Holding onto cars

[AntonioRossi]

So I got a question for those who can hold onto cars while being on the bike. How do you stay balanced? This is not about being stupid and stuff, but comon you guys need to admit that when you see the pros hanging on to cars, you wanna learn that too

I tried it once and I failed miserably.

I saw lucas brunelle's article in bicycling magazine, and his picture of him holding onto a truck seems somewhat sketchy. But yeah, do any of you guys have experience doing this?

 

[Parrulo]

So I got a question for those who can hold onto cars while being on the bike. How do you stay balanced? This is not about being stupid and stuff, but comon you guys need to admit that when you see the pros hanging on to cars, you wanna learn that too

I tried it once and I failed miserably.

I saw lucas brunelle's article in bicycling magazine, and his picture of him holding onto a truck seems somewhat sketchy. But yeah, do any of you guys have experience doing this?

to bee honest i never put much thought into this, i have also never hold on to cars many times but never really had any difficulties the few times i did it, mostly because it was on straight roads at moderate speed

 

[Race Radio]

I am an expert wheel sucker and car hanger

You need to slightly counter steer as well as set your weight on the outside of the bike. It is not that hard and is the easy way up any climb

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Just did it last week with my sisters' old MTB, went all up to 65 kmh. Pretty scary I admit

But what you have to do, imo, is lean a bit into the car with your upper body and get your wheels a little bit farther away from it. But only a little! Not too much because then you'll lose balance and I don't want to know what might happen then

 

[Cycle Chic]

I often rest on a car at traffic lights - saves you unclipping....unless you,re in a race why do you want to 'do what the pro's do' ? you could end up under a car wheel. Whenever I watch the races on the tv there are a few close calls even with the pro's - so if they have near misses !!

Don't do it - its too dangerous !

 

[Cobblestoned]

Waterskiing might improve your carholding skills.

 

[AntonioRossi]

Just did it last week with my sisters' old MTB, went all up to 65 kmh. Pretty scary I admit

But what you have to do, imo, is lean a bit into the car with your upper body and get your wheels a little bit farther away from it. But only a little! Not too much because then you'll lose balance and I don't want to know what might happen then

alright, seems like reasonable advice

I am an expert wheel sucker and car hanger

You need to slightly counter steer as well as set your weight on the outside of the bike. It is not that hard and is the easy way up any climb

If you're an expert, then all is good. Putting the weight on the outside of the bike seems right I suppose.

I tried it once, and I think after 2 seconds I was on the ground..

 

[Quixote]

Work on stretching and flexing...it will allow you to kiss your sweet *ss goodbye when this trick goes bad.
I admit that it looks fun, though. Good luck.

 

[AntonioRossi]

Work on stretching and flexing...it will allow you to kiss your sweet *ss goodbye when this trick goes bad.
I admit that it looks fun, though. Good luck.

Haha, it will work out eventually

 

[Quixote]

Haha, it will work out eventually

By the way, it usually takes me days to get around to my monthly bicycling mag. Guess what page I searched and found before I even left the mail box?
It's a great pic and a good article.
On my last century, I teamed up with a former bicycle courier from Seattle...some good stories there.

 

[Martin318is]

I am an expert wheel sucker and car hanger

You need to slightly counter steer as well as set your weight on the outside of the bike. It is not that hard and is the easy way up any climb

yep, its a mistake to lean onto the car itself or ever steer your bars away from the car - doing that means at the slightest movement of the car you can end up with a big gap between the bike and the car and you bouncing on the ground between them. Better to lean the bike away.

use your other hand to put tention on the bars to help you hold your line and then keep your car-hand postion such that the force is more of a pulling one than a leaning one. That helps to keep all the forces lined up in the direction of travel and stop anything too nasty happening.

I have found that once the speed is up over about 60-70kph, it is easier to hold the side of the door frame rather than the bottom. this creates a better handle for the rider.

Another great trick at these sort of speeds is to get the passenger to lightly press down on your fingers - not so much that you are trapped but enough that you aren't doing a "cliffhanger" moment and slipping off the hand hold. I have done this for about 15km on one ocassion when I had a mechanical in a race and was left behind - one of my mates finished, got in his car and came back out to get me (with his girlfriend taking the only spare seat). We sat on about 85kph on the way back. by the end my arms hurt worse than my legs.

***Note, I don't actually recommend doing any of the above. Its just lessons I have learned over the years that worked for me only.

 

[Le breton]

.........We sat on about 85kph on the way back. by the end my arms hurt worse than my legs.

.

I have never held on to cars at high speed, but at usual racing speeds it seems so natural that I don't have to think about it and consequently never analyzed what I do.

Anyway, here Benoit Poelvoorde teaches you what NOT TO DO :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnkEAgO_QHk
IIRC he broke his collarbone and the movie was delayed.

On the question of your arm hurting I have an anecdote.

In 1993 I was doing my 8th Marmotte, expecting to finish at my usual time. Unfortunately it was a bad day for me and I was already more than 15' behind when I reached the bottom of Alpe d'huez and I had invited a whole bunch of family at Les 2 Alpes for later in the day.

Since I didn't want for them to be waiting for me, I decided upon reaching Huez, 5km from the finish, to rip off my frame "plate" and "hitch a ride". A guy accepted to drag me up to the top. So, I was hanging on to his car window as he was trying to pass cyclists between the rows of spectators who were booing me very loudly, until mercifully we reached the split, about 3.5 km from the top and took the alternate road.

Going up at maybe 50 km/h or less, the effort from hanging on to that car window with just my right hand was incredible, at the limit of what I could withstand. Technically it seemed very easy, but physically I was at my limit.

I did save lots of time though and eventually reached Les 2 Alpes before the majority of my guests.

Much later I discovered the reason for my bad performance : I had seen the previous month a cardiologist who had found - or so he thought - high effort blood pressure, and recommended that I do not exceed 150 bpm. He also had prescribed a medicine which i took dutifully.

The following month I learned that the high blood pressure was just an artefact due to the testing procedure.

Years later I realized that the medicine the Dr had given me was a beta adrenergic blocking agent (bêtabloquant)! not exactly a PED

 

[Arnout]

I often rest on a car at traffic lights - saves you unclipping....unless you,re in a race why do you want to 'do what the pro's do' ? you could end up under a car wheel. Whenever I watch the races on the tv there are a few close calls even with the pro's - so if they have near misses !!

Don't do it - its too dangerous !

You do that? It would **** me off when I was driving that car.

 

[Cycle Chic]

You do that? It would **** me off when I was driving that car.

No - at traffic lights when the cars are stationary...i rest my hand on the back wing and when the lights change i pedal off down the side of the car - the car hasnt even moved forward.

Whats wrong with that ? my gloves are clean

 

[Fester]

When you hold onto the window frame, lean in so your forearm rests against the car. This allows you to control your position relative to the car with greater ease and also takes a lot of the arm ache away by moving the force to the shoulder- lever arm is reduced, the shoulder arms are stronger anyway

Don't be scared. It's perfectly same even up to quite high speeds.

 

[Boeing]

the further back you hold the less chance of getting sucked under

 

[Martin318is]

No - at traffic lights when the cars are stationary...i rest my hand on the back wing and when the lights change i pedal off down the side of the car - the car hasnt even moved forward.

Whats wrong with that ? my gloves are clean

Lets just say, don't try that on my car.

 

[Black-Balled]

I often rest on a car at traffic lights - saves you unclipping.......

Amature!!!!!!!!

 

[Bikemadjo]

Amature!!!!!!!!

What is wrong with track standing???