JoeyBike

First, the camera makes things look different than real life.

I am riding a road bike w/ 700x23C tires in a lot of the scenes. I am hitting the tracks at at least 45 degree angles. Other times, I am on an ATB with 26x2.0 and can hit them at almost any angle. Yes, they are much different that train tracks, but will still suck up skinny tires if you screw up. On the road bike I do "lighten the wheels" as I hit the tracks at sketchy angles - sort of like a bunny hop but each wheel lightens individually as they cross the track. The tires might leave the road surface a millimeter or two.

If you note which video (I assume the OP vid) and time stamp I can be more specific about which bike was used.

JoeyBike

Here is a link for those here who don't get the whole "In The Zone" concept. This article explains it as well as any I have found:

In Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csikszentmihalyi identifies a self-surpassing dimension of human experience that is recognized by people the world over, regardless of culture, gender, race, or nationality. Its characteristics include deep concentration, highly efficient performance, emotional buoyancy, a heightened sense of mastery, a lack of self-consciousness, and self-transcendence. Csikszentmihalyi calls the experience "flow"; today's athlete calls it being in "the zone."

The zone. All athletes know it, strive for it, prize its attainment. It is that realm of play in which everything-skill, training and mental discipline-comes together, and players feel themselves lifted to a level of peak performance in which limits seem to fall away.

From: Shambhala Sun

https://www.shambhalasun.com/index.ph...k=view&id=2098

JoeyBike

Here are the most expensive states for auto insurance:
1. New Jersey
2. Massachusetts
3. New York
4. Connecticut
5. Delaware
6. Nevada
7. Rhode Island
8. Louisiana
9. Arizona
10. District of Columbia (ranked #1, but not a "state" with rural areas)

Insurance is high in LA because we have the Top 10 worst drivers in the USofA according to the insurance industry.

I can not find a city-by-city rate which would be better for my argument about staying out of motorists way in New Orleans.

JoeyBike

What are the chances of that next car passing you being operated by a drunk driver?

I found this great resource on that subject. Watch out Wisconsinites!

This is not an "after the crash" statistical study. It is a survey of 100,000+ people who were asked if they ever drive drunk.

https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/s...ION=MULTIMEDIA

JoeyBike

Cell Phone Driving = Drunk Driving

Then add THIS to the mix, and you are really playing Russian Roulette with every car that overtakes YOU.

Three years after the preliminary results first were presented at a scientific meeting and drew wide attention, University of Utah psychologists have published a study showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers.

So be sure to stop at those traffic signals so you can give EVERY drunk or distracted driver a fair shot at you!

JoeyBike

A little less "misguided" after my research it seems.

Now I actually AM a little afraid!

Allister

You couldn't have put all that in a single post?

socalboomer

he wouldn't have gotten nearly as much attention in one post as he did with all these.

wernmax

Well...you know. Our short American attention spa......What again??

Bekologist

well, you'll either continue to ride afraid of traffic and try avoiding it all the time like you've been doing, joey, or recognize you ARE traffic (and still run some reds every now and again)


I know about the zone. I've been into motorskill sports for decades.

you can still stop for reds while in 'the zone'

In fact, bicycling would probably be MORE challenging if you mixed it up with traffic a little more, rather than trying to stay away from it all the time- you could take your 'zone' to a whole nother level...

unkchunk

Thanks Joey. That was enough to help me. About a month ago I took a spill on a track under embarrassingly easy conditions and slow speed. It spooked me because I couldn't figure out why I fell. Today it hit me. I had a different technique. Instead of your "lighten the wheels" technique, I had a sort of "drop my body" technique. Say if you are on a bathroom scale and weigh 200 lbs. Then get on your tip toes, the scale wobbles and settles back on 200 lbs. If you suddenly collapse your ankles for an instant you'd weigh nothing or very little.

