took the cx bike up to ault park yesterday to work out the fit and try my hand at a little dismount/remount practice. i thought i remembered how the dismount worked: unclip right, swing leg over and through, grab top tube with right hand, unclip left, land on light feet, and leap! piece of cake, right? so i get to my first dismount, and i unclip left, almost slip off the pedal, grab the top tube, then unclip right, and basically hurl myself over the side, coming to an almost complete stop facing the side of my bike.
smooth.
i got a little better after a few tries, although i found myself slipping to a cheater's dismount: unclip right, swing leg over but not through, leave both hands on the bars (forget the top tube), unclip left, and go. fewer steps to tax my aging brain, and i don't think it'll matter in the c races -- and i can use the c races to work on form, right? right?
the remount, if possible, was worse. of course, i was taking the dreaded stutter step. and for some reason, when i could eliminate the stutter-step, i was jumping way too hard to get back on, instead of simply taking a large step over the bike: step-step-step-jump-OOOFF! and the back tire would wiggle and squish and complain under the stress. after about two laps of the little soccer field up by the wednesday series course, i remounted so hard that i pinch-flatted my rear tire (which, in my defense, was squishy to start with. of course, that means that i didn't check tire pressure before leaving the house, so it's back to no defense at all).
i'm heading up to harbin on wednesday -- at least i'll provide some entertainment for the folks who know what they're doing.
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2 comments:
Beautiful! Shannon, I think you and I are cut from the same cloth when it comes to CX. Let the Otts and Bells of the world do their little ballerina tricks on the bike.
Your soccer field session sounds like a copy of my prep for Stampede last year. I didn't pinch flat my rear, but I did manage to jump over, rather than onto, the bike. My left knee still has a scar from where it hit the stem as I toppled into a heap.
nice! (and funny) -- went to harbin for cx practice last night with Tin. Had a great time, didn't crash, only stutter-stepped a few hundred times, and then, the last time i remounted (in front of all the faster, better guys who'd finished already): squish. my man-parts may never be the same.
i'm going to have to work on hopping over the bike -- sounds impressive.
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