Fixie "Friends"

On Friday afternoon, a student told me, "You seem happier lately." I'm glad to know that's what it seems, but I'm not sure if it's true. One thing that could be the root is that I've been riding my fixed gear exclusively for the last few weeks (and commuted on it every day this week) and I am having a blast. Some background...a bunch of my students ride after school on Thursdays (mostly fixed gear riders but not all). They ask me to ride each week and every week I remind them that I have a conflicting faculty meeting. Here's a snippet from a conversation I had with another student on Thursday.

St: "Ms. D...so we're going riding tomorrow [Friday] after school?"

Me: "Ummm...we are?"

St: "Yeah."

Me: "Have we talked about this before?" (Now I'm getting confused that I'm losing my mind and memory.)

St: "No, but I thought if it sounded like it was already happening, it would be easier to get people to go."

Me: "Okay, great!"

So, yesterday afternoon, I hipstered up and joined the boys (the girls didn't have their bikes). One of the coolest things about my kids is the fact that they spend quite a bit of their time riding bikes. There are some of them who don't even have a driver's license because they really don't need one.

So we took off and headed for the bayshore area by our school. Business parks full of nice smooth roads for riding. When we went over the train tracks on the way and I dropped by chain (must have been too much slack), I had three young bike enthusiasts all over it. Literally, I just watched them as they fixed my bike. It was pretty cute. One thing that surprised me is that as I rode around with them, I can't remember hearing a single cuss word. And I don't think it was because I was there (given that my presence doesn't seem to stop most teenagers I know). What a relief to know that there are some youngins out there who keep it clean. Although I was told I couldn't talk about math. Noted.

We saw two awesome things: A sign at a boathouse that read "Warning: Watercraft may come out of the blue" and some mini train cars (about the size of a large bathtub) on a mini train track.

We got back to the school, brought our bikes in to find that a DJ 101 course was happening. It was not an official class, but a 9th grader from our sister school came over to get some tips from our Finnish exchange student and DJ. Bizarrely, this was a spectator sport for anyone else in the school at the time. I tried to practice track stands in the meantime...so far, not so good. And I illegally rode my bike around school (we have a rule about no wheels in the building but less than 10% of our population was still around).

Some other funny school things. In the past few weeks, I have signed a few contracts with students about work. These are not contracts that I have initiated. These are contracts that my students have asked me to sign. One was completely normal about what does the student need to do to improve her grade. The other was kind of a riot. I have been avoiding "high-fiving" all year to try to limit contact to germs. Instead, I'll fist bump or "high-elbow" instead. I have one student who cannot handle this. So, he asked if I'd agree to a contract: unlimited high fives for as long as he kept up on his schoolwork (homework, passing tests, etc.). I signed it. He's still on track and I'm not sick yet. Win win.

Two weeks left before first semester is over. So awesome and so scary.