Thursday, July 12, 2007

Cycling Cinema Multiplex: The Sublime and The Ridiculous

Sometimes watching cycling gives me the proverbial chills up the spine. Other times I feel like I'm watching a greased manatee trying to climb a flight of steps.

I realize that what is poetry in motion for some people is idiocy in motion for others. And I understand that this differs from person to person. So instead of saying "this is beautiful and that is stupid," I'll simply say there are some things I get, and some things I just don't. Here are some examples, thanks to the dubious miracle of youtube:

Something I Get:

The drama and excitement of crashes in the heat of road-racing competition.

Something I Don't:

Crashing intentionally at a big, smelly block party.


Something I Get:

The fluidity, power, and speed of a well-drilled team pursuit.

Something I Don't:

The fatuous pointlessness of fixed-gear skidding.


Something I Get:

The fluid transitions, grace, and intensity of cyclocross.

Something I Don't:

The leisurely, awkward transitions of triathlons.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

haha still with the skidding... yeesh! pointless maybe but fun at the same time. its a good feeling laying down a nice solid arc'd drift around a corner at high speed. probably just as much fun for me as running a pace lane is for you!.

gwadzilla said...

nice set of links...

I can not recall the last time I heard The Damned!

Derek said...

To be fair, you're comparing professional cyclocross transitions to a very amature triathlon transition. I've seen first-time sprint triathalon folks move faster.

That said, I'm not knocking the fluidity of the cyclocross folks, it's a beautiful thing.

BikeSnobNYC said...

Derek,

Good point, of course. I hope I am never accused of being fair. Lobsided juxtaposition--the oldest trick in the book...

--BSNYC

Anonymous said...

y'know what I get - the simple beauty and practicality of mechanical shifting systems.

what I don't get - electronic shifting systems. Aside from fulfilling my desire to cover my bike in zip-ties, add extra weight to my waterbottle cages and weaken a formerly 100% reliable system I'm not sure what the gain would be. oh wait, I do see - I could spend a ton of money on something stupid and needless so that I can be as 'cutting edge' as a guy currently placed 134th in the TdF. Cool. Maybe I'll just go get matching frame-pads for all my bikes instead.

Anonymous said...

All I know is the girl in pink on the tall bike has some skillz. Punks on 20" bikes couldn't get over those mattresses.

jamie said...

bike kill looked like fun.

Anonymous said...

Something I Get: The joy of a well-crafted, humorous blog post poking gentle fun at the foibles of bicyclists and the bicycle industry.

Something I Don't: The pointless fatuity of modifying "pointlessness" with "fatuous."

BikeSnobNYC said...

Placid Casual,

Ha! Well, what can I say? I get not paid by the word...

--BSNYC

Anonymous said...

I consider myself a rather open minded individual, but excitement of a skidding competition is really lost on me. Like NASCAR, it leaves me confused as to why people watch...

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