Originally Posted by
jaredcasper
The other day I was climbing a hill that I find a bit scary to descend. I was on a straight section a couple hundred yards or so in length when a rider came around the corner in front of me. As he came out of his turn he almost instantly sat up in the saddle while grabbing his water bottle in one smooth motion. He rode no hands while calmly sipping a drink. Just as I thought he was going to fly off the road no handed, as smooth as ever he leaned forward and slid the water bottle in as he leaned into the next turn. He had to be going well over 30 mph during all of this.
Maybe you all could do that in your sleep, but I was impressed. I learned then just how much confidence and skill I have to gain, and that I want to go see a professional road race in person, watching it on TV just isn't the same (and I'm guessing this guy wasn't even close to professional).
Watching someone with great skill make it all look easy kicks ass doesn't it?
The tough part, IMO, about learning new skills is finding a source of accurate information. There are few 'experts' out there and a lot of well meaning folks out there who give meaning the the phrase 'blind leading the blind'. Many people, like the OP'r, would benefit from improving their skills (who wouldn't?) but don't know where to turn and most often hear things like 'you need to man up" or 'go big or go home' machismo type stuff. Being more brave (foolish?) will rarely end up in building skill and trying harder (while doing the same thing) is just a path to frustration.
I think it would be cool to have a place where one could talk about techniques and the drills needed to practice them that would have firm moderation to keep out the 'don't be a puss' kind of responses. I'm a cyclist but have done little teaching of cycling skills - on the other hand I've been snowboarding for 30 years and am a Level III AASI snowboard instructor and have learned that giving people the skills first will allow them to really progress and not get stuck in a rut. Cycling has traditionally been different - you are a kid with training wheels and you have them removed and then most all of the energy is geared toward being able to push harder and faster on the pedals and the handling stays at that 'just removed the training wheels' level. Take a look at a cat 5 road race and how many of the folks look like they are going to take each other down just riding along for an easy visual.
Just thinking aloud.
Dave