Tuesday training session time. Who's in? Between the crit Fri night and LeBow on Sat my legs are finally getting a few miles in them. I think this riding stuff is actually starting to add up.
Ladd recently mentioned wanting to work on cornering skills, which I think is a great idea. Brad, what do you think about throwing a cornering session into the mix?
I think my wife has some tentative plans tonight, but if Brad is putting on a cornering clinic -- I'm there! (A guy wanted to test ride my 'cross bike, so I'll have to tell him he can't buy it yet, unless we'll work on mountain bike cornering also)
For those who missed, Brad put on a cornering clinic in a parking lot. I can't say I've got counter steering down, but I'm starting to feel it.
Oh, and I continued my streak of somebody breaking something on the Tuesday night rides (didn't Nate bust a chain during a sprint?). I bent my big chain ring, but since the next thing we did was some climbing, it didn't really matter too much (except I have another repair. I think this bike was jealous of the Addict getting all my attention lately.)
Leaning through a corner is the most common method cyclist’s use. Both the cycle and the rider are leaned into the corner. This method is suitable when the road is relatively wide, when you can see the roadway well after the corner, can choose your line ahead of time, and when the lean is brief so pedaling can resume after only a momentary, if any, pause.
COUNTERSTEERING
In countersteering you incline the bike relatively more than the body. This tends to be the fastest way to corner a bicycle but also takes a great amount of skill and practice to accomplish.
You initiate countersteering by pressing down with the inside hand. This increases the lean of the bicycle into the turn. This method allows the most steering control and makes it easiest to affect a change in direction during the turn. It is suitable for when you cannot see the roadway around the turn, or for off-camber and decreasing-radius turns. The relatively large lean of the bike may prevent early pedaling. Countersteering is also especially suitable for descents where gravity, rather than pedaling, provides acceleration, and for changing directions quickly and or uncertain corners.
STEERING
Steering or turning the handlebar toward the turn and shifting your body weight to the inside of the bicycle allows the bicycle to remain relatively upright. This is helpful because you can continue to pedal around the corner.
The relatively vertical wheels result in better bike control if sliding occurs. This is especially helpful in wet, oily, sandy, or gravelly conditions. For most riders this is an awkward and relatively slow way to corner. Repeated practice will improve speed.
This is also the way one navigates in a pack-to either avoid potholes or pass slower riders when leaning is impractical.
in
I'm game.
Ladd recently mentioned wanting to work on cornering skills, which I think is a great idea. Brad, what do you think about throwing a cornering session into the mix?
I'm not free...
I think my wife has some tentative plans tonight, but if Brad is putting on a cornering clinic -- I'm there! (A guy wanted to test ride my 'cross bike, so I'll have to tell him he can't buy it yet, unless we'll work on mountain bike cornering also)
FYI
Ladd's road bike is out of commission... hence all the cross/mtb talk. :)
Cornering Skills
We can do that tonight for sure.
Hard Guy on a SS
I was thinking of trying hard guy on the single speed tonight. If anyone's interested, let me know. We could work on cornering on the way down. :)
skibikejunkie.blogspot.com
ouch
Man... that sounds tough on the knees. :)
Thanks Brad!
For those who missed, Brad put on a cornering clinic in a parking lot. I can't say I've got counter steering down, but I'm starting to feel it.
Oh, and I continued my streak of somebody breaking something on the Tuesday night rides (didn't Nate bust a chain during a sprint?). I bent my big chain ring, but since the next thing we did was some climbing, it didn't really matter too much (except I have another repair. I think this bike was jealous of the Addict getting all my attention lately.)
Countersteering
This diagram helps describe what we were attempting to accomplish pretty well.
Here's the description I found that was included.
LEANING
Leaning through a corner is the most common method cyclist’s use. Both the cycle and the rider are leaned into the corner. This method is suitable when the road is relatively wide, when you can see the roadway well after the corner, can choose your line ahead of time, and when the lean is brief so pedaling can resume after only a momentary, if any, pause.
COUNTERSTEERING
In countersteering you incline the bike relatively more than the body. This tends to be the fastest way to corner a bicycle but also takes a great amount of skill and practice to accomplish.
You initiate countersteering by pressing down with the inside hand. This increases the lean of the bicycle into the turn. This method allows the most steering control and makes it easiest to affect a change in direction during the turn. It is suitable for when you cannot see the roadway around the turn, or for off-camber and decreasing-radius turns. The relatively large lean of the bike may prevent early pedaling. Countersteering is also especially suitable for descents where gravity, rather than pedaling, provides acceleration, and for changing directions quickly and or uncertain corners.
STEERING
Steering or turning the handlebar toward the turn and shifting your body weight to the inside of the bicycle allows the bicycle to remain relatively upright. This is helpful because you can continue to pedal around the corner.
The relatively vertical wheels result in better bike control if sliding occurs. This is especially helpful in wet, oily, sandy, or gravelly conditions. For most riders this is an awkward and relatively slow way to corner. Repeated practice will improve speed.
This is also the way one navigates in a pack-to either avoid potholes or pass slower riders when leaning is impractical.
So what do you call this one -- oversteering?
As in, over the guardrail?
Check out Frank Schleck's cornering in the final 4km of Stage 5 of the Tour of Switzerland:
http://www.cycleto.com/videos.html?bcpid=1438501764&bclid=1406165222&bct...
OW!
Notice the guy behind him actually does some mild countersteering and is able to cut it way sharper.