"It's a Zen thing. Once you get used to traffic, then you can float through the chaos"

If you are into fixed gear bikes, you will eventually come across someone praising 'the transcendental experience of riding fixed gear bike' by saying stupid something like this: 

"It's like a Zen thing, dude... you're one with your bike and the street...".

While I don't want to question the validity of this statement as such because up to a certain point I actually agree to it, it's now so used up it has become a cliché repeated in every fashion/lifestyle magazine article about "The Fixie Craze" hitting your town.

But then, I wanted to find out where did this statement came from, who said it, when and why? Well, I found out that certain Mr. Jim Wirtanen said these things on an interview and article in Wired already back in 2005:

"Basically, a track bike is the perfect invention."

"You take the brake off and you can't get any crazier for field testing your skill level than playing in traffic on a track bike."

"If you are an intelligent cyclist, it makes you far more aware. Instead of looking a car or two ahead of you, you have to look three to four blocks down the road and have to scan left to right constantly to look for escape routes."

"It's a Zen thing. Once you get used to traffic, then you can float through the chaos..."

If you want to read the whole article, click here and enjoy.

In addition, the article tracks down back in history of when the FG phenomena begun San Francisco, taking it beyond my post yesterday about the backlash...