friends! He’s still a pup but he is teaching us his ways!
Let’s keep it fresh!
oh that means so much to me.
to be considered along side such an amazing, strong, and ground breaking group of women. it means a lot. i cant wait for the invite to the riv sisters group ride and to get dropped by the rainbow platty. maybe we can urban dictionary new words on the ride to keep it "fresh".
Ben "little brother" R
Ben, we RivSisters do love our Little Brother!
that ride looks absolutely amazing and fun. so happy to see you taking your self out of the comfort zone and not being afraid to try new things.
that dirty crust looks rad. you already know how i feel about it its absolutely sick. you cant trust a clean bike but thats the beauty of bikes. a form of self _expression_. much like words, to be used however you want to express whatever you want. i guess some people dont see it that way.
leah you're a true inspiration on the bike and a wonder with words. love reading your ride recap storys.
Ben "Wildn" R aka Ben "semi a Riv Sister" R Yeah George.... I read it. And Liz kind of nailed how I feel. This is a woman posting about her joyous riding experience. I think anyone who has been engaging on this forum will know that Leah is not out on her rainbow Platy, raping people in Central park and bragging about in on the RBW group. Can we just enjoy the ride report and leave out the mansplaining and dictionary definitions?
And even if you Joe says he's cool with the Ralph Kramden name, it comes across as mean spirited. And I'm too fond of my pal Joe to let that go unsaid.
On Thursday, August 8, 2024 at 5:18:57 PM UTC-7 Lucky wrote:
National awareness? Man I hope the moderator kills this thread soon. It started out as a fun joyful ride report and it’s devolved into a bunch of dudes arguing about whether or not they would use a word in polite… or maybe less than polite company, considering. Now I have to go down the whole thread just to see the fun pictures.
Go look at the pictures guys, there are Rivendells! There’s anodizing! There are joyful people riding bicycles and touching grass.
Liz
I have to agree with George, that one might want to be careful when using this term. This is how it came to national awareness:
Tragic for all. I was very aware of the incident, having left WDC just ~4 months earlier.
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