Althouse: What happens when females start doing bike tricks?

October 15, 2010

What happens when females start doing bike tricks?

They end up doing stuff like this.

34 comments:

TWM said...: Eh, it's more interesting than ice dancing.; 10/15/10, 1:52 PM
Phil 314 said...: Why no nose plugs and gelled hair?; 10/15/10, 1:59 PM
SteveR said...: It makes me think of Jerry's response to Elaine's question as to why men like when women fight.

Elaine: Well, I tried, but he thought it was some sort of cat fight.

Kramer: Cat fight?

Elaine: Ok, why? Why do guys do this? What is so appealing to men about a cat fight?

Kramer: Yeye cat fight!

Jerry: Because men think if women are grabbing and clawing at each other there's a chance they might somehow kiss.; 10/15/10, 2:02 PM
Unknown said...: Bike tricks?

Where's the guy?

And where's the money??

I suppose the only problem is when somebody says, "A little more to the right, dear", and you lose your balance.; 10/15/10, 2:03 PM
Sprezzatura said...: No doubt these folks were ripping of the biking style of Meadehouse.; 10/15/10, 2:04 PM
TMink said...: That was totally unexpected as well as beautiful and amazing. Who has done that kind of bike tricks before?

Trey; 10/15/10, 2:04 PM
ricpic said...: That was wonderful. Bravo.; 10/15/10, 2:13 PM
chickelit said...: Very suggestive...of something.

...they need a man like a fish needs a bicycle.; 10/15/10, 2:14 PM
fivewheels said...: But aren't they setting a bad example by not wearing helmets? Think of the Children!

I'm a boy. I confess I'm more interested in Dave Mirra.; 10/15/10, 2:21 PM
The Dude said...: Old video, old stunts, now done by women. Big deal. Tell me when they invent something. Seriously, watch Ed Sullivan reruns - this stuff has been around since the invention of the bicycle.

WV: catoli - make your own joke.; 10/15/10, 2:22 PM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Sort of like synchronized swimming without the water?

It did seem impressive though. Although I have nothing to compare it to. For all I know, they were terrible (bringing to mind Doc Johnson's line about a dog walking on two legs).; 10/15/10, 2:22 PM
traditionalguy said...: You and Meade have a lot of training ahead of you. Serious indoor work all winter should let you start doing exhibitions by spring. Seriously, seeing that show was not the highlight of my day. It looked like another Title 9 sport made up to replace those useful but sweaty men's sports like wrestling. How the heck does anyone use that skill?; 10/15/10, 2:24 PM
kjbe said...: Parts of this remind me of Chinese acrobatics. I'm kind of impressed.; 10/15/10, 2:25 PM
john said...: Tmink said - That was totally unexpected as well as beautiful and amazing. Who has done that kind of bike tricks before?

Circus bears been doin that, 'cept of course for the shoulder standing part.; 10/15/10, 2:27 PM
Mark V Wilson said...: I thought it was very beautiful. It does seem like not having testicles helps in doing a routine like that. That was the sex difference, right?; 10/15/10, 2:29 PM
Irene said...: White leotards over black tights.

Eewwie. Reminds me of April's diaper shorts.; 10/15/10, 2:36 PM
bagoh20 said...: This is what happens when the instruction are in Chinese.

Amazing, but I kept thinking, why would someone spend the time it took to develop that skill? You could learn to play a musical instrument, or develop a huge list of friends on Facebook with that time.; 10/15/10, 2:43 PM
Jamie said...: Irene, my very thought.

As something to watch, it was... weird. I'm impressed at their balance and above all, their dedication, but... why?; 10/15/10, 3:26 PM
Henry said...: It's called Synchronized Schwinning.; 10/15/10, 3:30 PM
DADvocate said...: Pretty impressive but I like this stuff better. Life limb are put on the line. Why do you think the girl video is "wimp.ocm?"; 10/15/10, 3:39 PM
bagoh20 said...: The BMX stuff in Dadvocates link is a lot more impressive due to both the danger and the physicality. More importantly, it looks like a lot more fun, except for the inevitable hospital visit.; 10/15/10, 4:17 PM
aa said...: Holy cow! Thanks for sharing that Ann, that is some of the most amazing stuff I've ever seen!; 10/15/10, 5:01 PM
rhhardin said...: It's a unicycle act, basically.
Or a horse act.

