Balance and Power

Dallas Museum of Flight Supports the Popular Image of the Wrights and Their Cycling Company

This post is, more or less, a book review. Recently I read again about the effort that the Wright Brothers expended in order to make the first sustained human controlled flight in history. This book, by David McCullough, entitled "The Wright Brothers, recounts their journey. My loyal reader may recall the Wright Brothers as bicycle mechanics, but that serves only to minimize their accomplishments. In truth, their accomplishments were made possible by their cycling background, combined with the love of reading instilled in them by their parents. McCullough makes this point, but fails to emphasize some of the groundbreaking accomplishments these two brothers from Dayton, Ohio accomplished.

• As cyclists, they realized that proper balance was essential to controlled flight. Any cyclist knows that balance is a prerequisite to movement. The Wrights realized early on that balance was even trickier for powered flight than it was for cycling.
• Their learning led them to absorb virtually every book written on human flight. One of their sources was Samual Langley, the head of the Smithsonian Institution and an erstwhile competitor to be first in flight with his "Aerodrome." More on this later.
• They realized that scientific research, whether peer reviewed or not, was sadly lacking. One example was the absence of any serious research into the principles behind propeller operation despite their having been used in ships for a half century. They had to develop the principles themselves. They achieved far better efficiency than the best ship propellers of the time.
• Similarly, stability and control laws were lacking; this led them to build their own, homemade wind tunnel. One of their first conclusions is that the big problem in flight was the learning of how to control the aircraft, not in the basic principles.
• The Wrights were far more than sinple mechanics. According to McCullough, before the turn of the century, they were turning out close to 200 machines a year when they started working on building a flying machine. The photos above make it look like they were a couple of country hicks working with tools one might have seen in the American Revolution. They don't look like an outfit that had a wind tunnel in the back room.
• As they developed the scientific principles needed for flight, they asked all the auto manufacturers of the day to provide them with an engine. They asked for an engine that could develop at least 8Hp and weighed less than 200Lb. Nobody offered to meet their specifications. So they put one of their employees, Charlie Taylor to work. He built one that weighed 150Lb and put out 12Hp. Score another for the cyclists. For comparison, the 1912 Model T engine weighed around 300Lb without transmission and put out 20Hp.
• Their choice of Kill Devil Hill was also not accidental. They researched all the potential

  

  From Wikipedia

  locales, looking for one that was relatively unpopulated, with consistent wind, and with lots of level and hilly locales for launch/recovery sites.
• Somewhat strangely, considering the almost instant spread of news today, the first accurate eyewitness account of the Wright Brothers flights didn't come out until January 1905; more than a year after their first flight. The publication: "Gleanings in Bee Culture."
• The editor of the first accurate article on human flight (the same "Bee Culture" guy) sent a copy to Scientific American with an offer of free republication. Far from taking him up on the offer, Scientific American ignored it and, instead, a full year later, ridiculed the notion that the Wrights were capable of something they'd been doing for over two years. Wilbur Wright opined: "If they will not take our word and the word of many witnesses, ... we do not think they will be convinced until they see a flight with their own eyes." By that time, the Wrights were negotiating the sale of the Wright Flyer III to the French Government after receiving no interest from the US Government. Three years later, they were making their famous flight over the Statue of Liberty.
• Oddly, even long after this, in 1928, the Smithsonian turned down a Wright offer to donate the original Flyer. Instead, the Smithsonian falsely claimed that Langley produced the first machine capable of flight. They even had Glenn Curtiss modify it so it COULD fly. As a result, the original Wright Flyer was sent to England to reside in the London Science Museum. It stayed there until after Orville's death in 1948. I guess we're lucky it wasn't hit by the Germans in the Blitz.

I guess the US Government has reconsidered. After the Flyer went to England, the Smithsonian board recanted their denial of the Wrights being the first to fly. Perhaps final vindication came in 1969 when a piece of the original Wright Flyer went to the Moon with Neil Armstrong. One Giant Step indeed!

