BARRED FOR LIFE
THE WHOLE LIFE BEHIND BARS THING FOR CYCLISTS would be a lot funnier or more interesting or just a helluva a lot better if it made any sense. We aren't behind bars, we're grippin' 'em hard...
... or we should be.
Poor MiguelAngelLopez. There he was in the supertuck at the Giro today and hit something, completely losing control of his bike.
Straight to hospital.
Surgery.
Race over.
Such a shame, and in my opinyun, avoidable.
The problem with the supertuck... problem?... problems... the first problem is the bike becomes extremely unbalanced with a lot of weight placed on the front wheel. But, the bigger problem is it's not easy to get out of that position quickly should you need to jump a road hazard, change directions, etc.
Is it really why he crashed?... I don't know, hard to tell, but the picture I saw was pretty damning.
Speaking of bars, modern MTB bikes are coming with bars so wide you can't fit them though an average doorway.
That's wide.
Too wide.
Again, this is my very biased opinion and not scientific at all... hearmeout!
Of course, being an obedient consumer, most of us just roll with what we purchased never thinking to change it up.
I'm guilty.
But, this new bike's bars were cartoonishly wide.
So we chopped 'em down.
From 780mm to 700.
Apparently superwide is all the rage because it is more stable in the nasty stuff.
So, it wasn't easy to take out the ol' hacksaw and do some hacking. I mean it's only a $400 mistake if done incorrectly.
Anyway... we chopped 'em down yesterday.
Result?
Lot's of PRs on the fast and steep stuff today. Why?... well, those superwide bars just take a lot longer to get the wheel turned and require a much more exaggerated movement. The narrower bars are much more nimble.
How did we determine the width?
We did some eyeballing then I dropped and ripped of a few push ups at various widths.
Is that the only reason for the PRs?
No, I've been playing with shock pressures and tire pressures and I'm getting closer to being one with the rig and that very handy dropper post. Plus, I found a tire combination, that is light, that I reall like.
I think Barred For Life is a lot closer to what we are... if we're not holding the bars, we're thinking about it.
Maybe I'll make that a tshirt and give it to the PEDALposse next month.
https://pedalindustries.com/pages/join-the-pedalposse
---
161 lbs
nap
6.5 hours sleep
https://www.strava.com/activities/4147011952