# Mini RBR group ride report



## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

Every winter a few of my friends and I meet up to ride around Hamden, an up and coming, hipster part of Baltimore which goes all out to light up their 34th Street each Christmas. This year, Mark S, Zeytin & her brother, Kevin, my girlfriend & I all pedaled around, "oohing" & "ahhing" at the sites. Here are a few shots from the ride last night:

*All the bikes piled into Arby's little apartment hallway during the hot cider, pre-ride hubbub:*









*Oh, there were cookies... Arby's mom made these and mailed them down to him... Good ol' ma'!:*









*Zeytin just riding a long: (Super reflecto-jacket)*









*Tasha riding her new bike for the very first time:*









*Mark S and Kevin were the Assos Twins:*









*Mark S waving while giving us a brief rundown on the beauty that is faux brick on electrical box:*









*The Infamous Hub Cap Tree of Hamden:*









*The lights, the lights, the lights....:*









*More lights:*









*This is Mark riding by with his super stong headlight on:*









Deffinitely a good time... lookin' forward to next year's ride!

Arby.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Nice. Looks like you went fixed for your girlfriend if I'm reading the pic right. Cool. How's she like it? Was she a fixy rider before the new bike? Nice lights and Mark looks like he's going the speed of light in that shot. Wish I was closer to you all, it would be nice to be able to join up with others from the board.


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*Just a nice singlespeed.*



Ridgetop said:


> Nice. Looks like you went fixed for your girlfriend if I'm reading the pic right. Cool. How's she like it? Was she a fixy rider before the new bike? Nice lights and Mark looks like he's going the speed of light in that shot. Wish I was closer to you all, it would be nice to be able to join up with others from the board.


It's not fixed. I like my g/f. I don't want to kill her! Santa got her a Bianchi San Jose. It's a singlespeed cross bike. She loves it! Here's a pic of it below:


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

D'oh. That's what I meant to say but my frain is bried. Single speed, not fixed. Although that could be fun . Geeze, I need to quit watching the rain fall late at night and start sleeping more. Nice looking bike. Good choice on the cross.


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## wipeout (Jun 6, 2005)

Arby said:


> It's not fixed. I like my g/f. I don't want to kill her! Santa got her a Bianchi San Jose. It's a singlespeed cross bike. She loves it! Here's a pic of it below:


Hey, now that is an interesting thought... Don't like someone...? Give them a fixie and soon your problems will just go away!


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## DrRoebuck (May 10, 2004)

That's funny. I saw the bike and thought it was the new green Pista, and was stoked to see the cross tires on it.

RB, what kind of tire clearance does the Pista have?


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

*Thanks Arby*

Arby:

Thanks for organizing the ride and for the pictures. You always make me look good. For those who have ridden with me, the thought of my riding at the speed of light should induce rolling-on-the-floor laughter.

Although I did not break the speed of light last night (or even the auto speed limit), I did break one milestone -- at some point during the ride, I hit the 6,000 mile mark for the year. In 2004, I hit 5000 miles for the first time (5,662.9 according to my Polar HRM)> With my commute today and a good ride on Saturday, I'm hoping to put at least another 100 miles on the books before the end of 2005. Now let's see if I can break 7,000 next year -- and keep my family and day job, too.

I enjoyed riding again with Zeytin, seeing Tasha on her new bike and meeting Kevin. Just for the record, Kevin and I are not Assos twins -- he was wearing a black jacket and I was wearing a blue one -- I think Assos brothers may be a closer description. Next year we should see if Len J can come up from Easton -- he has the same Assos winter gear except that his jacket is gray.

Best wishes for the New Year.


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*Not much clearance in the rear.*



DrRoebuck said:


> That's funny. I saw the bike and thought it was the new green Pista, and was stoked to see the cross tires on it.
> 
> RB, what kind of tire clearance does the Pista have?


The pista has plenty of clearance in the rear. In the front, however, there is not a lot of clearance. I am running standard road tires (700x23c) right now.

Last summer I got the notion to put cross tires on it and take it down some local singletrack. I had plenty of clearance in the rear, but up front I had a constant "vip, vip, vip" as the knobbies would rub upon the inside arch of the fork. Scary, but I continued with the ride anyway. The cross tires were, I think, 700x30c or 35c.

For a laugh you can check out my fixed gear singletrack adventure here. 

Talk about sketchy.... skidding down a steep decent with your cranks locked up, trying to use your locked up rear wheel as a rudder as you slide over roots and loose dirt... WAHOO!

Still alive after all these years,
Arby.


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## PJay (May 28, 2004)

*thx!*

thanks!
things like this make me miss the few yrs i spent in bawlmer.
have a natty bo for me.


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## zeytin (May 15, 2004)

*Thank you Oh President HRC*

Arby, Thanks for taking the lead on planning the ride and for taking the picts.
MarkS as always was an amazing source of info along the ride.
Tasha it was great riding with you and I love the bike.
My brother enjoyed your hospitality and meeting everyone.
I really enjoyed riding with all of you! I haven't been riding (due to school) and was actually afraid to go on the ride for fear I wouldn't be able to hang instead I had a great time! Next year I am going to run Christmas lights on the bike!  

Cheers,


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## DrRoebuck (May 10, 2004)

*ya got that right!*

Wow. I can see from those shots how little clearance there is in the front. Thanks RB.


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