Wednesday, November 08, 2006
After a very exhilarating and yet in the same breath terrifying experience on the track at Hellyer Park, I purchased a cheap track bike. This has nothing to do with the fix gear rage going on right now. It was an impulse buy. I could never see myself charging around town on a fix gear. Although I admire my friends that do, the recent trend of kids riding around on fix gear bikes with their pant legs rolled up, cycling cap ever so slightly askew on their head and handle bars only 16” wide has completely cracked me up! My track bike now resides at work at we go on lunch rides together. I have a nice little route that evolves very light and or no traffic. I really enjoy riding this bike, but I have one really bad habit that has been ingrained into my head since I started riding road bikes 34 years ago: coasting! Coasting, that blessed act of release your momentum that requires virtually no energy at all. I learned on the track that coasting on a track bike can be a near fatal experience! The unconscious act of coasting after finishing a sprint left me riding a nose wheel at 30mph twice and although I managed not to crash, I did leave stains in my shorts! My lunch rides have been eventful free until yesterday when I tried to coast over a set of train tracks. How I managed not to auger mystifies me. It was all blind luck. I must get rid of this unconscious urge to coast!
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