technical evolution

A friend sent me a link to this video of a Scottish cyclist biking in very rocky terrain in Scotland.  The title and related text and comments emphasize the daring, especially of biking down some very steep slopes along rough and dangerous surfaces.  So, I expected to be seeing that sort of thing and I did.  But what surprised the heck out of me was the ease with which the cyclist biked UP the mountain and over crevasses and such.

For years, I rode a Peugeot racing cycle.  It was the typical European-made bike.  I thought it was fine but I doubt that its thin tires, thin in width of tread and thin in thickness of tread, and its general shape would have allowed a cyclist to do what you can see being done in this video. As a kid on a bike, I assumed that all flights of stairs, whether going up or down, were total obstacles and not to be attempted on a bike. This guy, and probably others in the world, can go up, and down as well, very rough and uneven surfaces on his bike.

I wonder about the tires.  Are they made of special material?  I think in a sense all vehicle tires are very carefully designed and made of advanced materials. But the fatter tires for off-trail and across country clearly are an asset.

Danny Macaskill: The Ridge

People who love books and reading often kid me about being in the employ of Amazon since I advocate for its lower ebook prices and rapid downloading to a smartphone, Kindle or tablet.  Just as bikes and their subparts, such as tires, evolve, so do books and related tech.  Here is a link to that 2007 video kidding about the headaches people had moving from the use of scrolls to books.  More technical evolution.

Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety