Dismounting a Bike at Speed in Cyclocross Racing

Video Transcript

"To be more comfortable getting off the bike at high speeds some riders swap around their brake levers. Usually, in America the left brake is the front break and the right break is the rear break. In the rest of the world and on motorcycles people have the right break as the front break and the left break as the rear break. If you swap your bike over for cross so that this is your back break, it helps you coming into a fast barrier section if you feel like you need to slow down a little bit. You can just tap your break. You've got one hand on the bar and still on the break hood and your hands over here, you're getting ready to get off. Instead of that, what some people do, if they have the extra break levers up here, the bar top levers, in addition, the same thing, as you're getting off the bike you can tap the back break to slow down. Some people are into it, some people aren't. As I come into the section as I ride these nice little hurls that I built here. You'll see I have to slow down, I feel like I have to get off my bike I a little bit quicker, a little but farther before that barrier than I would maybe if I had more breaking control. It's all a matter of commitment. So, I get off a good ten, fifteen yards before that barrier just to make sure I'm off my bike, I've sort of set up to do it ahead of time. Somebody maybe more athletic than me, practices a little bit more, might be popping off their bike right here just really quick and then their up and over. But for me, really for anybody who's just doing this for fun, preparing a little bit ahead of time for a nice smooth transition is going to be what you want to do."