Bicycle Fixation Weblog
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07/14/2008: "It's a Gas without Gas...."
Had to go downtown today to buy more wool for another run of Classic Wool Knickers, and I ended up taking the green Gopher, my fixed-wheel errand bike with the silver fenders and the beat-up old JANND panniers. It's definitely not the sportier of my two bikes, but I had to do my mother's grocery shopping before heading east, so that's the one I took. It was a good excuse to take it easy as I loafed along 4th and 7th streets on my way to the Garment District. (Of course, now it's officially called the "Fashion District, but, feh, it's all shmattes anyway!)Dropped in at the factory where I left the bike and checked up on what progress we're making on the Secret Jersey, then headed off on foot to B. Black & Sons, my wool merchant for wovens.
Happy day! They had found a stock of my favorite gabardine, the one I've used for the last three or four runs of Classic Wools, so I bought all 98 yards, and begged and pleaded that they dig up some more for January. Then I borrowed a (ridiculously small) dolly and commenced trundling the fat little roll of expensive string over to Broadway & 9th.
Downtown is always lively during the day, and as i dodged around shoppers, workers, and homeless folks, I listened to conversations fading in and out of earshot as I walked, or music playing from storefront speakers. Bikes were everywhere: delivery bikes porting pizzas and panini, messenger bikes carrying all those Important Documents from glass tower to glass tower, and just plain bikes of every description being used by folks to carry themselves hither and thither: road bikes, fixies, cruisers, and even a long, gleaming lowrider, complete with 60-spoke wheels, ridden by a shabby older fellow who apparently still felt a need to represent....
Dropped off my wool, returned the dolly to the wool merchant, and strolled back to the factory to go over details and schedules, then rolled the Green Gopher to the elevator bank.
A woman in the elevator asked if the Gopher were single or fixed, and when I replied "fixed," she said she admired my "courage," as she rode fixed only on the track!
Nice encounter, followed by a relaxing ride home.
And all my business done with no use of gasoline by me, at least.
