Do you remember those bikes you learnt to ride on?
The one's with sparkly tassels on the handlebars that would cry "Universe Boss" wherever you go?
But more importantly, the ones where if you pushed the pedals backwards it was like slamming on the handbrake in a car.
Well turns out those bikes exist for adults, and they come in the form of Track Bikes.
Generally they exist at the Velodrome, and if you get really, really good at riding they'll tend to look like this...
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I'm not so good as to warrant an absolute torpedo of a bike, but I have been to a Velodrome, and it's there that I got my first taste of -
"Oh my god the pedals don't stop turning and there's no brakes and the bank at each end of the track is on a 42% angle which is absolutely mental if we're talking OH&S."
This picture doesn't do it justice, but riding on the steepest part of the bank for the first time was an amazing experience. To give you some idea of riding on a 42% angle, you feel as though with every turn of the pedals your outside foot's gonna cultivate those floorboards.
It's one of those times where you don't question what's happening you just close your eyes, keep calm and ride on.
Then hope that when you open your eyes again you're not looking up to the sky while your mangled bike pops the walls of your femoral artery like a balloon.
Luckily, that didn't happen to me and I had an amazing day at Cycling Victoria doing a test track-session.I'd highly recommend it if you haven't ridden one of these bikes since, well....this....
image source |
Can I just say with reference to the above bike, thank god someone's finally designed a training bike for 3-4 year olds with a bottle cage attached. I mean seriously, just because they're too young to be able to balance independently, doesn't mean they're not punching out some serious K's. If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated. #healthbomb
One small thing I'd just like to touch on, with that calm air of constructive criticism, is the signage.
In my younger days when I was super cool I used to watch the lawn bowls of a Saturday afternoon on the ABC, which gives me the educated right to say that this sign is horrifically misplaced. You don't need Bruce McAvaney's sport knowledge to spot this red flag.
And I can't believe that it's a simple case of a mishap made by the work experience kid. That heavy duty tape with the moderate degree of wear and tear suggest that things been there a while.
But hey, at the end of the day who really cares, if someone wants to play some lawn bowls on the 'drome, C'est la vie, just mind that 42% slope, cause it's gonna throw your bias way out.
Thanks for reading!