Fixed Gear Biking

I just bought a new bike, for commuting. It is a Tommaso Agusta Track bike. It is really light and looks awesome (at least I think so). The only hitch is that it is a fixed gear which means that rather than having a freewheel hub like a normal bike (a freeweel makes it possible to not move your legs but still be going forward, in other words to just coast) it has a fixed gear. This makes riding it a little different than other bikes because A) your legs get no break from spinning B) there are no brakes, you slow by slowing the candace of your legs and C) it only has 1 gear. I am really looking forward to commuting with it and thereby saving some gas and also staying in shape but being only about 20 minutes out from my first actual ride, I am a bit nervous.... I cant wait. Hopefuly I will post a post ride report later today. Please, wish me luck :)

Rugby

Yesterday I participated in my first rugby game of the season. This is about my 6th year playing, I started out playing on the WPI team in the Spring of my Freshmen year. When I went to interview for the job that I ended up getting in State College, my boss asked me about rugby, since it was on my resume. Turned out he played rugby growing up and played on a Mens team down here in State College. I played a couple of games with them last season but this year I am planning on playing more. Rugby is a great game, especially at the level I am playing at right now. Everyone is older graduate students and guys with careers. Twice a week we all get together to practice and then on Saturdays we get together on the pitch to test ourselves against another team just as slow and out of shape as we are.

Yesterdays game was a bit of a disappointment, we lost by 10 or so. I got to play about 30 minutes at scrumhalf, which is my favorite position... but one I am still pretty new at. I got a little banged up during the game so today is mostly about recovery. Below is a picture of me tackling a red dude!