Lean casually.
I profess to understand every mannerism and habit of the Cyclist. I’m Dutch, and I’m a writer, so it all comes pretty naturally. The problem is that thinking you understand something and actually understanding it are two completely different things; the first is confidence, the second is wisdom; there is no Venn diagram that has an intersection between the two. As we move inexorably towards 2016, I humbly seek to temper my confidence with a (light) dusting of hubris.
I’ll start off, a full three days shy of 2016, with my first acknowledgement of not understanding why we do certain things: this leaning against stuff rather than unclipping business. When I say “things”, I mean objects like fences, light poles, cars, other riders, small marking wands that under no circumstances can hold the weight of a Cyclist, rubbish bins, traffic cones and any other paraphernalia that looks inviting.
It is an undeniable fact that Eddy looks entirely badass in this photo, leaning away like putting a foot down on the tarmac would be an affront to the soles of his shoes. There is, of course, a good reason for it: he finally got his toe clips and straps sorted just perfectly, and he is not about to start over on that sordid affair just to avoid putting his handprint on the team car. We, the modern Cyclist, have clipless pedals and they are quite easy to sort and there is very little at risk when it comes to unclipping, apart from the humility of making a balls of it and falling over like a twunt.
Which brings me back to this irresistible desire we have to not unclip from our pedals. Twunt Tumbles aside, there is really no good reason for us not to unclip any time we come to a halt, a practice which itself should admittedly be kept to a minimum. Unclipping is a prime opportunity to demonstrate to the world our ability to Wait Properly. But none of us want to do it. We’d rather wobble about in some sort of balancing act as if putting a foot down were admitting defeat to gravity or the coriolis effect or some other such nonsense.
And careful with the car lean, you might just piss off the wrong driver.
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I unclip at red lights just to show off my awesomely defined calf to the jealous cagers.
As for touching cars...gotta love that a New York politician was caught telling a cyclist to, "Find a fucking bike lane and use it!" not long after her politician spouse was caught telling a cyclist he'd kill him if he touched his car again. The cyclist had smacked the car because the politician nearly ran him over.
What a lovely couple!
Caring what the cagers think of ya?
Nope, I've got caring about how I look all covered by myself!
@emerson
I wonder how long a pair of pedals lasted on the Prophet's bike? To paraphrase Mr. T "I pity the pedal . . . "
Imagine being Eddy Merckx, he would prefer to change pedals out annually no matter if they were Record or not. Those are not Record in this article photo.
Perhaps I misidentified those pedals too early.
Campagnolo Superleggeri Record Pista TT design.
In Denmark, every potential problem, no matter how subtile, is taken care of by the public welfare system, which also have a department for cyclists. Consequently, a handrail is placed whenever there is a traffic light, -for your convenience..........(lean on (Mø))
I lived in the city and began cycling in the prehistoric days of toe clips and straps. Frank correctly pointed out that once you the TCs&Ss dialed in you're loath to undo them. Plus, in the city, having to deal with clips block after block is a nightmare. Hence - Track stands/leaning and riding like a hooligan rather than stop at red light after red light.
Street furniture to lean against every time when available. I'm the master of the last minute handrail / stop sign button box grab. Even though I love watching a properly executed track stand, I'd rather leave that skill set where it belongs, I.E. - on the track. The benefit/ failure ratio is too heavily weighted for me towards failure.... Make myself look like an utter dick when I keel over, or make myself look like a dick and get clipped by an impatient cager slurping a machiato whilst texting about last night's "must see" reality tv show...
@Oli
So close! We almost made it to 2016 before running out of our vintage 2015 sense of humor!
@Oli
Oli, what, exactly, is "fully maing"?