Monday, December 10, 2007

From Routine to Extreme

On my study breaks I've been hitting up YouTube for interesting videos on two of my hobbies: fixed gear biking and skiing.

On Friday night I met a girl who had just finished converting her fixed gear and proudly told me she had learned to "skid stop". Despite a few long trips under my belt, I'm still a biking novice and had no idea what a "skid stop" or "track stand" was. I was intrigued, it sounded fun, useful and most of all dangerous.

Off to Interwebs to find more information:

Colby Elrick and Colin Arlen shot a movie in San Francisco on bikes without brakes (I've been told they have a few hills there). To slow themselves down they lean forward to take the weight of the back tire and lock their legs up to stop the tire (remember the tires are fixed to the pedals, when one moves so does the other) and it skids. Also mastered is the skid turn (same thing as the skid stop but turning) and going backwards (also only possible on a fixed gear).




It's cool seeing these bikes normally used for commuters turning into tricks.

I'm also getting ready for the ski season. Here is a cool clip of a guy using free heel skis (normally used to climb mountains) to do some tight turns and tricks. Again, it takes a lot of energy to turn without leaning forward. Also he's also not using the lighter twin tip park skis.

1 comment:

Michael H said...

Nice post, fun clips, should I be worried that the only close up showed a cyclist with no front teeth?