Undoing BMX bike training?

Yesterday while I was riding in the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred, I observed an
odd sight---boys of about 12 years old on good road bikes riding
erratically. Now, this was on the straight and level road and each boy
would sway the bike from side to side with his shoulders, pump the pedals
about 6 times, and then coast with the bike held tilted. It occurred to me
that even though the boys had decent road bikes, they were exhibiting the
"training" they had on BMX bikes, tooling around the neighborhood.
Evidently, there is going to have to be some "unlearning" when a boy grows
from a little BMX bike to a full sized road bike. These kids sure had some
bad habits!

Pat in TX

Pat wrote:
Yesterday while I was riding in the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred, I observed an
odd sight---boys of about 12 years old on good road bikes riding
erratically. Now, this was on the straight and level road and each boy
would sway the bike from side to side with his shoulders, pump the pedals
about 6 times, and then coast with the bike held tilted. It occurred to me
that even though the boys had decent road bikes, they were exhibiting the
"training" they had on BMX bikes, tooling around the neighborhood.
Evidently, there is going to have to be some "unlearning" when a boy grows
from a little BMX bike to a full sized road bike. These kids sure had some
bad habits!

Pat in TX


Perhaps this is unrelated. I got to see the US National Elite and Pro
Championships last weekend in Illinois. I noticed that most of the
Elites accelerated pretty inefficiently - cranking down and swaying a
bit side to side. I didn't see one pro do that. Every ounce of effort
was directed forward. No swaying.

I gues what I'm saying is maybe it's not worth "reeducation" if even
superior racers have this problem (jeez, I sound like a gulag official).
Let them find out on their own.

Collin

Pat wrote:
Yesterday while I was riding in the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred, I observed an
odd sight---boys of about 12 years old on good road bikes riding
erratically. Now, this was on the straight and level road and each boy
would sway the bike from side to side with his shoulders, pump the pedals
about 6 times, and then coast with the bike held tilted. It occurred to me
that even though the boys had decent road bikes, they were exhibiting the
"training" they had on BMX bikes, tooling around the neighborhood.
Evidently, there is going to have to be some "unlearning" when a boy grows
from a little BMX bike to a full sized road bike. These kids sure had some
bad habits!

Pat in TX


Perhaps this is unrelated. I got to see the US National Elite and Pro
Championships last weekend in Illinois. I noticed that most of the
Elites accelerated pretty inefficiently - cranking down and swaying a
bit side to side. I didn't see one pro do that. Every ounce of effort
was directed forward. No swaying.

I gues what I'm saying is maybe it's not worth "reeducation" if even
superior racers have this problem (jeez, I sound like a gulag official).
Let them find out on their own.

Collin