Bike Ed on the Daily Commute

Virtually nobody reading this blog would disagree that residential streets make transportation bicycle riding much more pleasant and relaxing compared with places like the Alliance Gateway Freeway. All but the most dedicated stop sign scofflaws would agree with me that this is particularly so when the street isn’t interrupted by stop signs. A less widely understood value of residential streets is that they can also facilitate the safe development and improvement of bike handling skills that can make the difference between a scary situation and something worse.

One prominent feature of bicycle school is the use of parking lot drills. For those so unfortunate as to remain uneducated, parking lot drills are structured to give a cyclist practice performing avoidance and emergency maneuvers so that “muscle memory” develops.

The Bike League course starts these drills by teaching basic bike starting and stopping, moving on to head scans and signaling, and then on to hazard avoidance. Regular riding, and particularly transportation riding on urban streets give lots of practice for the educated rider in starting, stopping, signaling and head checks (regular riding can also develop some bad habits). Hazard avoidance, on the other hand, is not often encountered in the real world (thank goodness!). If you encounter such things frequently, it might be cause to consider your riding technique, but that would be an entirely different post.

Residential streets give opportunities to practice emergency maneuvers without a special trip to a nearby parking lot. I practice these maneuvers frequently. Some of them I do daily. Since these maneuvers are being done on city streets, with no spotters present, some require “dialing back” from what can be accomplished in a parking lot with an experienced spotter.

Rock Dodge
In the Bike League rock dodge exercise, tennis balls are used to simulate a rock that the student is instructed to avoid. The purpose of this maneuver is to help the student avoid pot holes, debris, and other small hazards that are not seen well in advance. The technique is a quick “flick, flick” motion of the handlebar to steer the front wheel around the hazard without changing the cyclist’s path (I won’t get into the physics and principles today). On the street, between oil spots, local rough spots in pavement, and other references, the technique is to simply suddenly pick a spot on the road and treat it as a hazard. What could be easier? If the street is really boring and I’m absolutely sure that no motor traffic can be intruding, I extend my rock dodge practice into linked turns, using street references. This is actually fun, so my biggest problem is to avoid getting addicted into doing this in inappropriate conditions.



Quick - Miss That Pebble!

 Instant Turn
In the Bike League instant turn, the student is taught to use countersteer to get the bike leaned over and turning sharply. The situation simulates a situation where someone has cut you off and you either need to be able to turn right, right away, or you’re going to broadside the hazard. Such a bike education personage as John Forester related that he has had one collision with a car – before he learned to do instant turns. Instant turns are not quite so trivial to practice on city streets as the rock dodge, but ample opportunities exist all the same. Here’s the basic situation. Coming upon an uncontrolled intersection where I intend to make a right turn, I simply execute an instant turn. Since I’m doing this on a public road, I do extra scanning to make sure there isn’t some overtaking traffic sneaking up from behind, but that’s about it. The main reason I do the extra scanning is I have found that the pedals on my bikes are much more likely to strike the ground than when making a “non panic” turn. It simply wouldn’t do to fall over making a right turn and then have a motorist have to make an abrupt stop to avoid hitting me.



Stop Before That Little Spot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Quick Stop
In the Bike League quick stop, the student is taught to use various techniques in combination to stop in the shortest possible distance. Among these is moving back from the saddle and dropping down. I have found that when I do these properly, I’ll fall over nearly half the time, because I usually ride with either cleats or with toe clips. It is not easy to disengage from the pedals when stretched back down and over the rear wheel. You’ll have to trust me on this if you haven’t tried it. In what I personally consider somewhat of a cop out, many instructors do not use cleated pedals when they demonstrate the drill. That is fine, except that emergencies follow Murphy’s Law.

Clearly, riding home from work, you’d not want to simply fall over with your feet still clipped to your pedals. Here’s what I do. While riding along fairly fast, in a traffic-free situation (usually on a fairly long, downhill segment), I will apply varying amounts of front brake, while deliberately paying attention to the level of weight remaining on the rear wheel. I will then combine front brake with rear brake modulation. I will also move my weight forward and backwards to improve my ongoing intuitive “feel” for what is going on with the bike and where the limits lie. The objective is to reinforce the understanding of just how much front brake can be applied with the weight moving back - without a spectacular “endo,” and without actually experiencing any of the other bad things that can happen in such a situation. One must remember that in the real world, in a real emergency, falling over (sideways) at the completion of a stop is a victory compared to hitting the broadside of a van at speed, or even of completing the stop several feet further into a potential follow-on collision situation. This is one maneuver that I have not found a way to fully practice in all elements on public streets. Still, the elements I practice will help if I ever need to stop that couple of feet quicker than humanly possible.

