Olympic BL. between Veteran and Fairfax SYNCHRONICITY AHEAD!! (All Over Los Angeles)

Scott G. sent this one to the cooks email list. i took the liberty to post it here, i guess you can reply to the original author to this anonymized email adress: anon-109781582@craigslist.org

Found this in the missed connections section which I am so fond of reading while I should be working.enjoy.
Scott.

Date: 2005-11-08, 11:42AM

You: Riding your bike down Olympic during rush hour.
Me: Nasa cap wearing commuter cheering you on from the interior of my transport bubble!

You: Amazing creature.
Me: Standing and applauding your tenacity, bravery, and enviromental friendliness. Or is it a case of frugalness? Maybe just effectiveness. Whatever the motivation. Your behavior riveted my stuck-in-traffic-listening-to-All-Things-Considered attention. LA radio sucks. I need to get Sirius.

Well enough with the compliments and asides-on with the story. Included herein: personal character flaws, like shyness, driving during rush hour, bitterness, and a sense of betrayal . And remember that little bit of PR in the tagline: synchronous events (not one but two) are in your future!

I first noticed you riding your ten-speed East on Olympic. At first I was like, this has got to be some homeless tweaker bitch fucking up rush hour and had no where really to go. Then I saw the ass-light, blinking red from that cute little dunk undulating in the swaying headlights of the car behind you. Wow, safe and legal. I never use my ass-light. I feel too much like a dork, but you were motoring right in the middle of the lane-a little like the tweaker above, but more I came to realize, like the serious biker you are trying to haul ass to your destination, no bullshit, your strategic riding caused you to pull way ahead of me several times. Of course slipping in and out of the assholes on Olympic riding up to the lights and hitting the green hard and pulling forward. That's the way to do it girl. I ride in rush hour once in a while and I know you just gotta take your advantage when you can. Enough of this B.O.B. I was actually entertained by your journey and rooting for yo
u. But
of course if you pulled too far ahead I could not see you. Blast, evil traffic--the cause and structure of the arc of our drama. Finally I passed you.

Radiant.

Thin and blonde and clad from neck to mid-calf (pant leg pulled up to avaid chain-age) in black. Curvy and cute, your hair pulled back in a pony-tail. Wow. I was smitten. Though I could not see your eyes, I know there was determination there, a hint of anger and the twinkle of victory.

I can't look long because the bastard in front of me has jammed his brakes, and whoosh ahead you pull. Staring ahead to see your progress I notice the beat up Escort has some out of state plates (probably Washington now that I think of it) with the word OLYPIAN. Yes my darling you were my slick OLYPIAN sliding through traffic down Olympic. Now I always take note of these events, we call them COINCIDENCE. One thing relates to another (yes the vanity plate was refering to olympian as in on who particpates in the Olympics or one who lives in Olympia) and of course Olympic was named in honor of the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. So this is just as I saw COINCIDENCE (keep reading Sychronicity still ahead).

I pass you finally three times. I lose you somewhere around Fairfax, which is good, because I blew a couple red lights in my furor to find you and I was worried about how you would make it through that long crazy intersection, too many lights to many crossing streets, a distracting Starbucks. I was sad, but I was making great time now to my appointment in Los Feliz.

As it would come to pass I was way early for my appointment, my appoinmentee was running late so I killed some time at Soap Plant, Wacko, La Luz de Jesus Gallery. It like a potato gun of stuff packed to bursting ready to exploded wackiness and underground art all over your face. I like the place don't make it there enough. So the rude-yet-o-so-hip clerk yells for us to bring our purchases to the front and leave. As I walk up I see a blond, cute and thin and dressed in black and I think. They must be everywhere. She's talking in a very familiar way to the rude-yet-o-so-hip clerk. Probably an S.O. Cool. But I happen to flash a look back in the door to verify your cuteness (Okay I was checking out your ass) and okay here's where my brain exploded just a little bit. ASS-LIGHT!!!

Yeah. No. What the fuck. The cosmos is fucking with me. Fuck you cosmos. Fuck you in the fucking ass fucking piece of shit cosmos. It is my Olympic Racer. Hot as ever and pant lowered to proper ankle length. But of course her body language said. "i'm talking to someone I really care about" so I didn't approach, because I was too shy, and I was glad I didn't go with my impulse to shout out my window earlier, I was glad I didn'y honk flash my highbeams or any other drawing of attention. That's just my bullshit shyness, but also in this case, well I did see her again. Fuck. O well. So this is the where SYNCHRONCITY resides. I looked for her bike. Locked up there right in front of Soap Plant, Wacko, La Luz de Jesus Gallery. And this is where my brian threw up on itself. This is where reality became a reality show, this is where all the acid and mushrooms loomed there ugly flashbacks. The model of bike she was riding...


Just guess...

Go ahead...

Yeah.

Olympic.

Fuck me.

