Michigan State University’s basketball coach, we are frequently told, will occasionally plan a practice where he dresses his team in full-contact football gear and has them beat the snot out of each other while fielding rebounds. The result is a basketball team that almost always out-rebounds its opponents, and a fun image for fans.
Not to steal Coach Izzo’s thunder, but I had a similar idea when he was still an assistant coach at Northern Michigan University and I was beginning to race bicycles. I didn’t know a rebound from re-rod, but I was painfully aware that I was a kinda strong rider who was way too chicken in the corners, wasting what speed I had by not carrying enough of it through the corners because I was too afraid of crashing to trust — or learn — how well my tires would grip the pavement.
What I should do, I thought, was find some used hockey gear and a big, empty parking lot, and go around corners fast, a lot, until I found the point, over and over again, where my tires slid out and I crashed and slid and learned just how far I could push it, and then went home with no bruises and no road rash, just a ruined pair of used hockey shorts.
Like so many of my best ideas, I never got around to putting it into practice and therefore might as well not have had the idea. I remained chicken, but I got by and found a workable, if probably inferior, solution. All that energy I wasted accelerating unnecessarily out of the turns would catch up with me toward the end of the race, when I would be too tired to think. I’d just react, and with any kind of real conscious thought process out of the way, I’d do a lot better. It wasn’t the smartest approach, but then, bike racing isn’t the smartest hobby. But about once a year, we get to read about Izzo’s Special Practice, and wonder how differently I’d have raced if I could mix it up in the corners like the Spartans do under the net.
We have the same problem on motorcycles… the trick is to pay attention and be very careful around the leaves on the ground, especially when wet (along with every other thing out there trying to kill us, like painted markings, metal plates & grates, sand, gravel, idiot pedestrians, bicyclists and every motorist on the road).
LINK_O_NEAL over 6 years ago
Slip n slide.
Bilan over 6 years ago
That’s why they call this cross-country season.
mddshubby2005 over 6 years ago
Those won’t stop you from bruising your pride, Frazz.
Brass Orchid Premium Member over 6 years ago
Ouch.
Indycar over 6 years ago
Not if you fall off your bike but land on your feet. Which actually happened to me this year.
jjbarefoot over 6 years ago
Yeah, it happened to me! Goose egg and a black eye!
scaeva Premium Member over 6 years ago
Three years ago, slight bank on a recumbent to avoid a nasty bump. Got a lot of nasty road rash instead.
renewed1 over 6 years ago
Those paint stripes on bike paths can be very slippery.
Kind&Kinder over 6 years ago
This is what they make treadmills for.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 6 years ago
Frazz11 hrs · Huntington Woods, MI ·
Michigan State University’s basketball coach, we are frequently told, will occasionally plan a practice where he dresses his team in full-contact football gear and has them beat the snot out of each other while fielding rebounds. The result is a basketball team that almost always out-rebounds its opponents, and a fun image for fans.
Not to steal Coach Izzo’s thunder, but I had a similar idea when he was still an assistant coach at Northern Michigan University and I was beginning to race bicycles. I didn’t know a rebound from re-rod, but I was painfully aware that I was a kinda strong rider who was way too chicken in the corners, wasting what speed I had by not carrying enough of it through the corners because I was too afraid of crashing to trust — or learn — how well my tires would grip the pavement.
What I should do, I thought, was find some used hockey gear and a big, empty parking lot, and go around corners fast, a lot, until I found the point, over and over again, where my tires slid out and I crashed and slid and learned just how far I could push it, and then went home with no bruises and no road rash, just a ruined pair of used hockey shorts.
Like so many of my best ideas, I never got around to putting it into practice and therefore might as well not have had the idea. I remained chicken, but I got by and found a workable, if probably inferior, solution. All that energy I wasted accelerating unnecessarily out of the turns would catch up with me toward the end of the race, when I would be too tired to think. I’d just react, and with any kind of real conscious thought process out of the way, I’d do a lot better. It wasn’t the smartest approach, but then, bike racing isn’t the smartest hobby. But about once a year, we get to read about Izzo’s Special Practice, and wonder how differently I’d have raced if I could mix it up in the corners like the Spartans do under the net.
Jeff Mallet
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 6 years ago
CONTINUED:
I’d probably have had a few more wins, a bit more road rash and a lot more enemies.Frazz by Jef Mallett for Nov 4, 2017 | GoComics.com
gocomics.com
sml7291 Premium Member over 6 years ago
We have the same problem on motorcycles… the trick is to pay attention and be very careful around the leaves on the ground, especially when wet (along with every other thing out there trying to kill us, like painted markings, metal plates & grates, sand, gravel, idiot pedestrians, bicyclists and every motorist on the road).