Bike Transition Clinic

This clinic was put on by Ayesha Rollinson and Mike Medeiros of the Tri Trek pro Team, and it was exactly what I'd been looking to add to my repertoire: the flying mount and running dismount! A number of weeks ago, I'd practised all the skills involved in between the jumping on and off part, so I felt quite confident going into this, but I still thought it would take forever and a lot of crashing to figure out these acrobatics!

Our venue was the quiet and serene Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which gets a lot of use from cyclists on its maze of paths. Ayesha and Mike got us right into tying our shoes onto the bike with elastics, careful to avoid the drivetrain and quick release. The flying mount is done by softly hopping onto the seat without putting pressure on the pedals until after you're actually seated.

At first, my seat seemed way too high for me to jump on, as it goes all the way up to my hip. But I trusted our coaches, took a running start, and managed to jump on quite easily! The elastics actually took a few turns to break, but apparently it's not a big deal. I spent the rest of this part of the session jumping on without the elastics, just to get the momentum right. I'd also continue practising putting the shoes on and taking them off, especially without looking.

Very quickly, it was time to try the running dismount. This is the part that really freaked me out in the videos I'd seen. First, Ayesha showed us the simplest (though not fastest) way to dismount, which is to swing the right leg back over the seat - but this essentially causes you to put the breaks on with that foot rather than keep running forward. It's best to get that foot in the front instead.

And how is that done? Well, some people step their right leg through between their left and the bike. But Ayesha has a flexibility advantage! She demonstrated essentially folding your leg in a kind of half-lotus over the crossbar, and stepping down in front into a run. What?? I was already nervous about just putting all my weight on one side of the bike, let alone being in a cross-legged position in the air! But again, one attempt, and I did it without crashing, hurray!

This was yet another awesome clinic by the Tri Trek Team (I'd done an open water swim skills clinic with them last August before my try-tri). They are so nice and supportive, and genuinely care to professionalize people's skills.

Some tips I picked up:
- Assess the course to see if an uphill start will make clipped-in mounting detrimental
- Use a gear that is easy enough to start, but hard enough that you can get some initial speed while fiddling with the shoes
- Run quite a bit forward of the mount line to avoid the crowds of people trying to clip in
- It's okay to pedal on your shoes for a while if no safe opportunity to put them on comes up
- Step down hard on the opposite shoe to avoid having the one you're getting into drag on the ground

I was so excited, that after we left the cemetery and I got back to my car, I continued getting on and off the bike on the side street for a good 30mins. Only had one shaky dismount. Otherwise, I felt awesome!

Next things to practise are optimal speed for getting underway and putting on the shoes, and optimal distance, at which I should take the shoes off and prep to jump off - especially with all these other people in the mix.