Emergencies in the Real World
Rock dodge situations are something most cyclists encounter. Improved ability to dodge small debris and pot holes reduce flats without unpredictable maneuvers that a following motorist might not expect. Certainly, running over a rock and getting a flat probably isn’t the end of the world, but it is much more pleasant NOT to get that flat or bend that rim. The instant turn and quick stop, on the other hand, are something rarely needed by a proactive cyclist that is paying attention to traffic. As a result, most cyclists do NOT know how to do these maneuvers. REGARDLESS of your views about bike lanes, helmets, high visibility, “bike culture” and so on, I think we will all agree trained cyclist will be better off than an untrained one if an emergency occurs. You might be wondering if this is something you need to work on. In answer, I’ll simply repost the photo below, and note that the pilot repeatedly practiced for a situation he was very unlikely to ever encounter. When the situation came, he brought all his passengers home alive. Your bike’s passenger(s) deserve as much.

Shameless Plug
If you live around DFW and conclude that your road or bike handling skills could benefit from guidance, BikeDFW offers courses fairly frequently. Or email Whareagle, Chandra, or myself, and we’ll get you hooked up.

Raise Your Hand?

Turn Signals, From the City of Milwaukee

Since pretty much as long as I can remember, I've made right turn signals using the "Alternate Right Turn" approach of sticking out my right arm. It has seemed more direct than the approach of raising one's left arm as one would have to do if driving an car and making hand signals. I can't recall the last time I saw anybody in a car making hand signals, so I figure most motorists will understand the alternate signal best.

HOWEVER, there's another reason to raise your hand, and I can't believe I didn't think of it when I was in the situation. You see, the "Alternate Right Turn" signal is the only one a cyclist makes that takes his/her right hand off the handle bar.

So?

Well, as related by Sheldon Brown, here (as well as many other places including bike school), MOST of your braking power comes from your front brake. As I noted, in my blog post about the alternate braking universe of hooking up your brakes backwards, here, the problem with using the right hand to operate the front brake is that right turn signals get a bit squirrely. Well, that isn't the case if you pretend to be driving a car and, simply RAISE YOUR HAND! If you hook your brakes up backwards, and you're right handed, then you can use your strong hand on the strong brake whenever you signal. Even if you're signaling a right turn.

Duh. Now I have to think if I want to change all my bikes over to make them brake backwards. I think, maybe, I do, but I'll try some of that dweeby hand raising first. I wonder if that's why Whareagle signals that way. No, he probably doesn't have his brakes hooked up backwards.

Bikes Really ARE Different!

I've been instructed in how to use my camera while travelling along a roadway by several people. Today, I put all this into action on my commute home. Above, you may see my excellent photographic technique as I close in on the heavy traffic that is southbound on Highway 377 in Keller. If you look closely, you may see that up ahead there is even a police cruiser, whose driver admired my coordinated technique shortly afterwards.

Reinforcing my determination to not be impeded by all the snarled motor traffic, I passed straight through the traffic light when it turned green (it wouldn't DO to run a red light right in front of a police cruiser), and made a right where I had a clear path through the parking lot (Rantwick's Mom is feeling bad vibes right now - but she's off base).

You might be wondering how, exactly I developed this sudden willingness to photograph as I travel, despite police and heavy traffic all around. Actually, some of it I did with no hands on the handlebars. Well, the last photo reveals my secret, and also explains the title of this post.

Bikes are different because you have the option of becoming a pedestrian. Keller Hicks Road was closed due to a gas leak that had the fire department out. I received permission from one of the police officers to walk along the closed road as long as I didn't go into that coned off parking lot and bother the firemen. You may all admire my pedestrian lane position. I told her she could be very confident I was not going to go anywhere NEAR that gas leak! While I was walking, I decided to hoof it through the parking lot on the far side of 377 and simply walk past all the snarled highway traffic. While "lane sharing" with the motorists would have been perfectly safe, the parking lot was much cooler (literally) and I didn't have to do any filtering up to my turn point.

