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Hippro

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by VecchioJo
Fri, May 11, 2012 10:58
8
HipproDancingHippo
VecchioJo gets it right, briefly

Some of us do our utmost to be Pro, slammed stem, the right socks, legs smooth as hewn marble, vain glances in reflective windows to check that our poise is just so… The truth is most of the time we are just galumphing about in too-tight clothing compared to that elegant mix of power and grace that real cyclists have, and deep down we know it, all bark and no bike.

But sometimes, just sometimes you have a brief taste of what being Pro might be like, and today was one of those times. Long easy descent with a little right-left-right chicane at the bottom that always has me puckering up and feathering the brakes a bit, mincing through. But not today; into it full gas, still pedaling, flick, flick, flick, bang, bang, bang. Perfect. I came out of it faster than I went in and for that brief instant I was a good cyclist. For a single breath I had a hint of what it might be like to be a Pro, now if I could only just extend those few seconds of aptitude into a four hour ride I could almost be half decent.

Pro
Not a Pro
VecchioJo

Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.

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8 comments

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KNOWNOTHINGBOZO | 12 years ago
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I used to play / try to play golf, and a very good golfer (but still not good enough to be pro) said "every single one of us can play a golf shot as good as the best golfer in the world, but I doubt if many of them can do what you do for a job"
I think the sentiment holds true across many sports. I'm just looking forward to the day I get my cycling hole in one.

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zzgavin | 12 years ago
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they are the quiet private moments that we store away, the anti-suffering ones, nicely written.
I used to get them sometimes when rock climbing, a lot of the focus is on the move and linking them together in a fluid manner. Practice and practice again seems to be the way to get more of them. I can call to mind one climb near me, Banks Lane, when I hit it in the right gear, changed at the right moment and kept it going right through, it's nice when it happens.

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stealth | 12 years ago
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iI find that the pro moments happen not nearly enough, certainly not in the company of others....
Ithen find that if I even mention the 'moment' to somebody else I will spend the next fortnight doing a passable impression of an asthmatic porpoise trying to ride a bike for the first time.
It begs the question though, "Do pro's have moments of normality?"
Just wondering...

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stealth | 12 years ago
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iI find that the pro moments happen not nearly enough, certainly not in the company of others....
Ithen find that if I even mention the 'moment' to somebody else I will spend the next fortnight doing a passable impression of an asthmatic porpoise trying to ride a bike for the first time.
It begs the question though, "Do pro's have moments of normality?"
Just wondering...

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VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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...and crashes into parked car

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Bez | 12 years ago
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"vain glances in reflective windows to check that our poise is just so"

/sheepishly raises hand

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sam_smith | 12 years ago
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It's nice when that happens when you're doing any sporting activity. 15
I find it never happens often enough for me. 20

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notfastenough replied to sam_smith | 12 years ago
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sam_smith wrote:

It's nice when that happens when you're doing any sporting activity. 15
I find it never happens often enough for me. 20

At one end of the scale, I've had it happen while doing martial arts a few years back. It all went a bit matrix for 3 minutes while I watched in slow motion as someone tried to hit me. Good fun.

At the other end of the scale, I was passed by a (suspected) Rapha Condor Sharp Pro not long ago; it wasn't so much his speed that eluded me, it was the fluidity of his movement and the way potholes etc didn't disrupt his rhythm at all. Made me feel like I was using stabilisers!

Listen, I was looking in the reflective glass to check my position on the bike dammit!!

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