At that moment I felt that the universe wanted me to come in there and sweep you off your feet and take you away from the torment of a 10.27 mile ride. Take you away from that clerk. When the store was finally closed I saw the two of you walk off arm-in-arm-arm-in-bike. The cosmos mocks me. But alas...

I recognize your soul. Really. I love to ride in traffic- the glory, the pain, the physical, emotional and spiritual satisfaction. I know. I understand.

this is my MC. I am drained.

Of course as I finished meeting with my writing partner, around midnight, I think I saw your ghost again. Smoking a cigarrette behind the restaurant at the north west corner of Vermont and Melbourne. My Olympic Racer, I think I could love you.

it's SOMERSET

to get to the skid flick

Things you find on your bicycle

On burlington, beween third and beverly, on the last little hill before home, this was a cry I couldn't ignore.

I put him in my pocket and walked the rest of the way. Cleaned him up, he's sure dirty, fed him and held him wrapped in a towel until he fell asleep.

HE (i think he's a he) NEEDS A HOME!!!

email Kelly at fireweed43bike@sbcglobal.net if you're interested.

Bicycle Kitchen Benefit Party!!

Lost and Found

I found this piece of paper folded up and nestled next to my rear tire
when I came out of school the other day. Of course I eagerly opened it,
wondering which sly friend had left me a secret message. But, no, it
turned out to be another one of those fascinating things that finds its
way into your path when you choose to ramble the city on two wheels. A
random person's hand-written budget. This sudden and unsolicited intimacy
with a passing stranger is interesting enough all alone. But as I read
it, it turned out that in fact it was a message! And it was loud and
clear! It was saying to me, "Remember that huge piece of metal that used
to cage you in? Remember the financial burden? Remember how traffic used
to be not fun? That aweful stress of trying to stay legal and maintained?"
and on and on... and I said to myself, "Yes! Yes, self, I do! Thank the
bicycle gods that THAT is long gone!" And so it is. This budget could
have been mine a year ago. At least half of it is car-related. But last
February I took the leap that seems so unfathomable to most in this city:
I got rid of my car. It was the best decision I've made in quite awhile.
It may still be this poor person's plight, but for me priorities #1 and 3
and 4 and 7 now only have four wheels when a friend is next to me, and are
fed by oil only when the tacos are especially yummy.....and I couldn't be
happier about it.

-Emily

riding stairs in naples

I have just gone round southern Italy by bike and now I have a place in Rome. Yes, Rome is a dynamic environment for riding. I really love it but the wide roman boulevards and the generally polite drivers cannot compete with Naples for sheer death-wish heart-stopping nighttime riding. I have never before been is such wonderful chaos. After I took off the panniers I went out for a pizza and beer in the spanish quarter. Riding in there is like being caught in a flash flood. the streets are rough with trolly tracks and broken glass. the cars and scooters are held together with tape and some do not even have lights. They come and go oin the narrow alleyways at will--always fast. From a sidestreet may shoot a stroller or a truck but nobody stops or even slows. hey, a vespa with a 13 year old smoking and honking after his girl. Chase him if you can its like playing with wasps. in the center of a rotunda it is a no-mans land. No other biker is fast enough to to enter or exit. in fact, there are few othe cyclists. Maybe they have been afraid, or killed off. And for dessert, try riding the tricky stairs that go all the way from the fortress on the hill to the sea. You will be very happy if you survive.

by David Sanford

media coverage

a video of the 2005 Cycle Messenger World Championships Skids finals. featuring our incredible skidding Somerset wearing a first edition fool bag. courtesy of bikeTV.

our ridazz

I've noticed that someone has been uploading pictures to flickr with the tag ridazz so i joined with a batch of scanned spoke cards. i'd love to see some more, not being much of a collector i've lost a few, but i managed to get the 1 year aniversary s.card, the Death in Venice s.card (to the left) and the symbol for the GUIDING LIGHT of TRANSVELOSTANTIATION in s.card form.
keep on taggin' those ridazz pics, and if you want more documentation don't forget the ridazz yahoo group and the mailing list. ridazz has been mentioned by some other L.A. bloggers: eric richardson who also made a nice flicker photo set of the august 2005 ride. blogdowntown has noticed and so has mr. hexod (who also made some link research about ridazz). our friends at cicle.org wrote a little piece with some cool pics. and there are two threads on bikeforum titled "
"Midnight Ridazz in Los Angeles and playing Dressup?" and "LOS ANGELES. MIDNIGHT. FRIDAY the 13th.". a post by Complacent P -oh man, this is a lot of e-attention- and sure, there is a podcast on bikescape. thanks to all for the web-cred and keep it midnight, keep it real.


updates:

october/2005
some nice nice pictures of the october Midnigth ridazz (Dead Theater Ride) by Mark Nealey. Thanks Mark!

bike boom

a calendar of cycling events in the Los Angeles area. i think this one sprout from bikesummer is not to be overlooked: calendar.bikeboom.com

bag culture

Eric Zo, the maker of legendary Zo bags is celebrating 20 years of bag making. retrospective of his work at lincart gallery. check it out if you happen to be around sanfran in september and send me your meditations about the role of bags in bike culture. i'm very intrigued by that subject as some of you might know.
congrats and respect to Mr.Z!