Bike tricks is jumping off buildings and riding down railings.

Vicki Hearne dumping on Rorty:

``Neither Herron nor Rorty seems to know the first two or three things about poetry, though Herron begins to guess at them with some success. The first thing is that poetry must of logical necessity be beautiful, and the second thing is that poetry must delight the minds of the people who are listening or reading for the wrong reason. In this, a poetry audience is like a circus audience from the point of view of Katja Schumann, an exquisitely good horsewoman and star of The Big Apple, a delectable and sometimes virtually faultless one-ring circus.

``Once it came about that she complained to her father, Max Schumann, of the 150-year-old Danish Circus Schumann, about the audience's lack of comprehension, about those Yahoos, those Philistines, etc. Just as Herron, in a more world-weary way, diagnoses the Yahoos who walked out on his friend's reading. Katja's father said, ``Yes. But in every audience there is one guy who knows what you are doing. And: _he paid for his ticket._'' (Perhaps her father had read Goethe's Faust, in which the clown says about the rabble that comprises the bulk of the audience, ``The presence of a decent lad out there / Amounts to something, I should say.''

Vicki Hearne, ``Comment,'' _Raritan_ X:3, Winter 1991, p.147; 10/15/10, 5:02 PM
paul a'barge said...: Pretty F'ing awesome.

But that's just me. I couldn't do it.; 10/15/10, 6:06 PM
Phil 314 said...: DADvocate said...

Thanks for the link. The contrast was amazing. Though the BMX'er is from Scotland I kept thinking he was American and what a perfect metaphor for the precision of the German duo and the Free-wheeling nature of the American.

Yeah, I know, reading to much into it.

Cool, none the less.

(Makes my baseball-cards-in-the-spokes trick look pretty lame.); 10/15/10, 6:14 PM
Methadras said...: I wonder how long they would last under the menacing eye of Simon Cowell.; 10/15/10, 6:27 PM
David said...: Two strong Aryan broads.

I kept thinking, who could have imagined this in 1944?; 10/15/10, 8:02 PM
David said...: Two strong Aryan broads.

I kept thinking, who could have imagined this in 1944?; 10/15/10, 8:03 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Two girls, one bike.; 10/15/10, 9:30 PM
AST said...: I went to a mountain biking competition in Colorado one summer and saw a lot of this kind of stuff. Crossing a creek bed jumping from rock to rock on a single wheel, a lot of the kind of stuff MacSkill was doing. About 30 some contestants.

As impressive as it is on video, it's more so when you're there. I think it's because you know that you're really in the same universe. I wonder how many kids who don't and will never have this kind of balance will sing castrato from trying to learn these stunts.; 10/15/10, 9:40 PM
Mark B said...: They don't look like law professors. Okay?

wv: rubzcrox; 10/15/10, 10:31 PM
William said...: The guy at the DADvocate link at 3:39 is reckless and more fun to watch. But the girls are pretty impressive. For show biz purposes I would recommend the cuter girl wear a bikini and the heavier one wear a tux. An undercurrent of sex sells women sports.; 10/15/10, 11:27 PM
mc said...: Sheesh, tough crowd.

I grew up as the youngest and most of the kids on my block were too old to bother with anything other than knocking me down.

I learned to juggle while riding a unicycle and very much enjoyed bmx which became mountain biking and racing through trails growing up.

These girls are fantastic.

As to why?

It's a challenge, you can feel your learning curve.

A very cool moment is when you practice something over and over, can't do it, go to sleep, and your brain processes and digests it so that next time it all comes together.

Boredom was also an incentive, it was fun.; 10/16/10, 8:29 AM
Moneyrunner said...: Great show. Thanks for sharing that Ann. Anyone know what the music was?; 10/16/10, 10:04 AM