Epiphany!
How I Went Brakeless
by by Jeremy Till.
Editor's note: When my old-skool compai Vince read this, he said,
"Wow Jeremy, I kid you not when I say that I found that testimonial very gratifying and inspirational. (I know, I should get a life right?). But you are living proof of what has been said 1 billion times over by street track riders everywhere. We are brakeless and better riders for it. No daydreaming allowed peripheral vision open to the max like a fisheye lens, give respect and get it back on the road. If you werent hooked before your'e sure gonna be now!"
How it Started
After two crashes in as many days last week, I knew something must be
up. At first I thought it was a sign that I needed a better brake, but then I got to
thinking (and riding) and it came to me....
Am I Really Doing This??
Of course, I was somewhat dubious about my conclusions. My "common sense" kept
flaring up: this is berkeley after all, and I don't live in the flat part
anymore- I live in the hills. How could it be safer to ride without brakes? So I devised an
experiment, of sorts- I'd ride brakeless for a week, or at least as long as it took the new
brake to come in the mail, and if I still had faith in my conclusions, I'd keep the brake off.
Yes Am I Really Doing This!!
Well here we are, a week later, and I am brakeless, and a safer rider
for it.
I am more aware of traffic, of pedestrians, of doors. I ride more
flow, no sprints followed
by quick deceleration at the other end of the block, simply because I
have to. I find myself
not taking the same risks I would with the "safety net" of the brake. I
ride at a more laid
back pace, to facilitate braking by backpressure, and I'm not tempted
to go faster,
especially because I have not yet mastered skipping/skidding. I wear a
helmet where I
wouldn't where one before.
Perfect Control
The culmination of the week was last night, when I took the fix to
the Berkeley critical mass (yeah, we like to do things differently here in
Berkeley...) and rode 2+ hours brakeless, feeling perfectly in control the
entire time. Besides this fact, I met another brakeless rider
(with an awesome old skool cinelli) who had come to the exact same
conclusion- and he'd been riding brakeless for a year.
So I thought I'd make my joining the ranks of brakeless riders
official. This is my testimonial.
Ride ON!
Ride ON!