rider who is supposed to have the right of way. On Saturday, I explored whether it's worse to blow a switchback and nearly crash into two friends, or to let my Camelbak leak the entire contents of its bladder so that everyone gets to the trailhead and finds their stuff soaking wet.I don't think I reached a scientifically conclusive result, by my research appears to indicate the worse offense is to get everyone's stuff wet. But one can do the time for the crime, as it were, when the only other hydration option is to refill the Camelbak with a liter of some disgusting, carbonated strawberry/kiwi concoction after it gets yanked from the cooler.
One of the great things about mountain bikers is that they'll quickly forgive a friend's careless transgressions.
But, ooh, will they give you shit about it!
All.
Day.
Long.
6 comments:
Mountain bikers are by nature a different breed than us "Roadies" (I just made that up).
You guys get dressed up in body armor and alike - ready for battle. Some (not all) of us dress up like we are going to a fashion show.
I can tell you that the road bikers would be more upset by the physical trauma then some wet gear (at least I would).
L
www.cyclemania.ca
I will never wear body armor to ride a mountain bike. Body armor is for lazy, cigarette-smoking punks who wish they could afford motorcycles.
I ride my bikes uphill before I ride them down.
And I'm a closet roadie, but I'll always be a mountain biker first.
I have to agree with the body armer comment; if I don't have the umph to get up it, I don't plan to riding down it and I'm not riding up with all that crap weighing me down.
I'm primarily a roadie but have a serious mtb habit and the skills I learn on the dirt sometimes save my ass on the road but not so much the other way around.
So how does one blow a switchback and almost hit other bikers? I'm trying to think of which switchbacks on that trail on which you could pull that off and I'm drawing a blank. The only one's I can think of are the ones going down into the creek beds towards Hope. If you blow one of them, you're not hitting another biker, you're hitting bottom.
It was just a simple switchback in the early part of the climb up Devil's Pass. I was torquing through it and starting losing control of the front wheel as I veered to my left, so I applied even more power in an attempt to straighten out and avoid a crash.
After a couple of seconds, it became clear that I was sort of riding in a circle and was about to shoot down through the weeds and T-bone Huber, so I grabbed the brakes.
At that point, I was already leaning over to far to recover my balance, so I flopped to the ground and rolled over, nearly taking out Maura and Heather with my bike, which was still attached to me.
It was a real Kodak moment, let me tell ya.
a comment on you prior post,
A book recommendation for you:
Wheels On Ice: Bicycling in Alaska 1898 - 1908.
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