Originally Posted by jfmckenna
After a few shots of Jamie it's hard to think about anything?
Case in point. I had a brake on a junker fixie last year because I did not trust the hub. I am cruising along and passing a bus on the left when out runs this girl. In split second reactions I immediately locked the wheel and swung the bike into a side skid saving both her ass and mine. I did not even think about the brake and if I did then there probably would have been an accident.
That is the point of Jameson, isn't it?
I think you summed it better than I usually do. It's immediate. When you hit a brake, you have a time delay. Almost a second to reach for the lever, and that's after you have already taken the time to see/react to whatever the obstacle is. Then you are doing two things at once, and limiting your mobility options at the same time. Brakeless turns traffic into holes and potential holes. Slowing down or speeding up 10 or 15% will often create a place for you to move through/around. I've also noticed on our Sat group rides out here, I've had a lot of times where someone in front of me slows down suddently, or someone has to swerve that puts them in my path. I've usually already dropped my speed or moved by the time that I start hearing the brake pads.
Riding hell bent at top speed until I hit a brake at the last second just isn't the way for me. It probably never will be. And it's not like I ride slow or anything - I made it from Lake and Lyndale in Uptown to the TCF bank downtown in 5 min last night, at least from comparing the clocks at the two points. It
could have been the clocks seemed to jive with what was on my home clock, and the Red Cross clock when I got to work about 10 min later (bad lights/train - would have been shorter)... That wasn't just putzing around.