Raleigh and Rainier

I love Single Speed Bikes. The simplicity is part of it. The aesthetics are part of it.  The silence, the maintenance (lack thereof), the list goes on.  Today, it's all about the bikes. Nothing's cooler than something special for the guys who aren't afraid to choose one and stick with it. Raleigh has come on strong with this Special Edition frame for the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC). Winner gets one. 50 have been made, 49 brown, and one white, delivered at random with complete Shimano Dream Groupo.  That's hot.

Raleigh is also responsible for this little number:

















When I first got my drinking licence, I was also broke.  I'm still broke only to a lesser degree.  At the time, I would walk to work and on the way home, drop by our little local liquor and libations location and pick up a 12er of Rainier beer for around $6.  Thus begins my very first, "I remember when such and such used to cost such and such" of my life.  Does this mean I'm getting old?  Should I be thankful it hasn't happened before?  I digress, the point of the story is that early on in my legal beer consumation life, I had a soft spot for Rainer beer and now I've developed a soft spot (hard-on?) for single speed cyclocross bikes (clearly the coolest, most versitile bikes on the planet).  Is this a sign?  Should I do whatever is within my limited power to attain one of these beauties?  Would I really be able to take it out and ride it the way it's supposed to be ridden given my attatchment to it's aesthetics?  The answer to all these questions is no.  As such, I'll just look at this little picture from time to time and put it out there to the cosmos that at some point, years from now, I'd like to stumble upon one of these babies on craigslist, stripped to it's frame, but distinguishable none-the-less, and buy it for $100.  You hear me, cosmos?