Practicing your bike handling skills
Curb your Enthusiasm
Practicing bike handling skills can be done any time just outside your door.
Skills you can practice in an urban setting translate well to the trail some things to try are Wheelies, Manuals (Wheelie without pedaling) ,Bunny Hop, Weight Shifts, Riding Skinnies, Slow Speed turns.
For wheelies I would suggest not being clipped in (if you ride clipless Pedals) and riding on a flat ground or slight Incline (If you are really worried about falling backward try a grassy Soccer Field). You are trying to find your balance point.
Start by Lifting the front wheel. Pull up on the bars and Lean Back. Slightly feather the rear brake to prevent yourself from going over backwards pedal and lean back to keep the front wheel from coming down.
Start by Lifting the front wheel. Pull up on the bars and Lean Back. Slightly feather the rear brake to prevent yourself from going over backwards pedal and lean back to keep the front wheel from coming down.
The reasons for wanting to be able to wheelie are numerous: jagged rocks deflect your wheel, bumps slow you down, and curbs can cause you to enddo. When you can lift your front wheel over obstacles, you retain speed and control in all sorts of situations.
1. Sitting and Pedaling Wheelie You’re climbing a nice singletrack with excellent traction. A three-inch root crosses the trail. Bashing into it will slow you down or knock you off line. If you can get your front wheel over it and keep pedaling, your rear tire will crawl right over it.
Start in a neutral position.
Crouch down and forward, with your bum on the saddle. Your power pedal should be at around 2 o’clock.
Explosively push your torso upward and backward with your arms. At the same time, uncork a powerful pedal stroke. If you get it right, your front wheel will pop up.
Keep your arms straight and your weight back. Keep pedaling. KEEP IT THERE Pedaling around with your wheel in the air isn’t very useful on the trail, but it looks cool. Learn to balance sitting wheelies before you move up to coaster wheelies.Keep lifting your front wheel until you find the balancing point. The magic spot will feel weightless, like you are neither working to keep the wheel up nor falling on your bum. It’s all about getting comfortable with the balance. Here are some tricks to help you stay on top:Find the balance. Once you get to the magic spot, keep pedaling nice and easy. If you feel yourself falling forward, pedal harder. If you feel yourself falling backward, brake a little. If you start falling to one side, lean to the other side.Choose the right gear. A really low gear gives you a fast pop but short loft time. A higher gear gives you less pop but longer loft. Find your happy medium. When your kung fu is good, you’ll use your normal, low climbing gear. You can get it spinning very easily, for great explosion, and you keep it spinning to maintain lift. Pedal all the way up to it. It’s easiest to approach your wheelie point already pedaling and then give it some extra juice when the time is right. After you get the hang of this, you can try jabbing the pedals from a coast.
Never stop pedaling. Keep turning the pedals after you pop your wheel up. It’s easier to give a little more or less gas if your foot’s already on the pedal.Light brakes. If you jab your rear brake, your front wheel will slam to the ground so fast you won’t be able to stop it. All you need is a tiny bit of lever pressure. If you find you keep giving it too much brake at once, try lightly dragging the brake as you ride. This is like your constant pedaling: It’s easier to give a bit more or less when you’re already giving some.Stay loose. We can’t say this enough. Sit lightly on the saddle so you can slide forward or back, right or left. Feel free to sway your knees in and out. If you’re using flat pedals, you can tilt your foot to the side or even hang it out like an outrigger.
1. Sitting and Pedaling Wheelie You’re climbing a nice singletrack with excellent traction. A three-inch root crosses the trail. Bashing into it will slow you down or knock you off line. If you can get your front wheel over it and keep pedaling, your rear tire will crawl right over it.
Start in a neutral position.
Crouch down and forward, with your bum on the saddle. Your power pedal should be at around 2 o’clock.
Explosively push your torso upward and backward with your arms. At the same time, uncork a powerful pedal stroke. If you get it right, your front wheel will pop up.