So I usually would set up the crossing by getting my body up high, time the drop and only the weight of the bike would be on the rails when I crossed. But I forgot about that time I lowered my bars from an upright position. Like 6 inches lower. Now I can't get my body's mass high enough to get the "weightlessness" time to cross over. With lower bars I just need a new technique. Thanks again. It got me to where I could find what I needed to know.

BassManNate

I'm kinda surprised Florida isn't in that list.

I just moved to the Chicago area from Pensacola and can attest to some of the stupid things drivers do along the gulf coast. Drivers in this area also seem to be easily angered and quite impatient.

Joey, I can see why you ride this way. When I drove in Pensacola, I would do all I could to stay out of people's way.

As a some what related note, when I first learned how to drive as a kid in Pensacola, I learned on a manual transmission car. Needless to say, I wasn't too quick on how to get the car moving and killed the engine more times than I could ever try to count at stoplights. (BTW, I'm quite proficient at driving manual transmission cars now and have never owned an automatic) Most of those times would end up with the person behind me honking their horn at me while I was restarting the car. Logic seems to tell me that if I see a car lurch forward and stop immediately that something must not be right and that honking my horn is not going to do any good.

wheel

You nailed it if I had to ride like that I would bike myself right out of that frikin city. Why should I come down to your city and spend money? Yet I have known that for years which is why my money goes to other cities.

Why live in a crappy place like that you can't even ride a bicycle properly? I am mobile and will use it to my advantage.

lightningcow

I ride in Pensacola daily. I have fun riding with traffic. I will admit some are impatient, but they usually just go on around without a hitch. This is part of my daily ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c_Vx-O2EzI
In addition to that ride I frequent the downtown area and all areas in between.
Ride the way you want. I feel safe in my style and you can all feel safe in yours.

JoeyBike

One word. Freedom

As Ben Franklin said "He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither."

New Orleans is the least uptight city I have ever visited in the USofA and Canada. I have been to most of the big and medium sized cities in the States and liked something about all of them for sure. NYC would be top of my list to move to (warmer months please) but I don't think that would help my riding style much.

grayloon

Does your source separate out liability insurance from collision and comprehensive? It would be interesting to know what the liability cost for insurance is as compared to the rest of the nation. Some of the cost could be higher because of losses from natural conditions like Katrina. Collision insurance costs tell a story about both the cost of repairs in that locale, as well as the incident of collision. Liability cost, though, tells the true story of how bad drivers may be in the state.

Allister

And yet you complain about all the drunk drivers.

JoeyBike

Our cost of insurance in NOLA is also "artificially" high because so many people are driving without any insurance at all - or a driver's license. It all boils down to a very poor criminal justice system. The jails are already full of dangerous people. No room for insurance dodgers or DWL. So they just keep on keeping on. The cops themselves here are not the problem - they are actually really good at what they need to be doing here in a tourist city. I am sure they get demoralized with the whole traffic law thing, because they know it is a waste of their time to arrest people for no insurance.

JoeyBike

Touche'!

You can buy alcoholic beverages from a drive-up window here. Now that's Freedom!

Check this out. You will love it!

https://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...2/ai_n10173419

Allister

I'm an Australian. The drive-through bottle-shop nothing new to me. Here's my local.

JoeyBike

Then...Here's to freedom --- *clink*

grayloon

The problem in Louisana isn't the drive-up bottle shop, those have been around for decades...used to buy from them back in the 60's when I started driving at 16. Its the ability to drive up and buy a mixed drink. You aren't supposed to drink it in the car if the driver, but it happens.

wheel

Uptight = Excessively concerned with rules and order

Anarchy = a state of lawlessness and disorder

Good luck with your Anarchy sir.

JoeyBike

That is called "Black and White" thinking. Ever heard of the color GRAY?

Allow me:

Uptight = Excessively concerned with rules and order

New Orleans = Somewhat concerned with rules and order

Far, far from anarchy. But you are just trying to get my goat - so nice try anyway.

Allister

Please refrain from using words you don't know the meaning of.