Certain bike stuff gets into my head from time to time that's super powerful in the sense that it can pretty much take over my life. Maybe in some cases it starts a little nascent and can dwell there for a while and ebb and flow a bit, but the strength of its attraction is ultimately so strong that I can't dismiss or escape it and have no real option other than to deal with it.
The pump track had no dwell - I was simply put under a spell and commanded by the bike gods to act as feverishly as possible. The fatbike is at the other end of the spectrum - it's been simmering for two or three years. But in the end there's really no difference, in the sense that there was no escaping either one. It was just a matter of time.
So tonight, I was hit with the realization that I'm facing another bikey compulsive effort from which there is no escape: I must wheelie. Or maybe manual. There's a statement that you will hear in a minute that is something to the effect that wheelie-ing (sp?) is old school manualling or something to that effect, which came as a total shock to me, so I'm a little sketchy on what I'm aspiring to, but it involves somehow being very cool by riding a bike on one wheel for a respectable distance.
Anyway, I've been consciously aware of my wheelie fixation for a while, and I've been hatching some vague logistical and equipment plans to achieve an "old-school" goal of a city-block-long wheelie, but until tonight, I didn't realize that I MUST. Or if that's even the right goal anymore. What jarred me out of dwell mode was this video that I ran across on the Lazy Rando blog:
How-To: Manuals from PlusSizeBMX on Vimeo.
There's a term in there that's maybe "loop out" or something like that. It was the first time I heard it, but I knew instantly that it meant landing on the backside of your head with great force. Hope I don't have to do too much looping out in the course of dealing with this latest obsession.
The other part of the title of this post has to do with the fact that this is post #500 for me. I think back to where my head was at on the first post and where it's at today and it's pretty entertaining, the evolution that you go through. A few weeks ago, I was pretty sure that I was out of blog-fuel and wouldn't make it to 500, but here I am. I guess I must kinda like typing and hanging out and talking bikes with you guys and occasionally flipping you shit. Thanks for the time you spend hanging here. See you at 501, then. If I don't loop out and kill myself first.
7 comments:
I haven't seen him in ages but I used to see a guy who rode a wheelie everywhere. He'd be pedaling down Post or Howard just north of downtown with his front wheel up as if that was the way to ride a bike.
I've LOVE to learn how to wheelie. I'll occasionally try it while on my mountain bike but I just get two pedal strokes into it and tip to the side. I salute you and your endeavors (and posts).
Not that I'm an expert, but I've enjoyed riding the local pump track, and once each lap trying to keep my front wheel up for as many whoops as I can.
Congrats on 500 posts! I also am under the spell of the wheelie. Ever since I had my first fixed gear I had a dream of pulling a bad ass wheelie while chugging a PBR. Now, even tho the fixed gear bike is gone, the dream lives on. We need to have wheelie hangs. Group wheelie clinics.
I frequently have dreams where I wheelie everywhere, and always have, so I consider myself a bit of an expert. Let me know if I can help. Strangely there is no distinct type of bike in these dreams, so apparently you won't need any new equipment:(
Mind the loop out. I'm glad to know there's a term for something I've mastered. Best not to be clipped in for those I've found.
I think the best advice he had, and advice that you can really relate to Pat, was, " ... have your feet good on the pedals, how you want to have them for air on a quarter pipe..."
So it's not just me, then . . .
Glen, I think I *do* need some new equipment though. (M.A.N.T.A. R.A.Y.)
John, yes. I also took note of that helpful bit of advice. It left me reminiscing about my last trip out to the quarter pipe and how good my feet were when I nailed that 720.
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