Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

ABCNEWS Pic

A new epidemic is sweeping American Gyms. Gym rage is being blamed for a variety of “donnybrooks” lately. One in NYC was after a spinning class when the assailant accused the victim of grunting too loudly.

Stuart Sugarman, 48, says that he spent two weeks in the hospital with a damaged spinal cord after Christopher Carter, 44, became so enraged by Sugarman’s “whooping” that he threw him from his exercise bike.

“[Carter] didn’t like the volume at which my client was cheering and getting amped up,” Sugarman’s lawyer Samuel Davis told ABCNEWS.com. “After making some rude expletive-laced comments that my client desist from cheering … he got off his bike and into a linebacker’s position. Then he charged across the room, lifting my client off his bike and smashing his head and neck against a Sheetrock wall.”

Now, was that the assailants (Carter’s) first spin class? The whole point is that the instructor gets the spinners to yell and screen and clap and what not. This is not the best environment to be in if you are already on the verge of violence. A spinning class can easily set someone off if not in the right frame of mind.

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Junior gearing seems like a troublesome issue during races. You’ve seen the few junior riders at races have to undergo the dreaded gearing test. Some junior riders don’t even know much about the rules and the gear limits that they are surprised when the USA Cycling Officials ask them to do a rollout test. The issue and the reasons behind it are somewhat misunderstood. Is it to save the riders from over stressing their knees? Well, the answer is no.

I recently joined a new mailing list for bike promoters in New York State. The subject of junior gearing came up to which some voiced their frustration. There was even a comment that the junior gearing limits made riders even more squirrelly. The story was of a pack of juniors spinning uncontrollably downhill and crashing since they were just bouncing all over from their 100+ cadence.

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