1) Dismounting II. Part I. Dismounting a bike at speed in CX racing.
I can't explain it better than cyclingnews.com does in its CX section:
Often the brake levers are set up opposite from road bikes, so that the left lever controls the rear brake. This is to allow for better speed modulation during a dismount, where the racer is still moving quickly, has already swung their right leg over the bike and only has their left shoe clipped into the pedal and has their right hand on the top tube (or down tube) ready to lift the bike. Using the left hand to brake the rear wheel allows for a smooth deceleration without the risk of locking the front wheel or making the rear wheel pop up.Would our in-house CX experts care to chip in with their experience in this matter?
Now a video on how to dismount in sand, which apparently is different from dismounting in other terrains:
2) Dismounting II. Part II. How to dismount in sand from a CX bike.
Let's wrap up the dismounting section with a summary from VeloNews (hat tip to Bernard for directing me to these videos):
3) Dismounting wrap-up from VeloNews. How to dismount your 'cross bike. (Scroll down about two thirds down the list of videos.)
4 comments:
I would never lace a racing cx bike any other way. The inverse would feel like wearing your shoes on the wrong feet.
I run mine standard. I don't know too many people who run them reversed. Two things to consider:
1) people who run them reversed tend to switch over all of their bikes so as to avoid messing up. The most important thing is knowing which brake you are pulling.
2) You never really want to slow down much before barriers, it is all about keeping up the momentum. Once you are comfortable you can dismount at 25, faster that you will normally get on your cross bike.
3) For the slowing to be effective you need to have top mounted brake levers-- which is another debate about what to run (I have decided to go without this year).
4) Sometimes popping up your back wheel is a good thing for quickly shouldering your bike, meaning that you really want your front brake on the left.
That said, I have never actually tried running them reversed. For further discussion see:
http://cxmagazine.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1198434%3ATopic%3A3362
Ah, but we don't all have 40" inseams Aspen :)
I was introduced to the sport when everyone ran lugged steel, 36h tubulars and ran their brakes Euro style. On both cx and road!
But... if you aren't the strongest person or don't have long legs to stride over barriers, you really do have to brush off, or at least really modulate, your speed. Those of us who are short legged, weak, and uncoordinated, need all the help we can get!
When barricades are positioned in very technical situations, such as at the bottom of the hill -- this is where I find left-rear crucial. You can descend the hill in a half dismount while modulating speed. Otherwise, you risk an endo. Either that, or you need flawless form to descend in the saddle, and do a super fast dismount -- which smaller and newer riders aren't typically capable of.
Aspen makes some good comments that should be known to anyone considering running their cables in reverse. It does take a day or two to become familiar with the setup; and you will probably have to ask the mechanic who builds your new bike to run them reversed.
On the other hand, I run the cables reversed on my cx bike and standard on my road bike with no confusion between the two; and so I have to disagree with the people in the referenced forum that led to Aspen's points 1 and 3. Also, I would say in regards to point 2, I agree with J in that what one is really acquiring is a means to slightly modulate your speed rather than hard braking (perhaps the difference is not really clear). I do agree that is usually best to hit the barriers as fast as you can do it without tripping. I was always very fast through the barriers, but had a brutal remount that was one of my many downfalls. If you must practice anything, practice the remount.
In the end, just be aware of the benefits and limitations of your equipment choices and ride your bike long enough to be familiar with how it works. You won't win or lose a race based on how your cables are run.
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