Out of Body Nose-Wheelies
Out of body experience convinces me that Johnny T is a god.
Ever see that old video, the one where John Tomac is racing a NORBA DH? Probably not.
Somewhere...maybe in Vermont or the famed Mammoth Kamikaze...and somehow a drop off or compression in the course forces his weight forward and like evil magic his rear wheel just rises up about three feet off the ground.
You can’t believe what you’re seeing. You squint, searching for hidden strings like in a bad Las Vegas lounge act. You hit replay and slow-mo and freeze frame. You play it backwards.
How does he manage to ride it out?
The video is scary. Johnny T is probably going forty miles an hour, riding a nose wheelie. For five seconds. An eternity. He rode it out, and then kept on racing and I think he even won that day.
The concept, even just the remote possibilty, of a 40 mph nose wheelie should scare the bejessus out of anyone. If you ever have been riding along and felt the flutter of a fetal nose wheelie your heart skips a beat, as if you were swimming in open water and you see the wink of a dorsal fin.
I now know what a mature, full-blown nose wheelie feels like.
Marla jumping into a ravine...
This past weekend in preparation for the U.S. Open in New Jersey, I was downhilling with a few of my preferred training partners; some pre-adolescent boys, (mostly because they have absolutely no fear... except for getting kissed by a girl).
It works out well because they think I am too old to be a girl.
Anyway, there was the this little jump in the trail. I was going about twice as fast as needed to clear it, just for my own entertainment. My rear suspension fully loaded in freakish concert with the terrain and when I hit the takeoff, the rear shock sprang like a steel trap.
It’s like I had hours to prepare for a horrible consequence.
I felt my butt floating up...and up...and up. Certainly an undignified manner to ascend to heaven. Hmmm. It will be four weeks to heal a broken collarbone, five for a wrist. Kaiser HMO deductible...
How do I get out of this dillemma?
The same thing way when lightning strikes a foot away from you.
Relax. And don’t even THINK about that front brake.
I figured, after about three seconds of terrifying nose wheelie, which seemed like such a significant period of time that it should be awarded its own designation like week, year or decade, that my rear wheel had gently floated back to earth.
My training partners, their status elevated from “grommits” just a few hours earlier witnessed the whole suspension of disbelief.
The grommits...
“That was looking bad, Marla,” grommit #1 said afterwards.
“Yeah,” agreed Grommit #2. “Pretty sketchy.”
When I first saw that video of Johnny T ten years ago I thought to myself, how does he “practice” doing mid-race nose wheelies? Is there some sort of drill for that? Do you build up to riding a nose wheelie on a stationary trainer or something? After watching that video of Tomac I naively wrote in my training journal...”Work on nose wheelies!”.
Now, I know what Tomac knows, that there is no way to prepare, practice or get ready for an out-of-body nose-wheelie. You just relax and wait for a miracle.
Ever see that old video, the one where John Tomac is racing a NORBA DH? Probably not.
Somewhere...maybe in Vermont or the famed Mammoth Kamikaze...and somehow a drop off or compression in the course forces his weight forward and like evil magic his rear wheel just rises up about three feet off the ground.
You can’t believe what you’re seeing. You squint, searching for hidden strings like in a bad Las Vegas lounge act. You hit replay and slow-mo and freeze frame. You play it backwards.
How does he manage to ride it out?
The video is scary. Johnny T is probably going forty miles an hour, riding a nose wheelie. For five seconds. An eternity. He rode it out, and then kept on racing and I think he even won that day.
The concept, even just the remote possibilty, of a 40 mph nose wheelie should scare the bejessus out of anyone. If you ever have been riding along and felt the flutter of a fetal nose wheelie your heart skips a beat, as if you were swimming in open water and you see the wink of a dorsal fin.
I now know what a mature, full-blown nose wheelie feels like.
Marla jumping into a ravine...
This past weekend in preparation for the U.S. Open in New Jersey, I was downhilling with a few of my preferred training partners; some pre-adolescent boys, (mostly because they have absolutely no fear... except for getting kissed by a girl).
It works out well because they think I am too old to be a girl.
Anyway, there was the this little jump in the trail. I was going about twice as fast as needed to clear it, just for my own entertainment. My rear suspension fully loaded in freakish concert with the terrain and when I hit the takeoff, the rear shock sprang like a steel trap.
It’s like I had hours to prepare for a horrible consequence.
I felt my butt floating up...and up...and up. Certainly an undignified manner to ascend to heaven. Hmmm. It will be four weeks to heal a broken collarbone, five for a wrist. Kaiser HMO deductible...
How do I get out of this dillemma?
The same thing way when lightning strikes a foot away from you.
Relax. And don’t even THINK about that front brake.
I figured, after about three seconds of terrifying nose wheelie, which seemed like such a significant period of time that it should be awarded its own designation like week, year or decade, that my rear wheel had gently floated back to earth.
My training partners, their status elevated from “grommits” just a few hours earlier witnessed the whole suspension of disbelief.
The grommits...
“That was looking bad, Marla,” grommit #1 said afterwards.
“Yeah,” agreed Grommit #2. “Pretty sketchy.”
When I first saw that video of Johnny T ten years ago I thought to myself, how does he “practice” doing mid-race nose wheelies? Is there some sort of drill for that? Do you build up to riding a nose wheelie on a stationary trainer or something? After watching that video of Tomac I naively wrote in my training journal...”Work on nose wheelies!”.
Now, I know what Tomac knows, that there is no way to prepare, practice or get ready for an out-of-body nose-wheelie. You just relax and wait for a miracle.
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2 Comments:
Kind of like getting kissed by a girl.
There's no practicing for it, just relax and wait for a miralce. ;-)
Rich
I learned it the hard way.. noosewheelies.. and after that i am so used to doing it... when nosediving... that i don;t have fear for it. Usely i scare the shit out of my friends. Last weekend thay said lean a litlle more forewards and you will lay flat. My secret is to hang as far as you can behind your seat as possible and nothing will overcome me. I have a great handling on my bike. I really didn't thought ihave to teach a pro how to do it:D
Greetings Jeroen. If you send me a plainticket i could learn you.;)
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