Fixed Down!

Tony B said:

Well I suppose it was inevitable really...

Thursday night, out for a spin on my fixed cog, climbed
out of my street, at the top on the flat I went for the
brake and bugger, the cable was out of the lever. (I think
it came adrift cos the QR had undone itself, seems OK now
after a bit of adjustment).

So, no bother, a bit of backwards resistance stuff and we
stopped, tried in vain to get the cable back in but it was
difficult, without a spanner to loosen it off so I turned
and headed back for home, only 5 mins away, down the big
hill....

Why on earth I decided to ride back down the next road to
mine, which is hard enough to walk up, I dunno. Anyway the
bike picked up speed horribly fast, the ninety degree turn
at the bottom loomed, I tried slowing but at such a fast
speed it was bloody impossible to time the back pressure
properly, then I lost my footing in the LH pedal. Balls to
this, thinks I and I looked for somewhere suitable for a
tactical dismount.

A likely looking drive off to the left, with huge soft-
looking bushes to crash into, that'll do it! So in we go,
head on with a last-minute turn to take the impact
broadside. Perfect!

I rolled around on the driveway for a bit, then scarpered
before anyone came out. Well, I hadn't damaged anything in
the garden so there didn't seem any reason to hang about,
besides I must have looked a right 'nana!

I walked the last three humdred meters home :-0 and
checked the bike out; a wiped out toestrap, a loose
crankarm and the brake cable to sort. Luckily, no damage
to anything else, beyond a bit of scuffing on the crank
laquer. Oh, and minor cuts to both my inner ankles...

What fun. I really am old enough to know better...

What's wrong with sticking your heel in between the rear
tyre and the frame, or grabbing the front wheel with your
(hopefully gloved) hand? That's the traditional way to stop
a runaway bike.

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:40e7e5c5.0@entanet...

Quoted message said:

What's wrong with sticking your heel in between the rear
tyre and the frame,

('Scuse if this was meant as a joke.) Ever tried this with
the cranks flying round at 200RPM???!!

Quoted message said:

or grabbing the front wheel with your (hopefully gloved)
hand? That's the traditional way to stop a runaway bike.

:-o !!

To the OP - don't worry - you only ever do that once!

The first time I rode fixed was about 20 years ago, on an
early C20th road bike which had a very primitive brake and
no toe straps. I lost both feet on a steep descent, and the
brake was hopeless. The end result was similar to yours,
except that I found a ditch instead of a hedge!

"Tony B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What fun. I really am old enough to know better...

Nice one Tony, enjoyed the story and the happy ending ;-)

AFAIC you're never too old. As I was out in the Peaks one
day discussing MTB widgets with my mates it occurred to me
that although now 51 some aspects of my life are the same as
when I was 15, only the numerals are transposed.

Pete

Simon D said:

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:40e7e5c5.0@entanet...

Quoted message said:

What's wrong with sticking your heel in between the rear
tyre and the frame,

('Scuse if this was meant as a joke.) Ever tried this with
the cranks flying round at 200RPM???!!

It works on a freewheeled bike, but I can see the
problem now.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

or grabbing the front wheel with your (hopefully gloved)
hand? That's the traditional way to stop a runaway bike.

This is actually used. Think of grabbing the tyre to clean
grit off (lots of people do this) but grip harder.

The messengers use something called a "skip stop". Basically
you unweight the rear wheel completely, lock it using the
cranks, then brace yourself and let it down again. The tyre
does the braking. It works on the principle that once the
tyre is sliding, the friction is insufficient to force your
legs round.

Tony B:

Quoted message said:

What fun. I really am old enough to know better...

Sounds like you got off lightly. Now don't do it again! (as
if you needed telling)

d.

Zog The Undeniable [email hidden] opined the
following...

Quoted message said:

Simon D said:

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:40e7e5c5.0@entanet...

Quoted message said:

What's wrong with sticking your heel in between the rear
tyre and the frame,

('Scuse if this was meant as a joke.) Ever tried this
with the cranks flying round at 200RPM???!!

It works on a freewheeled bike, but I can see the
problem now.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

or grabbing the front wheel with your (hopefully gloved)
hand? That's the traditional way to stop a runaway bike.

This is actually used. Think of grabbing the tyre to clean
grit off (lots of people do this) but grip harder.

The messengers use something called a "skip stop".
Basically you unweight the rear wheel completely, lock it
using the cranks, then brace yourself and let it down
again. The tyre does the braking. It works on the
principle that once the tyre is sliding, the friction is
insufficient to force your legs round.

The downside being that the heat from the friction melts
your tyre and with the reduced traction you won't slow down
fast enough. A variant on this is to flick the back wheel
out as you go and "plant" the inside foot so that you slide
sideways. This will give you a slightly greater contact
area. Fundamentally though... it's gonna hurt!

Jon

Zog The Undeniable said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

or grabbing the front wheel with your (hopefully gloved)
hand? That's the traditional way to stop a runaway bike.

This is actually used. Think of grabbing the tyre to clean
grit off (lots of people do this) but grip harder.

But remember to grab in front of the forks. Otherwise you
get a broken hand and a broken neck.

..d