Onomatopoeia
Remember that one? Todd Rundgren? Good stuff. I've been thinking about that word a lot lately. I've been trying to come up with just the right word to describe the sound my rear hub made recently.
I was bombing down a short and very steep pitch, one that you can only pedal so long on because even in your top gear you spin out in about 4 seconds. As soon as I stopped pedaling I heard this awful screaming sound coming from somewhere under me. By the way the upper section of chain was hanging I knew it had to be something in the rear hub. The noise it made sent a chill right through me.
At first I was just startled. A split second later I got a flash of what might happen if the hub locked up on me at 40+mph. The chill turned to outright fright.
OK so what did it sound like? No onomatopoeia I can think of adequately describes it. Think of the sound a balloon makes when you pinch the neck and pull the sides tight. Yeah, start with that. Now mix in a blood curdling scream, say from about 200 yards away. Finally, there was a certain metallic quality. Maybe the sound of ball bearings rolling around in the bottom of a tin can. That sound. That's the one.
And while we're on the sounds as words theme. Check the video below. Sort of a loud pop I'd say. I broke a chain once, but it was out in the woods and, just like the tree falling, I don't know whether it made a sound or not.
The wheel screaming incident happened last weekend just before I headed off to San Francisco. Too bad for me I remembered it only last night, just before planning to go ride today. So rather than ride, it was off to the bike shop, rear wheel in hand.
So today I got in a nice strength session instead of a nice long ride.
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Nice Vid.
Back in the day (BMX racing) I used to see that happen a bit. Usually not in my age group, but when the pros lined up, you would see it form time to time.
Either dropped chains, popped pins, or simply "jumping the gate", there were some ugly crashes at the starts. You would think that a 0.0 mile per hour crash would not hurt, but that knee-to-stem contact that usually accompanies really hurts.
What event was that from? It would seem that a hole shot would not be all that important in a trak event. It is obviously a team event...they must have been strategizing to lap the other team early...looks like that plan failed.
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