Welcome to 4X, the no-holds-barred bike racing that’s like BMX only bigger, meaner and gnarlier
Cycling etiquette, from the correct way to pass a lorry to the proper behaviour on a towpath, is perhaps the most revisited theme on this Bike Blog. It’s certainly the one guaranteed to provoke the feistiest comments.
So I’m going out on a limb here and suggest that not all of us want to be polite and proper all the time when we ride our bikes. Sometimes we just want to put the power down and charge, using any means at our disposal to get past the rider in front and beat them to the line, and if that involves elbows or cutting them up, so be it. Obviously not a great idea during the morning commute, but the good news is that there is a two-wheeled sport that not only allows such behaviour but positively encourages it:4X mountain bike racing…Â Details
Video Cycling Mt. Bike – Mountain Bikers Steal the Show with McCovey – After loading 1800 cubic yards of dirt onto a 290-foot barge, Red Bull’s mountain biking squad stole the show last weekend at AT&T Park as they performed huge stunts in McCovey Cove.
Brendt Barbur’s cause is noble: He wants road rash to be sexy. Then chicks would giggle rather than withdraw the next time he explains how he grated the flesh off his forearms and palms …
Sure, girls go all gaga if you smash your face into coral while surfing in Hawaii, says Barbur. (The general consensus being that surfers and surf injuries are sexy.) But getting clipped by a car door, and being sent over your bicycle’s handlebars, and belly flopping onto the road like it was a Slip ‘n Slide with a 30-foot concrete runner … well, the NYC cyclist says, girls don’t think getting “doored” is as stunt-man mythic as wiping out on waves. Yet. … Details
