Re: [CR]Fw: term of the week

(Example: Framebuilders:Masi)

Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 15:44:44 -0400
From: "James Swan" <jswan@optonline.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Fw: term of the week
In-reply-to: <002601c5c7e5$eeae84a0$0200a8c0@D8XCLL51>
To: ternst <ternst1@cox.net>
References: <00ba01c5c17c$acc479b0$0200a8c0@D8XCLL51>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Great stuff as usual Ted,

Thanks for tightening up our understanding of these terms.

I love the school of hard knocks stuff... And I agree with your thesis on bringing all this iron to life by increasing our understanding of what it was meant to be used for.

I'm not familiar with the terms "in the clouds" and "stiff", but "boxed" is when you are riding in a group and you want to accelerate but you are stuck in traffic.

A typical case would be when you are riding a field sprint and when you get close enough to the line that you want to do your final kick but there are riders in your way that haven't got the juice to go. You wind up being "boxed in".

You do your best to avoid this problem by riding the windup cleverly or getting a lead out; or preferably both. The wind up is the last few miles leading up the the finish. Generally the pace will get faster and faster as you close in on the line. It is much easier to follow the pace if you hide in the pack but you will wind up "boxed in".

You need to get yourself near the front without putting your face in the wind. It is a fine line between protecting your position and saving yourself for the final sprint to the line.

Of course, all the best sprinters are trying to do the same thing and fighting for the same wheels. There is usually some elbowing and switching going on and you are going very fast and riding very close. Its hairy! You can't be afraid of crashing and or getting pushed around.

Other examples getting boxed are when an attack occurs and you want to go with the move but you are trapped in traffic. Or in a miss-and-out where the group is bearing down on the finish line but the riders in front have stopped accelerating because they are happy with their position and are assured that they are not going to get called out; but the riders in the back are trying to stuff their wheel in a hole so that they won't be the last guy over the line. Lots of overlapping of wheels going on.

My favorite technique in that situation is to create a box that looks enticing as you round turn four. When a rider puts himself in that box then you don't let him out as you cross the line. If you have a spot that you can put your front wheel but he doesn't, then his rear wheel will be behind yours when you cross the line.

You can save a lot of energy by riding in the back during the early laps and boxing in the slower and/or dumber riders one by one. Once the field is down to a small enough number of riders that they all fit across the track then you have to get to work...

