March 2009
After I felt confident with seat-standers and using my handbrake the next natural trick was a “Flamingo;” or taking one foot off in while doing an idle seat-stander. I ran into a similar predicament as my first attempt at no throttle handed wheelies: standing frozen in position thinking, “How, just HOW, am I going to do this wheelie and remove an appendage.”
And like no throttle-handers the way to do it, is to just do it. Now I feel confident I can use the phrase “Just do it” without even coming close to breaching plagiarism because, if anything, Nike stole it from the universe. Some things you just have to dive into, there is no easing, no thinking, just doing. Amir suggested I pick up my foot and then place it back, to assure my body and mind I could indeed find the seat after my foot had left it.
After doing this for a while I felt confident enough to extend my leg behind me. Flamingos are proving to be a perfect exercise to truly learn the balance and intricacies of the handbrake. Balance, control and movements are radically different when you’re on top of the bike opposed to straddling it traditionally. Rebalancing after removing a foot is teaching my body how to move the bike and sustain control with the handbrake. I felt satisfied learning this trick and now it’s on to extension!
Birds Without Wings by Louis de BernièresMy review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Paradoxically, I read this book after my first visit to Turkey. I found the book shed light on many of the social and tangible occurrences which puzzled me during my visit. My travel partner and I were shocked by the vast number of deserted villages and decaying architecture, which was kindly explained by Mr. Bernieres. The book is uniquely written to display, on a large scope, the effects of war and political turmoil from the President's headaches to the poorest of poor who struggle daily to find food. Very interesting and I can't wait for my next visit to Turkey.
View all my reviews.
The thrill of learning a new trick never gets old. In the midst of seemingly endless practice, repeat, fail, repeat, fail, then a shimmer of light and the realization that, “Oh, Oh, Oh, I’m really doing it!” After learning no throttle-handers I was quite tempted to try no-handers. I really felt I would never get it, but lately I have seen those exciting shimmer of lights. I take off my hands and the bike floats back, opposed to slamming straight down.
Fun to say the least.
While sitting at the spot today, pigging out on In-and-out, an unsuspecting fellow in modish sunglasses and leather flips-flops, came shuffling up to the group of us. Unsuspecting in the sense that people in Sun Valley (the great city which hosts our stunt spot) are normally far from clean cut…or sober…or able to communicate competently. He said he was doing a photo shoot and was wondering if we could incorporate the bikes.
He had me at photo shoot and I excitedly offered to park my bike on the 12-bar to use as a prop or background. He excitedly thanked us and ran back up the over pass to bring the rest of the crew. Eventually they brought the cars around and we met the…model, a scantily clad young lady (to each his own, I thought) and asked how I could set up the bike. I parked the bike on a flat spot where the model posed in various positions and I warily stood inches outside the frame, telepathically willing my bike not to topple over and hit someone (and occasionally throwing up a champion for Anthony who was shooting the whole, rather comical, scene).
Amir slid over next to me on his bike and requested I set up a shoot with him and the model for AmirStunts.com. I interjected at the next appropriate opportunity and they cordially agreed and we got some priceless images of Amir, my bike, and the model.
