The Bike Doesn't Lie

[EigerSA]

From "Unholy Rouleur"...

 

Painful Truths

by Jim

What I like about my bikes is that they tell me the truth no matter how harsh it is. I'm too weak to keep up a fast pace here and there, to fat to climb well, too chickenshit to descend well. My off road handling sucks compared to good handlers; I can't ride a skinny to save my life, stagger over logs with the subtlety of a pig humping a watermelon, ride rocks with the finesse of a one legged drunk guy navigating up stairs, cross streams like a six year old girl afraid of a monster under the bed, and destroy flowy sections with the gross incompetence a surgeon with shaky hands. Sure, I can lie to myself pretty well, this blog is often a place where I can lie to myself and others, and you can maybe lie to me too. But the bike just isn't capable of it. That is why I like it.

 

The bike does something else in its truth telling. It doesn't just speak to us; it actually punishes us for shortcomings. The bike tells a truth about us the way a prison sentence or a tax bill does. You may not like it, but you have to deal with it because the truth told has the harsh sting of reality to it. You cannot dodge it.

 

Too fat, not trained enough, not smooth enough on the pedals - your legs and lungs will burn unnaturally. Stop paying attention on the fixed gear for a minute, it will slew you into the ground like you insulted its mother. I paid for that particular mistake with torn rib cartilage and an undefined shoulder injury that took months to heal. Fail to pay attention to a tiny stump, and you may fly headfirst into a tree at 25 MPH, and have clear fluid running out of your ears and nose for the next hour, and a killer headache. Hit the traffic circle at 30 MPH as the rain starts, slip on the oil, and you will have to lay in the shrubs just off the circle for 3 minutes until you can breathe again without involuntarily sobbing. Try to ride courteous in a crit and let him pass in a place you know he shouldn't, slide in a couple inches to him into the line, and the guy next to you make take you and eight other people out for your lapse in judgment, and when you come to your fingertip will have been ground up, your sunglasses broken, and you will have a number of perforations in your body. Fail to get your ass back far enough behind the seat on a steep descent, and the bike will taco the front wheel, and drive you into the ground head first like a tack, leaving you shaking and in shock. Lose concentration on a rocky descent, and you'll hit a tree hard, leaving your hand swollen for a week, and you afraid of rocks and descents for a month.

 

All these are true stories. They are stories about how the bike told me about my deficiencies, how it told the truth. Occasionally, the bike bites its tongue. It doesn't tell us that we should eat **** for how we misjudged that line of rocks, it holds its tongue and lets us slip through. It doesn't always chastise us for failing to notice gravel in the turn; instead maybe it is quiet while we slide a little, and pass through the turn with just a scare. Other times, we get away with crossing railroad tracks at an angle, hitting a log just wrong, or forgetting to pedal our fixed gear. In these instances, the bike gives us a freebie... but it does not lie. The bump, the skid, the brush of a shoulder on the tree - these are whispered truths. But they are truths nonetheless.

 

Mostly though, the bike just tells simple truths. Screw up, and it will drive you into the ground like a nail. That's its most basic, straightforward way of pointing out that you made a big mistake. Cause & effect. Tit for tat.

 

One of you guys used comments to call me an insensitive prick or somesuch for pointing out that Wouter Weylandt's crash was self-inflicted.

 

Sure, I'm an insensitive prick.

 

Doesn't mean that I was lying though.

[Eldron]

Alas he is completely right in a completely insenstivie manner.

 

As far as I know Wouter looked back to see if he should sit up and wait for his team mates that had been dropped. His left pedal clipped a low wall, shot him sideways across the road and catapulted him over the barrier to the depths below...

 

Silly mistake with terrible consequences.

[Tankman]

Alas he is completely right in a completely insenstivie manner.

 

As far as I know Wouter looked back to see if he should sit up and wait for his team mates that had been dropped. His left pedal clipped a low wall, shot him sideways across the road and catapulted him over the barrier to the depths below...