Jamie Swan - Northport, N.Y. http://www.centerportcycles.com (mapped) http://www.limws.org http://www.liatca.org http://www.cabinfeverliquidations.com On Oct 3, 2005, at 2:44 AM, ternst wrote:
> Naughty Riding Time!
> Thanks for all the input, guys.
> As you can see this good stuff is so intrically detailed that we could
> write about it to a Monday night's quarterbacking Nirvana.
> Hook-hooking: The big difference in description and understanding is
> whether we're on the track or road!
> On the road one can hook from right or left. One can either skip / hop
> the back wheel across someone's overlapping front wheel and usually
> knock the front wheel hard enough to either totally make the victim
> lose balance or actually knock the handlebar right out of the guy's
> hands. Flop, plop! Bring the mop! Hasten Jason! Bring the basin!
>
> Back in '59 I was riding a Criterium in Berlin. Part of it was on the
> North turn of the Avus Curve Grand Prix prewar automobile race course.
> I won a prime sprint I guess I wasn't supposed to and Lul Gillen of
> Luxembourg skipped his back wheel and knocked me on my ass. I was too
> "small" a bike rider to do that so they put me in my place. School of
> Hard Knocks. I had to leave Berlin without my "Case" of Champagne as I
> had to get back for another race in West Germany. I got back to Berlin
> several weeks later and the Motorpace guys and other soigneurs at the
> Deutschlandhalle indoor track said they drank it up knowing I was in
> training and wouldn't mind. They said they toasted me with every new
> bottle opening. They were great guys and it was a lot of fun. Lul is
> still a jerk if he's alive.
>
> See what I mean about related.
>
> On the track (and on the road) a hook is when you can quickly tweak
> your bars making your back wheel move right across your opponent's
> front wheel and trying to spill him. At the least impede his forward
> motion. (Knock him on his ass). Otherwise why bother? If you're going
> to do it, do it right. Don't risk getting Dq'd for a minor offense.
> On the track this is done going up the banking.
>
> When you want to "Chop" someone, it's to cut across the intended
> victim's front wheel. Too close, you knock him and who knows how many
> others down. Not good to accumulate "payback " time. A little less
> caustic, and you shut him / them down and scamper away. Timing is
> important here, depending on whether it's a sprint or breakaway you
> are doing. On the track, it's on the down banking direction. Chop 'em
> down!
>
> Go ahead, Grit your teeth, say "Grrrr" feel yourself accelerating,
> hold your breath for a few seconds, go aerobic, and then breath in
> again. Neat ain't it?
>
> You've all ridden enough to be able to to simulate this, on the bike
> or not. I think it essential that you try to "feel" what I'm trying to
> describe. REMEMBER: ALL
> the bikes you have unless virgin, mint, unused, have done /
> experienced these cycling emotions and so should you.
> The racing bikes have their external patina, and you all need the
> internal patina to be one with your machine, or it has no meaning
> other than being a commodity.
> Gino Londi once told me that I cold NOT change the 50 year old tape on
> my dad's track bike because he had ridden that bike and put his sweat
> and effort into it.
> End of discussion.
>
> Chopping is very tough for the officials to call you on it if done
> "correctly". The competition couldn't be too payback oriented and no
> one got hurt. Win win, or lose lose! HAH. You could do this in a
> sprint if you caught them right or when trying to jump away for a lap
> in a team race or any other track race where two or more riders would
> be competing next to one another.
>
> "On top of" is sneaky because "over the top" is altogether different.
> You can do them separately or together. Breath slowly and deep, boys,
> we're going to do it together.
> On top means really after, but in cycling language it's on top.
> Probably if you say after it could mean you had a rest time before
> action. On top means right after the competition's effort you had to
> somehow rest while keeping up at their top speed and when the jam or
> sprint was done, keep right on going on top of their effort!
> When you do this often you could here the opponent's epithets. I 'll
> let you think of their and your own terms of endearment.
> Over the top is on the track. You would come up to the rider's in
> front of you and then ride up the banking and go OVER, up the banking
> and around.
> The saying on the track is never go over if you can go under. The
> higher on the track you ride, the farther you go, it's 20-30 40 feet
> more. You have got to be going like hell to go faster and farther.
> Dumb! Go under and go like hell!
> So you see how you could go over while going on top, or going under
> and on top (of). I told you bike riders were a devious lot!
>
> A hole is any space you could go or get through. Often guys would
> angle their shoulders and try to sneak / wiggle through a space that
> was hardly there to get through. Often you had to make your own hole.
> Depending on the competitors, you could succeed or not. Sometimes you
> got through, sometimes not.
> Some crazy guys wouldn't back off and a spill would happen. If common
> sense wasn't a recessive gene and disgression was the better part of
> valor the race went on until the next test. That's why you sat close,
> didn't leave gaps, and protected your space.
>
> Next week's terms:
> 1) In The Clouds
> 2) Stiff
> 3) Boxed
> Don't dive down the banking too fast and fall out of bed!
> Ted Ernst
> Palos Verdes Estates CA
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "ternst" <ternst1@cox.net>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2005 7:56 PM
> Subject: [CR]Fw: term of the week
>
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: ternst
>> To: clasicrendezvoux@bikelist .org
>> Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2005 7:47 PM
>> Subject: CD: term of the week
>>
>>
>> With all the great input on fixed gears, this week's terms are very
>> apropos.
>> When a rider has good pedal motion the easy fluid movement from the
>> hip
>> on down is indeed most noticeable. As the speed of leg(s) increase,
>> and
>> Tifosi who understand cycling observe, the expression the old timer's
>> used was Fanning when the motion seemed smooth and effortless. The
>> rate
>> of mph was usually up and when the tempo was constant, one could watch
>> and see who in the field was smooth and seemingly floated along. It
>> was
>> then that the rider(s) style was referred to as fanning. Smooth, no
>> body
>> movement, relaxed muscles. Just rolling along fast, a great treat to
>> observe.
>> Poetry in motion.
>> Spinning is very similar, but usually identified by close to top end,
>> or
>> near sprint speed. The body style was not always as smooth, but the
>> leg
>> speed was way up. This could happen when someone would rev up to
>> close a
>> gap or wind it up in a sprint and people would say look at that guy /
>> gal spin. It always happens at roller races when the riders would wind
>> out and hold the spin for 30 seconds to a minute. Look at that guy
>> SPIN!, as the spectator's jaws would drop in awe at 160-180 rpm. The
>> feet and ankle would be a blur for a short while. WOW!
>> Years ago, many riders needed to change ratios for different races.
>> If a
>> larger bolt circle chainring wasn't on a bike, riders would knock out
>> the crank pin and change the right side crank and chainring or unscrew
>> the ring and change it for a different size. If the nut on the crank
>> pin
>> was backed off a little, it could be whacked with a hammer or wrench
>> and
>> knocked loose to change without damaging the thread. The pin got
>> pounded
>> back in and if not hit too hard, the bearings wouldn't crack or dent
>> the
>> race so no harm was done. It was held in place buy the crank pin nut
>> so
>> the pin couldn't back out. For shorter races this seemed to work
>> fairly
>> well and not mash the flat in the pin or wear the flat on the spindle.
>> Because the chainrings weren't quite precise, the rings were bent
>> with a
>> bar-big screwdriver or some sort of other technically advanced
>> instrument to straighten them. This took time. To make it easy, the
>> chainring was marked at home and then when changed put in the same
>> bolt
>> position so it ran true without needing a crowbar's friendly
>> persuasion
>> trackside.
>> Chainlines were VERY close sometimes and the chainring would almost
>> touch the chainstay.
>> "A chainring was said to be close when it took the print off a piece
>> if
>> newspaper".
>> One hoped the frame didn't flex too much so it wouldn't wear on the
>> chainstays. Some riders didn't keep their equipment too well and
>> that's
>> why so many of the old track bikes had scrape marks on the frames.
>> Many
>> riders didn't pay attention and wore the frame right through.
>> No big deal, what's a little hole bother, anyway?
>> This is when the riders were real men. They ate brick ice cream, rock
>> candy, and used ten penny nails for toothpicks.
>> Now that you're all feeling tougher, here's next week's terms.
>> What is / are:
>> 1) Hook, hooking
>> 2) Chop, chopping
>> 3) Go on top (of)
>> 4) Hole
>> Remember we're talking bike racing terms here, so don't go there.
>> Ted Ernst
>> Palos Verdes Estates, CA