Mad Bike Skills

Bikers come in all different shapes, sizes and…….. skill levels. My own journey is documented in this blog with simple things like learning to pedal and learning how to ballance on a bike and how to ride trails. I’m pretty good. Not great but pretty good.

Here I want you to watch someone who is more than “pretty good”. This video is from the Cyclocross (CX) Nationals. My friend Jeff (not the one who pimped out my sled, but a different one) was there to watch. The rider here is in the U23 category. Watch the video…..

OK. How mad crazy is that??! Most of the riders dismounted from their bikes and ran up the steps. This guy went up, on his bike….. without pedaling.

What he was doing is “pumping”. When you pump you are using your upper body and legs to pull and push the bike.

Lee McCormack, who taught the skills clinic for NICA, showed us a little bit about how to pump a bike. They make special tracks for pumping. Here is Lee on a specially designed pump track:

With bumps like that your pull the bike up when going up the hill and drive it down when going down the bump. That gives you power. I tried to do that in the Parking lot with Lee when he was teaching us. It’s so not as easy as it looks. But how about just up hill… and how about up stairs to boot?

Crazy. Yeah I have bike skills envy this morning. Sigh……..

 

PS. In case you are not feeling inadequate enough (if you bike) or are just plane amazed if you do not. You really need to see this video:

But of course nothing comes without cost: