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@WillMelling
I knew a bloke called Skully. He'd hold a knife to your throat, or your genitals if he was feeling that way inclined, and 'ask' you to do things. One day he suggested I might like to try his fixed-gear-wheel bike that he'd found just inside the back door of the newly opened Manchester velodrome.
After that I was hooked - any time anyone threatened me with a bladed implement I couldn't get enough of riding 'fixed'. It was the flow - as Skully put it, it was like when you had the shits and just let it go in Mothercare. A feeling of freedom, of release. I'd be doing circles outside William Hill while Skully was inside with a pick axe and a large hessian sack and it just felt right.
Sometimes we'd stop at a red light while Skully gave the v sign to a war veteran and that's where I learned about track stands. That whole year was an education.
Last I heard Skully had got in to cyclo cross, or CX as it's known on Twitter, and had given up his 'fixie' but I will always be grateful to him. Grateful and terrified.