One more advantage of SPD pedals - you can do this without looking like a duck. Who says I never get off my bike and walk leisurely during my commute? By the way, for those who think my commute is devoid of cars, this segment contained two motorist interactions. The first was with the police officer who gave me permission to walk down Keller Hicks and the second was with the police officer who was walking into the coned off parking lot with cold drinks for the firemen. None of the cars on 377, or in that parking lot count.

Weight the Outside Pedal

If you learn to ski, once you get past the snowplow and some of the other basics, you eventually learn to PUT YOUR WEIGHT ON THE OUTSIDE SKI when you want to make a turn. I go down a tough run and I really STOMP on that outside ski. Corona Bowl at Stevens Pass. Some of the tougher stuff over on the left side coming down A Basin.

Riding a bike, I never really realized it isn't all that different. You want to make a really SHARP turn, PUT YOUR WEIGHT ON THE OUTSIDE PEDAL.

Try it. It works. You watch the video here, you'll notice most of the students wind up doing just that. I don't know if the instructors told them or they just sort of wound up doing it by trial and error.

I learned it in bicycle school. Thanks again, guys! Cycling is more like skiing than I thought...

Alternate Bicycle Braking Universe

Blogger Carmelina wrote in response to this post when I was grousing about the awkwardness of hand stop signals:

I find the easiest way around this is to put the front brake cable on the right (switching the normal arrangement on new bicycles). I've done this on almost all my bicycles, for the same reason. Also if I want to signal a left turn, I'll frequently have to wait for oncoming traffic, and want to have most of my braking available. This is an easy change to make yourself, especially since you seem to work on your own bicycles.

Indeed, why not? In fact, when I took delivery of Buddy, the brakes were set up that way - the bike was set up to be ridden by a motocrosser. Considering that most of us are right handed (sorry Erin, but it's true), why are bikes set up for the left hand to operate the front brake? As it turns out, it's probably an accident foisted off on cyclists by mistaken notions and antiquated thinking. Motorcycles are set up exactly opposite from bicycles.

The late, esteemed Sheldon Brown suggested that cyclists ought to improve their bicycle braking by using the dominant hand to control the dominant (front) brake. His argument may be seen here. By the way, his entire article is well worth the time to read, but today I'm only talking about an alternate braking universe.

Currently, Buddy is set up the way that Big Brother intended - with my left hand operating the front brake. Why? Well, there are really two reasons. First, my other bikes are set up that way, and consistency is more important than anything else. When ONE bike was set up differently than the rest, it led to inconvenient moments when the "not usual" bike was being ridden. Second, I was making a lot of right turn signals (right arm not on the brakes) compared to anything else. My left hand on the rear brake tended to give me jerky braking while signaling because the lower traction rear tire would lock up easily, leading me to swerve left. It wasn't something you'd notice watching me, but it bothered me. The condition was exacerbated by Buddy's strong V brakes.

Bottom line - I switched back to "normal" when I needed to replace a brake cable housing that started to fray. I think, however, that Carmelina  and Sheldon have a very valid point. Doubly so, now that I'm going to try to remember to signal my stops more consistently. I've done it both ways and the jury is still out in my book. I'm definitely open to further influence. Part of me is attracted by the notion that setting up the bike "wrong" may be superior.

Whatever you do, set up all the bikes you use the same way. If I go "wrong braked," I'll do it with every bike I ride. Just as with British cars, having ONE that's RHD leads to occasional attempts to shift gears by grabbing the window winder...

Off to Visit the Parking Lot Again

Don't try this at home. I clipped a fender and the ground with my toe clip on Frankenbike this morning. Time to take out Buddy with a bit more ground clearance.

Because someday, following the rules of the road might not be enough...



Yup, from the same guys that do all those Dual Chase videos...

More on the subject here, or here.

And Cross Season is only two months away.