the american public is stupid

yes i said it. you are. the majority of you are. everybody cries about the high gas prices. but what do you as a consumer do about it? nothing. now the government feels that they have to step in, and tell the car companies to produce more fuel efficient cars by 2008. you keep buying these SUVs that get crap for gas mileage. you are not part of the solution, but part of the problem. i hate to put it this way, but you have a moral obligation to do something about this. yes i said moral obligation. there are options out there. how about a diesel car? or hybrid? these are options. lets face it...you're not trucking through the mud and over rocks in your brand new 50 thousand Cady. even you in the p.o.s. hummers are just tooling around the city looking for the nearest starbucks. like you need that too, but this is not about the outrageous cost of coffee; that a whole different wave, in a whole different sea. consumers of america step up to the plate and be an educated consumer. buy with you mind. that's what separates us from the animals. our ability to reason.

i don't believe that the government has a say in this. yes, it is our right as a consumer to buy what we want. however it is also the right as a manufacture to produce what they want. this is america, and we are a capitalist nation. i believe in this, but what i don't believe in is the government stepping in where they have no business to step in. if there is something wrong in this consumer based society it is our duty to fix it as consumers. in this case, stop buying these low mileage vehicles.

organize, and set your mind to what is right. i know most of us still have to drive to work. i drive about 100 miles a day to and from, but in and around the city i ride. getting in and around this city is very easy on a bike. when i went to college, i rode a lot to and from school. there is also public transportation. i know that cleveland doesn't have the best, but if we use it more, maybe it will get better.

anti-roadie...

not only do i ride my single speed to death, but i also have a road bike. however i am not, in no way, a roadie. i just put together a vicious cycles electric warrior, with a combination of 105 and ultegra. its a steel frame. like bontrager said so many years ago...steel is real. i've riden all types of frames, and steel feels so good.

let's face it...aluminum sucks. "but's it's light, and stiff" the few pounds are not going to make me get up the hill any faster, but it will make me get down the hill faster. when it breaks, you're screwed. at least if something happens to my steel frame i'm still able to ride it. and if you are so concerned about weight, shut up and buy a 5-7 g carbon bike.

carbon...not my thing. i'm no pro. i don't pretend to be.

steel is real. it absorbs the shock of the road, and you need such a thing when you get older. it rides great.

so what does it mean to be an anti-roadie? i do not shave my legs. i wear baggy cloths when i ride my road bike. more often than not i wear my camelbak. i ride time pedals, with my mtn shoes with toe spikes.

i'm not sure what it is but a lot of the roadies i've met are arrogant pricks. why is this. is it because they shave their legs. a sign of what? well it helps with aerodynamics. bullshit, i say. unless your pro, your just gay, and not the good gay either. it doesn't help with anything, just personal exclusion from non-roadies. a statement of i'm better than you. like i said before if your not a pro, your not better than me. your just out "enjoying" cycling as much as i am, and not getting paid.

well it helps with road rash. then don't fall you idiot. are you so un-sure of your abilities that you know that your going to take a fall? then don't ride near me, because i'm sure of my skill. my kung-fu is better than yours.

my single speed is also a steel frame. i'll put a pic up of it sooner or later.

a child's mind...

is a wonderful thing. i just had a conversation with one of the neighborhood children. he cannot be more than 5 years of age. we were discussing the neighborhood stray cats. anyway, one recently died. it was an orange short haired cat with bulging eyes. nice cat, named "fluffy". often came over to eat from the bowl of cat food i leave out for others. so a few weeks pass, and there is another orange short hair cat around. and the little boy says to me maybe that new cat is fluffy's spirit come back. reincarnation of a past animal. nice thought, although the boy is not a Hindu. so i past it off as some sort of attachment. but then he inquires of me if people's spirit's come back. well what am i to say to a neighborhood boy whose parents would probably think it not a good idea to be giving religious advice to their son? so i left it at "i'm not sure."
but that is so wonderful...the mind of a child. 5 years of age, and already struggling with questions not only of faith, but of metaphysics.
to all the parents that may stumble upon this...cultivate your child's mind. let it grow with curiosity, because if that plant dies, so do they. and remember to keep yours watered also.

the eternal question...why?

i figure that i should answer the question..."why a single speed?" for anyone who is new to the single speed or wanting to get into it. any single speed website that you go to will have an answer for this, but just to make it convenient here.
any one single speeder will have a different answer to this; just like religion to the answer of "god." so here is my answer...
it's the idea of simplicity. you only have one gear and you have to use it no matter what comes your way. not only is it fun, it is a challenge. man cannot live on bread alone. in this regard it is a great training tool. it brings you back to the basics. pedal rotation, the perfect pedal stroke. momentum. then if you remember the pain and suffering on your single speed you are able to apply it to your geared bike. there are many different concepts of what a single speed should be...rigid or suspension fork? disc brakes? just build a bike up from spare parts that are hanging around? all of these are valid.
i bought my single speed off of a good friend of mine many years ago. he had it at one of our little c-cross races, and after the race i took it for a spin and fell in love. the frame is a Voodoo Nzumbi, and he put old parts on it that were lying around the shop (he worked at a local bike shop at the time). anyway one day he told me that he wanted to un-load it, so i took it off his hands, and took everything off of it and built it up from the frame. i've got a rigid fork and a suspension fork for it, a 16 and 20 tooth cog.
remember the idea of simplicity that i spoke of earlier only happens when you are riding...not when your thinking of setting it up. what type of riding do you plan on doing? off-road? on-road? short travels? long travels? how bad are the hills? its not like riding a geared bike and just going. there's a lot more things to think about, but that's the simplicity of it all. there's complexity in simplicity.

What is "Divine Gear?"

Divine Gear is here to try and form a community of single speed riders here in Northeast Ohio. I know that we exist. I'm one of them. To ride together. To create a discussion. To drink beer. Talk shop.
Why you may ask...well my own selfish reason is that i would like to ride with other single speeders, and to build up this community here in the Cleveland area.
More to come...