February 1st, 2007

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Sports
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Those Kooky Mountain Bikers

Mountain biker Dave Watson undertook a rather peculiar stunt recently in 2003 –jumping the Tour de France peloton during the Alp d’Huez stage:

Jumping just over the back of the peleton as to take no chances of injuring riders on an unknown jump, Dave sailed approximately 45 ft before touching down. Due to a last minute brake check to ensure the safety of the riders below, Dave came up slightly short and was bucked by his bike into the rocky tranny.

I’m not up on my biking lingo, but I assume that last sentence isn’t slang for a drunk transsexual. The photo must be seen to be believed.

UPDATE: Thanks to Jason, who pointed me toward the inevitable YouTube video of Watson’s jump.

Comments: 4 Responses so far

Jason Landry
February 1st, 2007
12:23 pm

I have NWD IV and the video sequence is great - it ends with one police office running running towards Dave to see if he is alright.

Meanwhile, Dave is running down the hill - becuase of his forward momentum - trying to pick up his pants, which seem to have fallen down.

After writing all that, I found the video on YouTube, go figure.

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Andrew Ferguson
February 1st, 2007
7:10 pm

I saw a photo of this earlier today, but from underneath his jump!

It looked like it could possibly be fake and I never followed up.

Thanks for posting the video! Now I know it’s real.

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Derek K. Miller
February 1st, 2007
9:03 pm

“bucked by his bike into the rocky tranny” = “thrown from his bike into the rocky terrain”

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Colin Brumelle
February 6th, 2007
12:05 pm

Hilarious…

And for the record, ‘tranny’ is short for ‘transition’. As in, the transition from a steep landing slope to a gentler grade one could conceivably stop on.

In this context, ‘transition’ is used as a noun by bikers and snowboarders alike, as in “I hope I make it to the transition”, or “That transition is smooooth”.

Here’s a great article about the physics of bucking as well, for those geeky/jock types:
http://www.leelikesbikes.com/drops-dont-get-bucked.html

[Reply]

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