I tasted the Dark Side...

Roger Buchanan said:

After watching these three riders approaching down the road and then
seeing two of them suddenly flip over the bars I don't think I'll be
buying a road bike any time some. I think they overlapped wheels or
something.

road bikes are dangerous, we just had a fatality at a race around here
few days ago. Same sort of tangled tire thing I believe. Give me a
loose rooty downhill any day...well and my fixie commuter too.

kantspel said:

Roger Buchanan said:

After watching these three riders approaching down the road and then
seeing two of them suddenly flip over the bars I don't think I'll be
buying a road bike any time some. I think they overlapped wheels or
something.

road bikes are dangerous, we just had a fatality at a race around here
few days ago. Same sort of tangled tire thing I believe. Give me a
loose rooty downhill any day...well and my fixie commuter too.

As an expert roadie (all of one year now), what I'd say is road RACING is
dangerous. Regular riding is pretty safe, although one /does/ have to know
what one is doing. ("I'm riding my bike, duh!"😉 (No, I mean traffic-wise
and other riders-wise -- technical terms like those.)

Bill "yet to spill (knock on foam hat)" S.

"Roger Buchanan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

and volunteered at a roadie race...

I got to stop traffic on a major highway, watch the riders go by, then
waited in the sun for them to do the 17km loop and come by again. The
riders were friendly enough, that's for sure. But it wasn't what I would
call very exciting/interesting from a volunteer point of view. Then
again, I didn't sign up to help so that I could be entertained...

After watching these three riders approaching down the road and then
seeing two of them suddenly flip over the bars I don't think I'll be
buying a road bike any time some. I think they overlapped wheels or
something.

In the end I think I'll stick with volunteering at MTB events, unless
they really really really need people for the roadie stuff. (The lbs guy
coordinates a lot of these things, so I'd do it more to help him than
out of any interest in road stuff)

We did stay at a nice B & B and toured in southern Manitoba. In one
place where we stopped to do some hiking/sightseeing we found a very
nice stash of MTB suitable trails...<grin> and on public land no less!
--
- Rog

I remember volunteering for the 96 Olympic Road Race Trials (still have my
"Course Marshal" T-shirt.) To this day I don't remember who won and you
only got to see the thing in spurts. The most interesting thing was
watching helicopters in the distance, signalling the peloton's approach.

---
__o
_`\(,_ Cycling is life,
(_)/ (_) all the rest, just details.
The Nelson Paradigm =^o.o^=
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S o r n i said:

kantspel said:

Roger Buchanan said:

After watching these three riders approaching down the road and then
seeing two of them suddenly flip over the bars I don't think I'll be
buying a road bike any time some. I think they overlapped wheels or
something.

road bikes are dangerous, we just had a fatality at a race around here
few days ago. Same sort of tangled tire thing I believe. Give me a
loose rooty downhill any day...well and my fixie commuter too.

As an expert roadie (all of one year now), what I'd say is road RACING is
dangerous. Regular riding is pretty safe, although one /does/ have to know
what one is doing. ("I'm riding my bike, duh!"😉 (No, I mean traffic-wise
and other riders-wise -- technical terms like those.)

Bill "yet to spill (knock on foam hat)" S.

agreed, although I've caught myself half dozing off during long straight
solo sections on the road.

Rich "stick to roads with rumble strips"

"The Nelson Paradigm" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I remember volunteering for the 96 Olympic Road Race Trials (still have my
"Course Marshal" T-shirt.) To this day I don't remember who won and you
only got to see the thing in spurts. The most interesting thing was
watching helicopters in the distance, signalling the peloton's approach.

IMHO, watching racing, road or mountain biking is pretty boring - I'd rather
race. Don't know about track, since I've never been involved. Watching
cross is not too bad, since I can usually see the entire course, or most
parts of it, from one spot. Volunteering (course marshalling / trail
maintenance) I think is a little different, it's always great giving back to
this awesome sport.

I've only crashed once on a road bike, and it took me almost a year to fully
heal - so no road racing for me, too chicken. Time trials are ok. Having
said that, I do spend a lot of time on my road bike. When I pushed my road
riding to about 70% of my total riding, I saw huge gains in my mountain bike
racing.

I do still enjoy long mountain bike rides just for fun. With a toddler
though, my wife and my riding time have been seriously curtailed! Might
have to start looking for trails where I can safely tow that burley trailer!
(-:

Cheers,
Alvin Liau