Yesterday while I was riding in the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred, I observed an odd sight---boys of about 12 years old on good road bikes riding erratically. Now, this was on the straight and level road and each boy would sway the bike from side to side with his shoulders, pump the pedals about 6 times, and then coast with the bike held tilted. It occurred to me that even though the boys had decent road bikes, they were exhibiting the "training" they had on BMX bikes, tooling around the neighborhood. Evidently, there is going to have to be some "unlearning" when a boy grows from a little BMX bike to a full sized road bike. These kids sure had some bad habits!
Yesterday while I was riding in the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred, I observed an odd sight---boys of about 12 years old on good road bikes riding erratically. Now, this was on the straight and level road and each boy would sway the bike from side to side with his shoulders, pump the pedals about 6 times, and then coast with the bike held tilted. It occurred to me that even though the boys had decent road bikes, they were exhibiting the "training" they had on BMX bikes, tooling around the neighborhood. Evidently, there is going to have to be some "unlearning" when a boy grows from a little BMX bike to a full sized road bike. These kids sure had some bad habits!
Pat in TX
Perhaps this is unrelated. I got to see the US National Elite and Pro Championships last weekend in Illinois. I noticed that most of the Elites accelerated pretty inefficiently - cranking down and swaying a bit side to side. I didn't see one pro do that. Every ounce of effort was directed forward. No swaying.
I gues what I'm saying is maybe it's not worth "reeducation" if even superior racers have this problem (jeez, I sound like a gulag official). Let them find out on their own.
