The other day I was sitting with a friend who helped me build my first single speed back in the late 90's. He is often a bit chatty, but often he comes up with a gooder. Today was one such day. We were reminiscing about the various fixed and single speed bikes we have built up over the years when he dropped, "Ya know, fixed gears are kinda like the new rollerblades."

Fuck red. Black is back.

Man time flies. Almost a year has gone by and I barely notice. In that time I totally neglected FG and apparently in that time spam bots had run rampant. I know this because I just deleted 1400 fictitious users, all with 50 million porn links within their user description (if I accidentally deleted your account, opps!). What a task let me tell you... I had to visit each and every porn site to see if it was legit (that node is for you Big Jonny - drunkcyclist.com).

Why would I do this? Cause I am back baby... back in black!

Inexplicably I am addicted to peaches...

I have actually thought about doing this myself:

Sorry for the lack of updates on the FG calendar, I have been rather busy the last month: Wrote comprehensive exams, went to Colorado for a workshop then Tofino for a meeting. Its a hard luck life, having to learn to surf while I was in Tofino. I went to the Surf Sisters surf school for a lesson. They were totally cool and good instructors. I was standing up after the first couple of tries. About the only disappointments was that I didn't have any good crazy crashes. Clearly I must go back to Tofino so I can properly crash a surf board.

Some days you feel like a Monkey trying to write Shakespeare (surprisingly a study found that this was impossible). Well today is one of those days. Its sunny, I don't get to ride much because I am studying for my comprehensive exam (my second), but its stressing me out, so I figure some web surfing will cheer me up... NOPE. Did a google search for "Magic Eight Ball." One claims to beam your question to the dark side of the moon where aliens shake a real magic eight ball. Well I asked:

"Do I have anything to look forward to in life?"

The answer of course sucked:

So apparently there are people out there who have made programs to tell you how much your blog is worth. Apparently, if I sell out I can do a lot of drinking

So I suspect many of you are wondering where in hell are the regular updates... well I have been rather busy the past month traveling and attending a conference on mark-recapture statistical techniques. So far I have been to Australia then popped over to New Zealand to give a talk and submit a paper. Good fun, although I have had to fit some work in as well.

Anyway... hang in tight. At some point I will post up what a fun article from Carlos a fixed gear frame builder and some pictures for the Melbourne velodromes.

So its been a while since I have posted anything here on FG. Its not that I don't have anything to say, but I have just been rather busy the last month or so and since I do this as an on going hobby... well you just have bare through the ebbs and flows with me. Its the down side of the non-corporate DIY approach. You have an honest venue for discussion, but consistency in content just can't be assured. (For example read the complaint below)

The one thing about the FG DIY approach is clear wlll never be a sell out bike site. You have my word. Strong words I know and guess what I just keep turning aside request for advertising more and more and with each moment my conviction becomes stronger.

For example, I just received another handy dandy email asking if I wanted to partner for advertising.

So about one month ago I switched FG over to a different application yo run the show (drupal). When I did that only 5 user accounts came along for the ride. Since that time another 55 have signed up giving a grand total of 60 one gear lovin' peeps. Yikes! Considering I suspect a large proportion of FG readers are Luddites I am absolutely amazed!

In other news I bought some argyle socks, which I will be wearing at the Wednesday Night Series at the track. I figure these will be my secret go fast socks. Shhhh... don't tell anyone.