“I refuse to crash”, a bike race philosophy
Here’s a case where a lesson I learned in bike racing helped change my life. When I first started racing I noticed that everyone was crashing quite often. I also was having mechanicals and quite a few stupid crashes. Always someone else’s fault! Nothing awful, just taking me out of races that I was doing good in, etc. One day I decided that I would REFUSE to crash. I wouldn’t go down without a BIG fight. That I simply wouldn’t let bad luck happen to me. I’d prepare really well ahead of time so that I’d have no mechanicals. (I’d even had clothing trouble wreck chances for top placings. UGH!) So I started watching all the geeks in the pack and staying away from them ALWAYS. Also, I stayed at the front. I noticed that whenever I started taking anything for granted trouble came around. Laziness made trouble. Resting up had a price. Are you willing to pay it? I wasn’t. I noticed that track racing made me more comfy in packs, so I did it. Anyway, it worked. I stayed up. I’d hook handlebars…and get them unhooked. I’d have riders teebone me in corners and hold them up until I could let them go off into the shrubs. I’d have big jerks try to hook me and I’d just lift them off the ground with my elbow under their thigh and push them out of the way. The crashing stuff basically just stopped. Accidents aren’t simple. Maybe there are six factors involved or more. By doing what I did, I just about eliminated most of the factors causing accidents. My accidents went down to sometimes none per year. I realized that I couldn’t blame anyone for my bad luck. This influenced other things in my life, too. Here’s hoping you all keep the rubber side down! AND MAKE IT STAY THAT WAY!
