David on bike+railroad=Roadrash
According to Wikipedia, Nemesis was the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris, vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess. In this respect, the railroad tracks on South Liberty just north of Jewitt are my personal road cycling nemesis. I generally feel pretty good about my bike handling skills (hubris) and rarely crash. However, these tracks cross at a 45 degree angle to the road - cross it wrong and your front tire gets caught in the rut formed by the steel rails of the track, so I usually try to avoid the issue entirely by jumping the bike over each rail. Usually this technique works, but 4 years ago I crashed in the exact same location, in the exact same way - bunny hop, bunny hop, bunny hop, crash.
The final analysis: I road 65 miles today and encountered 8 sets of railroad tracks during the ride. Only one of them gave me road rash 2/3 of the way up right side and destroyed a pair of bike shorts. That's a success rate of 7/8 = 0.875 or 87.5%. That's a B+! Hah.
Hubris...
Happy cycling.
-David
posted by David and Amelia @ 7:43 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
have you contemplated approaching the tracks at an 45 degree angle yrself?(opposite direction of course) or maybe riding a bike with a smaller wheel and low frame (such as a dahon)that allows for an easy bail? or maybe not wearing those pansy bike shorts? women around the world can tell you all about the lack of protective qualities found in stockings..
Heh. Angle compensation - yes. That's usually the approach I take, however the math doesn't work in your favor. Measure the width of a typical country road and then try compensating by getting into the extreme left side of the right lane. Ride peperdicularly to the rails, thus crossing to the opposite side of the lane. By the time you cross both sets of tracks this will typically put you off the road entirely (into the the gravel on the birm). I use this approach in light traffic as it tends to scare the shit out of drivers. That day traffic was heavy my crash probably resulted from speeding up to 25 mph to put some distance between myself and the car behind me and subsequently falling behind in my hop rhythm relative to velocity. I probably also twisted the front wheel on the last hop trying to compensate for the lack of bike compression by pullin up the front wheel.
Oh, and the bike shorts. Pansyish - maybe. Breathable - definitely. I road uncomforably for too many years in regular shorts and baggies before I finally gave in to lycra.
Lastly, 1 crash every 3 years or so is probably not worth a bike switch. The last time I crashed there I was riding a mountain bike and any case bailing is not an option. You're only aware of the mistake after the fact. Tracks put you smack on the ground - fast.
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