A friend once asked me why I didn’t just switch my squealing, impossible to adjust cantilever brakes – the front refuses to STFU, so in retaliation, I refuse to use it – to center pull caliper ones.
“It’s not like you’re ever going to race ‘cross,” he said.
I stubbornly refused to switch them out though; and for once, I distinctly remember that decision being motivated by something other than my automatic reaction to being told that I can’t do something [“Oh yeah? Watch me“]. Because even though I had no idea what cyclocross was when I bought my tractorino, once I found out, I’ve been secretly crushing on it since.
I mean, who can resist a cycling event that looks so hardcore. Not only does it involve biking through grass and mud, you have to run [up hills, even!], and then jump over stuff. It looks like pure masochism. It totally turns me on.
Unfortunately, I currently lack the balls to actually do it. But laziness and the need to go to the BC main campus sometimes fires up the cyclocrosser poseurcrosser in me. Because when the options are biking up a hill or taking the stairs with a bike over your shoulder, well, I made the obvious choice.
Okay, I admit, I didn’t run up them. More like plodded at a steady pace while the undergrads snickered about the psycho girl hauling her bike up too many stairs. And those stairs were killer. But they still fuel daydreams of running up them in cycling shoes with friends, bikes over our shoulders, in preparation for an up-coming cross race. Only to descend them to do it all over again, thighs burning, heart and lungs about to burst, but still laughing.
It hasn’t happened yet, but those agonizing cantilever brakes are a constant reminder. Through all its screaming – when I absolutely need to use it – my front brake keeps that dream alive. I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed on this one.
No pun intended.
[My favorite underage bike mechanic is turning 21 today, too — Happy Birthday Chris!!!]
Tags: cantilever brakes · cycling · cyclocross · fingers crossed · stairs · training6 Comments
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