Adrenaline keeps bikers in the race
Risk of injuries thrill of winning attract cyclers
By Rachelle Detweller Special to the Kansan
The need to bike is deeper than bloody cuts. It's stronger than constant pain from aching muscles. Biking is bursts of adrenaline from the speed of the sport, and pain is only a temporary setback from being on the track or trail.
For mountain bikers, BMXers and road racers, the grinding of turning pedals is a constant lure.
The sound of pebbles popping beneath bike tires bounces through many bikers' heads, for they often drop their regular activities to race, regardless of the injuries associated with biking.
Josh Lock, Stanley sophomore explained how his nerves and his favorite sport wore him out.
"It was the first race of the season," Locke said. "I thought there was no reason to get antsy. Nerves are what push you."
He grinned slightly while recalling his first race of the season, the March 17 Hardcore Mountain Biker Race Series at Clinton Lake. He said he had two flat tires and
ended up in second to last place, running the last half mile of the race with his bike hung over his shoulder.
"One guy on a bike tried to beat me, but I sprinted to the finish," Lock said. He said he beat that one biker to avoid last place.
Even though his two flat tires knocked him out of the competition, Locke said he still stayed in the race and still pushed himself. And this is what he likes about biking. He said he would race even without competition.
"It's an individual thing," Lock said. "There's no one to blame but yourself, and sometimes your bike."
Only recently has Lock started mountain biking consistently. He is testing his skill in the sport, and he said he was not afraid of having to run with his bike across the finish line or of taking a spill.
Only occasionally is he hurt so badly that he is unable to get back onto his bike immediately.
"Everyone crashes, unless you're Superman," Lock said. "It's to be expected. When you're riding for 16 miles, you get tired and lose control more often and run into stuff you don't want to."
Even though the races are long and the pain can be numbing, Lock said, he still likes the sport and enjoys doing well. The more his muscles ache during a race, he said, the better his standing will be when he finishes.
paired for crashes by shaving his legs.
At one point, he said, he actually pre-
"You don't shave your legs to get less air resistance, but to prevent infection," Lock said. "Hair is dirty."
For a hard workout, Lock rides 20 to 30 miles. He said he rode for such an extended distance because speed and endurance not maneuvering a bike over the path, were the hardest parts of mountain biking.
"The hard part is going fast," Lock said. "That's the whole thing behind it. Going fast."
Although mountain bikers need well-developed handling skills,he said,physical endurance results in greater abilities to speed, which separates mountain bikers into different levels of skills.
He said the speed of the sport also produced his new biking philosophy.
"As long as you're pedaling, you're going faster." Lock said. "As long as you're not braking, you're going faster."
However, he said speed is one obvious reason behind crashes. The biker will ride too fast, lose control and then not be able to maneuver. But going too slowly can also cause wrecks. When people bike at a leisurely pace they stop concentrating, and consequently are vulnerable to accidents. However, Lock said, being a speedy biker and risking injuries are a main part of mountain biking.
"You have to push the envelope of safety sometimes and crash," Lock said. "That's
good. But I've never been in the hospital."
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Matthew Jones, Newton sophomore twisted his scarred arm around and pointed to the traces of injuries covering his elbow. He said the scars were from a race in Ohio in which won his first BMX national.
"I can probably name off where I got a lot of them," Jones said.
Scrapes and cuts were routine occurrences during his eight years of BMX bike racing, and he said he was accustomed to the injuries that came with the sport.
"In the gate, I'm always like, I'm gonna go out there and win, or I'm gonna wreck,'" Jones said. "It's not worth going out there and slacking off so I don't hurt myself."
"I knew I wrecked," Jones said. "But I don't remember much until I woke up in the bathtub." He said he had scabs covering half his face for a week, but they healed quickly without scarring.
However, Jones said there was a period when he was a timid biker. He said for a year doing jumps in races was nerve-racking because of an accident that he had when he was practicing. While working on a jump in front of his house, he fell off his bike and got a concussion.
He said the first jump of any race was always the worst for him. Eight racers are boxed together speeding down the first straight of the race, and in BMX biking,
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