Sunrise has partnered with an Tanzanian artist, George Nyandiche, to create "Getting More Butts on Bikes." George works with the Tingatinga Arts Co-operative Society in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
to create paintings of a similar style and expression.
Help us get more Butts on Bikes... Come by the shop and get your T-shirt with this custom graphic today!
Here is a challenge for everyone who thinks they are pretty good at thinking straight -
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The Backwards Brain Bicycle!
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Destin Sandlin created this contraption to test his brain's ability to adapt to tasks that violated the fundamental principles of balance, gravity, and force angles that everyone learns from birth.
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The backwards brain bicycle defies intuition and forces the rider to both 'un-learn' how to ride bike, but also learn the new motions to maintain balance completely reversed to what is known by the brain. After 8 months of trying, Destin was able to adapt his reactions to match the reversed processes of the bike and consequently un-learned how to ride a regular bike!
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The backwards brain bicycle utilizes a pair of gears on the front fork that invert the movement of the handlebars - basically, your intuitive movement of the handlebars to the right to turn the bike right... turns it left!
Because this movement relationship is so ingrained into our brain's hard drive, riding the backwards bike causes one to look to like a drunk trying to make it home from the bar! It is not uncommon for someone to make it 2 feet before turning the handlebars the wrong way and pitching off to the side.
Destin Sandlin's experiment was to test brain elasticity and challenge the notion of knowledge equaling skill (e.g. "I know the bars are inverse to the movement of the wheel, should be easy" *THUD*). After 8 months and constant repetition, his brain was able to adjust to the new variables and calculate necessary moves to maintain balance in an inverted fashion. Once this adjustment was made, Destin found his ability to ride a regular bike, adhering to so-called "normal" balance factors, was completely negated. In short, once his internal balance paradigm was changed to fit the backwards bike, a regular bike was the new backwards bike equivalent.
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Jeff Keller was fascinated by this demonstration of these learning processes and decided to build a backwards bike of his own which now lives at Sunrise Cyclery. Anyone is welcome to come by and give it a try, provided of course that you let us watch and laugh with you!
Sunrise invites you to take the challenge and ride the backwards bike to the end of the block and back without touching a foot down; which offers a hearty handshake and a pat on the back.
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The backwards bike is calling your name! If you are interested to challenge yourself, come by Sunrise to try our own backward brain bicycle!
Have you ever heard of Artistic Cycling?
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This growing European cycling sport combines the elegance of cycling with the balance and precision of gymnastics. Here Viola Brand, a dominant figure in the sport, demonstrates her style and skill with a short video edit. Far from being the most dangerous or difficult tricks she performs, the routine shown here illustrates the common tricks that define the sport.
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For anyone else, this would be absolute madness without hockey pads, helmets, and jaw guards, but Brand pulls it off with ease!
Artistic Cycling is a predominantly indoor, competitive cycling discipline that has been popularized throughout Eurpope/Asia and is migrating slowly to other parts of the world. Riders use fixed-gear bicycles to perform 5-minute routines for a judging panel consisting of tricks that exemplify precision balance and technical maneuvering skills. In preparation, riders use harnesses to protect themselves from potential falls and trips during training. Hailed as a blend of ballet and gymnastics, Artistic Cycling has been growing in popularity and now far surpasses the size and media attention it originally had in 1956, the year of its first official world championship. The sport was added to the World Games in 1989.
Wikipedia, 11.16.2018
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Be sure to google Viola Brand to see more of training regime and to enjoy her amazing Artistic Cycling Skills!!!