How to get on and off of your bike has been discussed
on GCN by many prominent riders.
Now, like a good old recipe from your grandmother,
it's passed down through the generations.
I learned it a certain way.
Maybe the Belgians learned it a different way
and their cookies taste different than our cookies
and for good reason.
A lot of what I talk about is going to be based
on personal preference and the way that you learned it.
But today I'm going to teach you guys about how I learned it
and the way that I like to get on and off the bike.
(triumphant music)
(beeping sound) (playful music)
So the first thing that you need to think about any time
you're at the cross track is what gear will I be in?
For whatever obstacle that you come up to whether
it's a jump, or a gap, or a barricade, a log, stairs?
What gear am I going to be in?
It's a big thing that you have to always think about
anytime you're at a cycle cross track.
So why do you not want to be in a big gear
when you get off the bike?
Lets imagine that you're flying down some swooping downhill
and then you're going to get off the barriers
and then it kind of, goes off and a little bit
slightly uphill and you're in too big of a gear.
What's going to happen?
You get the bike away from you and then
you go to get back onto it and it's not going to
be very efficient because I can't get the bike back up
to speed without muscling it really hard.
(lively music)
Okay. So now that we know what gear we're going to be in
and which, for this moment going so slow
is going to be our easiest one,
the next thing we need to do is take our right leg
and get it around the back of the bike.
(upbeat music)
Then you want to take your right hand
and you want to put it three quarters of the way
down the top tube so that you're set up.
(upbeat music)
Okay. So now the next thing that you want to make sure
that you do is you've got these points of contact.
Three points: left hand, left shifter
right hand three quarters of the way down the top tube
and then you've got your saddle right here on the seat.
Okay. So we've gone through so far thinking about
what gear you need to be in, you want to make sure
that you get your leg around the back of the bike,
you want your three points of contact:
left hand left shifter, right hand three quarters
of the way down the top tube, on your hip.
You're going to go out, you're going to pause the video,
and you're going to go practice that right now!
Then come back.
(upbeat music)
So when you're coming into the barriers,
you want to make sure that you have your points of contact
set up a long ways out.
You don't want to be trying to do all that stuff
right here in front of the barrier.
That's not going to end well.
And then you want to make sure that you get the bike
nice and far away from you, okay?
The last thing you want to do is have this seat underneath
your armpit with the pedals all up in your knees.
That's not going to be good for anyone.
You're going to hurt yourself,
you're going to hit your shins on your pedals,
and you're going to probably eat it.
Next, we're going to talk about how to put the bike down.
(exciting music)
You want to have the bike as far away from you
as you possibly can and then, once you put it down,
it's not a drop right?
You want to make sure that you do a nice landing.
Like landing a plane, nice and gently.
You want to put the bike down,
then you want to take your right hand,
you want to put it on top of the right shifter,
and then you want to count to five
as you're running with it.
One, two, three, four, five.
And then we're going to get back on the bike.
(exciting music)
You've got your bike, put it down,
take your right hand and put it on the right shifter,
count up to five.
Now you've got to push the eject button
and you've got to get back on the bike.
I've seen so many different things happen over the years.
Crow hops, bad style, the bike goes down too fast,
it's bouncing, people try to get back on, ugh!
Yeah, no, don't do that.
You want to hit the inside of your leg
like this, right here.
Hamstring can take almost all the force.
It's a very strong muscle so hit your hamstring
and then as you're going forward momentum
you want to find your pedals and then
pick your head up and look forward.
The last thing you want to be doing is looking down here
while someone's having a problem in front of you
and then you run into them.
You want to have your head up, looking where you are,
and keep your momentum.
(exciting music)
Okay. So now we need to tie everything together.
Remember you want to be in a super easy gear
especially if you're going to be going at it at low speed.
The next thing that you want to do is make sure
that you get your points of contact set up.
So the points of contact are those three points:
your left shifter, your right hand three quarters of the way
back on the top tube, and your hip.
You want to make sure that you get the bike
way away from you.
You want to set it down gently, like an airplane.
Hand goes on the right shifter.
Now you're running with the bike, one, two, three.
Then eject button.
Hit that hamstring, look down, find the pedals,
and then immediately look up because
you don't want to run into anybody.
(playful music)
Riding with your bike longhorn style, leg way back,
arm off the front of the bars as you get to the top tube
like you're trying out for a skating team
in the Winter Olympics. No thank you.
Here we've got the old dismount while still holding the top
tube to get your foot around the back of the bike.
This is bad for a ton of reasons.
Mainly, it's impossible to control your bike like that
and super dangerous.
(lively music)
Both hands on the shifters trying to quickly get your hand
on the top tube to pick the bike up, no thank you.
Stepping through, this one is not great if you love
your front teeth.
Now I know a lot of you old school riders out there love
this technique, but at high speed, the step-through
man, listen, it might be personal preference.
I'm not mad at you, it's just not the way
that I would do it.
I just wouldn't do the step-through.
It's not a good look, especially
if you love your front teeth.
I like mine. (playful music)
They're going to light me up in the comments for not talking
about the drive side of the bike.
I actually don't know how to get off
on the drive side of the bike.
It's so goofy to put the bike on, like run with it
with the derailer all up - I just,
I can't teach it. I can't do it.
(upbeat music)
That is my recipe that I have developed
over many many years.
I'm pretty much a grandmother
or a grandfather at this point.
That's my recipe.
Hope you guys enjoyed this video.
If you do, please give it a thumbs up,
leave us a comment below,
let me know what your recipe is if you liked mine.
If you've got your own, I'd love to hear
what you guys do differently that I do.
If you want to see other great cycle cross videos,
check them out right here
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