Real-Life Communication
You have created a web page on mountain biking, where other mountain
bike racers and newcomers to the sport can contact you. On this web page,
you have a section where the reader can post a question.
As a mode
of communication, mountain bike racer Duane Nickull finds his web page an
asset. "I've had questions posed to me from mountain bikers in every discipline
from probably every country in the world where they know how to buy a bike."
Nickull
says he tries to remain approachable at races and "take the time to talk to
cyclists. I remember the snobs when I got into the sport, and myself and my
friend Dave Watson vowed to never become like that."
You receive the
following e-mail from a new cyclist:
From: JohnDoe@wannabeabiker.com
Dear
Mountain Bike Racer:
I am riding cross-country, but I want to try
downhill. Do I need a special downhill bike?
Using the
following information from Nickull's website, how would you answer this question?
To
race downhill, a rider has to be comfortable with his or her bike. There has
to be 100 percent trust in your ability and the bike's ability. Remember that
there is no one bike that is better than all the others. To test this, try
out every bike you can.
Every time you go riding with friends, ask
to trade bikes for a while to feel what their bike is like. Some, you will
find, are faster than others on different types of terrain. The key is to
try to mimic the other bike's feel on your own bike. If you can adjust your
own suspension to feel the way the faster bikes feel, this will give you that
bike's advantages on courses that suit that particular setup.