More to life than…

Well… I had my first class.  I really enjoy learning new things, and riding a track bike is a new thing.  Track bikes (fixed gear) are a little different.  No, they’re a lot different.  The biggest difference came to life when I tried coasting for the first time, it just wasn’t gonna happen.  Stopping was another bit of a surprise.  It didn’t matter how many times I heard it, and tried to get my arms around the idea.  Until you do it, you don’t really know what it’s like.

The idea of riding a bike with no derailleurs, shifters, or brakes might seem a little daunting for some people.  But remember, when your riding in a velodrome, there are no pedestrians, cars, lights or stop signs.  Your only concern is other bikes.  Since most of the students are riding loaner track bikes, they all relatively run about the same gearing.  Which equates to all the bikes, individual rider ability and fitness aside, rolling around the track at relatively the same speed.

However, I did find myself closing in quickly on the bike in front of me from time to time.  The only thing you can do is go around, slowing down is like trying to stop a sail boat.  You don’t just chop the throttle to slow down like you would on a power boat.  You certainly gain speed a lot faster than you lose it, stopping requires forethought.  If you want to do it gracefully, that is.

Along with learning the peculiarities of a track bike, we were taught track etiquette and safety.  What the different color lines on the track are for, and why.  I look forward to the next 5 weeks with eyes wide open. 

Next week we get to ride a 200m timed event.  Since this is a class, and racing is not encouraged, this may be the only opportunity to go all out on the velodrome.  And I can’t wait.

This entry was posted Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 9:28 pm and is filed under cycling, general. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.