the voice of L.A

did i forget the sound? i mean. i ride and i ride, and i hear the sound of the street but it's so much more intense when i've been inside a car and then i ride the bike again. but the thing is, i haven't been in a car for a loooong time, thanks to the cycle gods, and now i feel habituated to the sound(s). oh, sound sense of marvel, come to me!
it will. i'm sure. but i do love when it comes to others, and they write it (mentioning the bike kitchen by the way), mr reed writes at the lavoice.org:

...Biking L.A. at night is an intimate romance with the streetscape. The smell of frying onions, the splash of tires through puddles from a carwash, the visceral WHOMP of passing boomcars ...

may he be blessed, and all of you who smell, feel and hear from your two wheeled vehicle-friends.

visitors from outer state

monday at the kitchen. one of those casual visitors walks in. this cool guy from chicago who works at the Working Bikes Coop. just checking out the place. kelly and i and vlad received him with some of that bici-warmth. it's cool how that interconnection happens. simple as that, and yet, complex informational procedures taking place. two wheeled empathy if you want.

two eyes, two wheels, two legs, two cogs

so i found this new site in spanish dedicated to fixed gear bikes: simplifica (simplify). from Spain. good translations, explanations and resources. i'll try to convince them to start using "piñon directo" instead of "piñon fijo" for fixed gear. who knows, it might work. but more important, cyclocitiZenship international is growing. here is the italian take on the subject, and more, the italian artistic take on the subject. more to come, i hope.

Here's a little secret....

House rules prohibit the parking of bicycles in the living room.
But, as the saying goes, when the cat's away, it's a regular rat day.
So of course, the first thing I did when the tomcat got in a taxi bound for LAX was wheel my other sweetheart into the living room. Later, I walked in and the light was so gorgeous coming through the wheels I just about fell over with joy.
Please don't tell....

Earlier that day I went on a Bikesummer ride to a community garden and parked my pony in the chicken coop. My bike is 36 years old and I'm pretty sure this is the closest it's been to chickens. I think it was pretty happy there... I was hoping I might come back to find an egg in my helmet, but no luck.

P.S.

Two things:

1. It's an openhouse, meaning "Gentlemen Welcome."

2. The rad flyer was designed by Miss Kim

bitchen_openhouse_flyer_web

bitchen_openhouse_flyer_web, originally uploaded by fireweed43.

We will have guest speakers Harmony Groves and Bicycle Bill Burton from the Arcata Bike Library. It's an openhouse in honor of Bikesummer AND an after hours Birthday Bash for Emily! YAAAYYY!

Holy Bicycle

Teach the SECRET TO LIFE and SUPERNATURAL IMMORTALITY as manifested in the GUIDING LIGHT of TRANSVELOSTANTIATION.

Help those still BLIND to the DIVINITY of BICYCLE. DELIVER the LOST SOUL who lives in DARKNESS without BICYCLE. BRING FORTH this most RELUCTANT RIDER to Pioneer Chicken at 9.30PM Friday June 10. Echo Park Blvd. @ Sunset.

Wear WHITE GARB ONLY in REVERENCE to our MOST HOLY BICYCLE.

No RIDAZZ left behind.
STAY TO THE RIGHT.

UFO powered by VBC. To come at MIDNIGHT.


(genius from the midnight ridazz mailing list)

Ruckus Revue

Ruckus Revue, originally uploaded by fireweed43.

Hope to see you there!

Benefit for the Bicycle Kitchen

Carl and Vladimir cooked this up for the Kitchen with this month's early rendition of the Old Time Ruckus Revue.

Hope to see you there!

LA BikeSummer 2005 : Who Knew What to Expect?

BikeSummer, more of an invitation than an event, is an opportunity for the hosting city to show off its bicycle culture. One week before the kick-off event and the people whom make up LA's bike culture have come through in extraordinary ways. BikeSummer comes at a crucial time for LA. While previous hosting cities have had an established bicycle infrastructure, LA's is still forming. Those of us who have worked together on the lead up projects had previously not known each other well; in a way BikeSummer has already been successful in coalescing our various subcultures. Recently I've been to almost half a dozen other cities, armed with newsletters and stickers, talking to other cyclists about LA and cycling. The response has been better than expected and I'm fortunate to be a part of such an amazing movement (cause it is whether we call it that or not!). LA's potential as a bike city is huge: wide, (mostly) flat roads, fantastic weather, and a plethora of resources for cyclists. The events for the month of June are as various as the city itself! From rides on the beach and in the nearby mountains, to art tours/shows and music events, and even scavenger hunts and centuries. Can't wait to be off the computer and on the streets with so many amazing people! My sincere thanks to everyone who has helped to make BikeSummer happen; you know who you are. Peace.

LA BikeSummer 2005 )