Went for a ride this morning to practice cyclocross dismounts and remounts. The first two attempts at dismounts left me sitting on my ass on the ground. Not good.
Things improved, though my remounts are too stuttettery, and they may be that way for a long time until I overcome, uh, nard fear.
On the way home, things were goin' good, and I started playing around with hopping over little things. Gee, fun!--POP. So much for that tube, and like a dumbass I didn't have a spare or patch or pump, and thereby earned a 2-mile Walk of Shame. Oh well, got some shouldering practice.
A lot of people on bikes passed me, but I was nearly home before one of them (roadie in kit) asked if I could use a hand. I probably would've said I was okay but thanks anyway (as I did to Roadie), but there was nary even an offer. Not feelin' the bike community love today.
5 comments:
my $.02: i found the videos on the velonews helpful last year. i think if you go to their vid section and search on 'cyclocross' you'll find them.
in an ideal world two things are happening: you're not jumping super high to remount, and what contacts the saddle first is the top of the inner thigh rather than anything that's more central.
that said, you can watch vids or whatever all you want: i found that my technique improved greatly in the heat of battle, rather than in practice. i stutter stepped for half the season, then something weird happened: i stopped stutter stepping.
good luck!
This makes me feel good. Unless it is obvious that they are mid-fix I always folks with flat tires if they need any tools/help.
But your observation seems indicative of a larger societal problem, I think. Folks just don't help other folks. I was recently walking down Granville where a homeless-looking man in a motorized scooter was trying to hop up the curb because the construction crew neglected to a build a ramp. It wasn't going well, and the morning rush hour foot traffic was streaming past in all directions. I watched him for the 1/2 block it took me to get to him, and it took the two of us 5 seconds to get him on his way.
It left me sad all day. One thing about rural living is that everyone pitches in when someone need help, which makes for a stark contrast.
yup, bikie people cn be just as big of dip-sticks as the rest of the world
Further to the theme I read a short article this morning about a driver in Edmonton who stuck a cyclist, stopped his (let's assume) truck for long enough to disentangle the bike from his bumper, and drove off. The cyclist died as a result of his injuries, so let's hope they find the bastard.
grey: I've heard good things about the vnews videos, but sadly my 8-yr-old CPU is barfing on 'net feeds these days...And I'm with you on the "heat of battle". Some of my best in-race maneouvres last year happened mostly by accident, I think.
dp, pab: time heals all wounds, and in retrospect I'd say most of the people who passed me both (a) lacked tools and (b) wouldn't know how to use them anyway. But still, a little human concern can go a long ways...
dp re: edmonton: ouch. I would forgive driver if they came forward later 'cuz I'd sure as hell be panicking right at the time of...but still a crappy way to behave. Hurts as always to hear about cyclists dying.
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