Know Your Limitations

An example of why off-road excursions are worth while.

I always strongly consider observations from anyone willing to wave a 44 Magnum in people’s faces.  As such, I’ve always appreciated Dirty Harry‘s recommendation that a man know his limitations.  For example, I can appreciate that I am not an elegant creature and it is best if I avoid sports involving hand-eye coordination. I’ve also noted that things go more smoothly when I keep my feet affixed to the ground, to say nothing of keeping my wheels or skis out of the air. I’m also not great with imaginary numbers, like eleventeen or thirtytwelve.

I am, however, pretty good at riding bikes.  That said,  I am prone to overconfidence when it comes to cornering. My father, a devoted BMW motorcycle loyalist, bought a mid-Eighties BMW R100 RS to give to me for my 16th birthday. In the meantime, however, I picked up bike racing.  He sold the R100 before I got a chance to ride it, citing my proclivity to overshoot turns on bicycles and observing that I didn’t also need a motor helping me crash at higher speeds and with greater consequence.

A self-professed Roadie, I do wander off-road occasionally, and generally do so aboard my beloved MB-Zip. I went for a ride on Saturday with some friends who were riding bikes built in this century, and was struck by the advances in technology involved. While my bike utilizes flexy stems and elastomers, they were aboard 29ers (which is Mountain Bike speak for “bike built on 700c wheels”) with full-suspension.

I could easily match the climbing portion of the ride, but as soon as we pointed downhill, I was left in their dust, to borrow their vernacular.  Obviously, it wasn’t my descending skills – it had to be the gear.  I promptly rented a top-end 29er full suspention rig and agreed to join my mates for a longer ride out east of the Cascades on Sunday.

I’ll let you in on a secret: the advances in Mountain Biking since 1992 have not been made in the name of climbing. That’s not to say the 29er didn’t feel great on all the other terrain, but climbing felt more akin to sitting on a balance ball than riding a bike.  Descending, on the other hand, I felt like a different rider.  I was rippin’ gnar with my bra’s (that’s Mountain Bike speak “descending quite well and managing to keep up with my friends”) and at a certain point made the observation that perhaps I was over-confident, given my unfamiliarity with the bike in particular and with the notion of riding a full suspension bike in general.

About halfway along the descent, I started noticing a peculiarity in the bike’s handling: while cornering, the front wheel was tending to wash out. All the washouts were controllable, and I continued on my way.  A few turns from the bottom of the descent, however, I failed in righting a washout in a particularly nasty corner and found myself in a tangle on the ground, bike bopping me in the face, and scattering a variety of equipment in a blast-pattern around the ground-zero of my crash.  The bike literally creaked with pain as it lay in the dust.

I was mostly unhurt, but I did taco the front wheel.  Limitation noted: don’t attempt to keep up with more experienced riders on a highly technical descent aboard a bike you are not familiar with.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

View Comments

  • @Dan O
    Shhhhhhh. Brett is quite protective of Rule #58. Best not to publicise your breaches (except when trying to piss him off).

  • @Good Geofelephant

    Many years ago, I did the bike shop gig for 4 years or so. I may be exempt from rule #58 in certain states. I'd agree most folks should hit the local shop and I still do for some stuff.

    I will do the online schtick when needed however, mostly to keep the family budget intact. At times, the big saving cannot be ignored.

    Plus, I wrench all my own bikes - no need to witness the evil eye rolling the Sette into the local shop.

  • @Dan O
    "Evil eye" ain't the half of it. You shoulda heard Brett when I rode into his shop wearing a 'net-acquired top. Australians - so sensitive. (Out of prudence, I have apologised.)

  • @Good Geofelephant

    You got off lightly, mate. Another customer came in with a similar net-acquired jersey, and Nigel (the shop owner) demanded he remove it and replace it with our shop jersey. (Nigel gave him the jersey, he wasn't that much of a prick to make him buy it.) The net jersey resides in the depths of the workshop, and will end up rags I'm sure...

  • You would think that being the big BMXer that I am/was I would be all about the mountain bike. But I have never owned a MTB, never ridden one other than diagnosing a problem at the shop or after just assembling a new one. That being said, I have resisted the Kool-Aid because I know that I would want to catch big air and end up in a crumpled mass of contusions and fractures. There was a day when I was a total speed freak riding gravity bikes and street luges and going 100 kph on non-motorized vehicles but the street luge crash at 90 kph a few years ago exorcised the demon within. I just turned 49 and wisdom has finally overridden speed lust.

    Here's a little sample of the former Cyclops - a before and after - besides the road rash there was also a broken wrist involved in the transaction.

    Be careful out there mates.

  • @Cyclops
    My goodness, we need that picture. Wordpress won't display pictures unless you're logged in. But you can post a link to a pic if'n you want and it will show that way. Also, if you're logged in, you can upload pictures.

  • @Cyclops
    Actually, I found your pictures. They didn't show because it appears that in a fluke, WordPress recycled all the sessions and logged you out before you got a chance to post...posting now.

  • First Post (go easy on me, I've been lurking for a few days and you guys are definitely speaking my language.. hope I can hang on...) I just got a HT 29er after a few years of strict road riding. In my neck of the woods (Santa Barbara, CA) most mtb rides start with a vigorous climb, and since all my mates are Cat 1/2/3 roadies and/or mtb'ers, I typically get dropped before I get a chance to stretch my limitations on the mtb. Although last night found me descending rocky -18% fire road, ass practically on the seat stays, modulating the brakes like crazy! Like skiing, the fall line is your friend (i.e. you're frequently better off in it than out of it). And agree with Frank, climbing vigorously on a mtb will definitely improve the guns!

    Thanks for letting me share...

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