 

 

not over the barrier ... into the wall on the right hand side

 

 

 

[CatGirl]

tragic! just awful... saw on the news last night

and it can happen in a split second..yikes

[Eldron]

not over the barrier ... into the wall on the right hand side

 

 

My bad - I read an initial report that had said he fell 60m and assumed it was over one of those piddly little barrier walls in France.

 

Watching the stage live on RAI I was wincing as they did hairpin after hairpin into the finish with brick walls everywhere.

 

Horrible.

[Just Keep Pedaling]

It is pretty obvious that anything physical 'does not lie' - it merely follows the laws of nature - it does not mean all accidents are a screw up on your part - it can just be pure bad luck (or destiny or whatever)or other circumstances out of your control at the time.

[Eldron]

It is pretty obvious that anything physical 'does not lie' - it merely follows the laws of nature - it does not mean all accidents are a screw up on your part - it can just be pure bad luck (or destiny or whatever)or other circumstances out of your control at the time.

 

I have to disagre - every accident I've ever had I've looked back and gone "ah yes - if I had taken the line down the right I would have made it..." or "if I hadn't gone so damned fast I would not have hit that pothole" etc.

 

I don't believe in destiny/fate/luck etc. How boring is a life based on destiny/fate/luck?

[Tankman]

My bad - I read an initial report that had said he fell 60m and assumed it was over one of those piddly little barrier walls in France.

 

no worries ... some got lost in translation! I think they tried to say he came to a stop 60m from the pedal impact site.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Tankman

[Just Keep Pedaling]

" have to disagre - every accident I've ever had I've looked back and gone "ah yes - if I had taken the line down the right I would have made it..." or "if I hadn't gone so damned fast I would not have hit that pothole" etc.

 

I don't believe in destiny/fate/luck etc. How boring is a life based on destiny/fate/luck?"

 

Anecdotal evidence is next to useless. You telling me that those who died in Sept 11 attacks died because they made some sort of mistake?

[Eldron]

" have to disagre - every accident I've ever had I've looked back and gone "ah yes - if I had taken the line down the right I would have made it..." or "if I hadn't gone so damned fast I would not have hit that pothole" etc.

 

I don't believe in destiny/fate/luck etc. How boring is a life based on destiny/fate/luck?"

 

Anecdotal evidence is next to useless. You telling me that those who died in Sept 11 attacks died because they made some sort of mistake?

 

Nope - they died because a terrorist made a decision and they were at work. Action and consequence.

 

Simple as that.

 

There was no luck, fate or destiny involved.

[TNT1]

 

 

There was no luck, fate or destiny involved.

 

Some mooooderator here has a Richard Bach quote in his sig...

 

From the same: " Listen, he said, it's important. We are all. Free. To do. Whatever. We want. To do."

[Eldron]

Some mooooderator here has a Richard Bach quote in his sig...

 

From the same: " Listen, he said, it's important. We are all. Free. To do. Whatever. We want. To do."

 

Quite right!

 

I'm a Terminator fan myself: "The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves..."

[Nimby]

Destiny - no. Coincidence - well that's another story...

[Sarge]

Hi Gents,

Not to change the theme/topic but whenever I see the twisty roads with brick or stone walls on each side reminds me of the Isle of Man TT. Very frightning!!

Regards

Sarge

[The expat cyclist]

Sometimes I can not help but wonder how strange life can be.

 

Many years ago a friend of mine, his wife, two kids and the maid were involved in a car accident. His wife and daughter and the maid died. His son broke his arm. He got out without a scratch.

 

About 3 years ago when I arrived from Kby to Gauteng, I came across an accident near the Botha offramp here in Pta. I was the first guy on the scene. 4 kids in the car. No one wearing a seatbelt. 2 dead on impact, one critical and the driver got out, again without a scratch.

Edited May 12, 2011 by MJ loves MTB