Baffled by Brakes

Joseph Gordon Levitt in the movie Premium Rush

    I saw the movie Premium Rush a few weeks ago. In the movie they made a pretty big deal about how Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character, a bike messenger, doesn’t have brakes on his bike. All the other characters think he’s crazy. So what’s his reasoning? Because the worst accidents happen when you use your brakes.

    On Monday I was out riding outdoors for the first time since Ironman NYC. I already resented my brakes a bit for malfunctioning during my race and causing my brake pads to get stuck on my back wheel (something in the brake disconnected and my brake doesn’t release without a little manual help). Anyways, I was out riding and all of a sudden I hit a rock-covered road adjacent to a construction area. I panicked. I hit my braked and, fortunately, slowed down enough to allow myself to unclip from my pedals and get my feet on the ground before toppling over. For the most part I escaped unscathed. But, the incident got me thinking…nothing good has ever happened to me from braking. So, why the hell do I even have them?

    I’ve had a couple other minor accidents before. But, each time I’ve toppled over from skidding on some dirt of rocks, I went over because I braked. It wasn’t really ever the sand beneath my wheel that caused me to fall. It was the fact that I clenched my brake, lost all momentum, and stopped dead in my tracks causing my own body weight to drag me over. I should also probably note that one time when I was little, I flipped over the handle bars of my little kid bike while braking to avoid hitting a rock. Clearly losing consciousness then did not make me reach this anti-brake mentality any sooner.

    In a way, you can compare the scenario to driving in the snow. Drivers Ed teachers always tell you that if you hit a patch of ice, the worst thing you could do is to slam on your brakes. Instead, you want to turn your wheel into the skid so that you don’t wind up flipping your car. We really need to apply the same principles while biking. You’re probably better off biking through the skid than stopping cold.

    So, maybe Joseph Gordon Levitt wasn’t as crazy as everyone in this movie thought. Now, even if just for the sole purpose of making my mother feel more at ease, I’ll let you know that I’m not about to go rip off my brakes and head out into the world like a crazy person. But, I’m definitely starting to think about using those brakes only as a very last resort. What do you think?