Friday, August 22, 2008

Broken teeth. Found mountainbike.com/video. It has this good article on Truing a bike tire ...
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid770191396/bclid1338937308/bctid1339078529

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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Emma Long - 08/17/2008

I really have fun at Emma Long when I'm not walking up the ledges or gasping for breathe at my favorite section -- the wooden bench at the half way mark. Saturday was no exception...unless you count the last 5 seconds of the ride. I took very last technical section of the course, a 2 ft drop I _thought_ I had taken before. I took it too fast, planted the front tire firmly behind an unforgiven root...and watched as my outer body experience began.

This was my first endo riding with clippless shoes. I've always been concerned that I wouldn't be able to escape the bike fast enough even with my confidence in surviving endos. Because of my few years of Aikido I actually felt pretty comfortable falling. During my endos 3 key events usually happen:
1. Oh crap!
2. I attempt to actually launch higher than terminal velocity normally so I can catch more time
3. I relax and roll, ready to meet my next attacker ;-)

I've proven that Aikido rolls actually help excape broken bones more times that I'd like to admit during riding (err, falls).

The bike however...
* several broken teeth on the main chain ring
* the bolts holding the frame were loose to the touch
* dented brake disk
* broken pedal
* dry chain
* a "balkl bearing" problem

Okay most of these issues were due to lack of maintanence on my part for the 2 yrs that I've owned the bike. But I still argue it would have been much worse without Aikido.

Regards,
Charley