Keep your arms straight and your weight back. Keep pedaling. KEEP IT THERE Pedaling around with your wheel in the air isn’t very useful on the trail, but it looks cool. Learn to balance sitting wheelies before you move up to coaster wheelies.Keep lifting your front wheel until you find the balancing point. The magic spot will feel weightless, like you are neither working to keep the wheel up nor falling on your bum. It’s all about getting comfortable with the balance. Here are some tricks to help you stay on top:Find the balance. Once you get to the magic spot, keep pedaling nice and easy. If you feel yourself falling forward, pedal harder. If you feel yourself falling backward, brake a little. If you start falling to one side, lean to the other side.Choose the right gear. A really low gear gives you a fast pop but short loft time. A higher gear gives you less pop but longer loft. Find your happy medium. When your kung fu is good, you’ll use your normal, low climbing gear. You can get it spinning very easily, for great explosion, and you keep it spinning to maintain lift. Pedal all the way up to it. It’s easiest to approach your wheelie point already pedaling and then give it some extra juice when the time is right. After you get the hang of this, you can try jabbing the pedals from a coast.
Never stop pedaling. Keep turning the pedals after you pop your wheel up. It’s easier to give a little more or less gas if your foot’s already on the pedal.Light brakes. If you jab your rear brake, your front wheel will slam to the ground so fast you won’t be able to stop it. All you need is a tiny bit of lever pressure. If you find you keep giving it too much brake at once, try lightly dragging the brake as you ride. This is like your constant pedaling: It’s easier to give a bit more or less when you’re already giving some.Stay loose. We can’t say this enough. Sit lightly on the saddle so you can slide forward or back, right or left. Feel free to sway your knees in and out. If you’re using flat pedals, you can tilt your foot to the side or even hang it out like an outrigger.
Coasting Wheelie, aka “Manual” When you’re coasting downhill or on flat ground, this is the best way to get your front wheel over trouble. You’d be amazed at what your rear wheel can roll over after your front is already clear, especially with suspension. Remember to stay loose and keep your speed reasonable.
Start in a neutral position, arms and legs slightly bent, weight centered.
Crouch down and forward. Bring your chest close to your handlebars.
All of a sudden, with great vigor, push your torso upward and backward. Straighten your arms all the way. Straighten your legs a bit and push your hips backward and your pedals forward. Imagine your body rotating back over the contact patch of your rear tire.
Let your body continue to rotate up and back. When your arms straighten, your body’s momentum will pull the front end up. (This way, you lift the bike with the mass of your body rather than your arms.) The farther back you go, the closer your center of gravity gets to your rear tire’s contact patch, and the longer you can keep your wheel up. Don’t go too far, though, or you’ll “loop out,” which means “fall on your bum.”If you can get your front wheel onto a sidewalk, you can let your rear wheel bash right over the curb. Go slow and stay loose, and soon you’ll experience real freedom.KEEP IT THERE Because you can’t use your pedals to cheat your front end upward, you have to maintain balance with perfect body position and sharp reflexes. Expert -manualers can balance forever over all sorts of terrain, from rocks to bumps to stream crossings.Here are some tips to help you find some balance in your life:
Straighten your arms and lean all the way back to the balance point.
If you need to raise your front wheel, push your hips backward or pedals forward.
If you need to lower your front wheel, pull yourself forward.
It’s all in the hips. Leave your arms pretty much straight.MANUAL TIPS Preload. When you go from your neutral position to your crouch, drop your weight quickly and then immediately push back upward. The rebound of your bike’s tires, frame, and suspension will add to your explosion.Timing. You want your wheel to be highest when it reaches the obstacle. Lift too soon and you hit on the upswing. Too late and you hit on the downfall. Perfect timing depends on your speed, the height of the obstacle, and how fast you lift your wheel. Pop lots of wheelies, and perfect timing will come.Learn on a hardtail. On a full-suspension bike, you not only have to maintain your balance over the rear wheel, you also have to compensate for the moving suspension.Manual a Double It’s easier to manual across a pair of humps than to manual on flat ground. The first hump helps lift your front wheel, and the second hump gives you a target to aim for. This little trick gives you a feel for manual balance, plus it’s a fast way to get over the humps.
Let the first hump lift your front wheel. Shift your weight backward to keep the front end up.
Bend your legs as your wheel rolls up the hump.
Push your rear wheel down the backside. This gives you some free speed and helps hold the front end up.
Set the front tire onto the backside of the second hump.
Absorb the hump with your legs.
Straighten your legs and pump down the backside.As your skills improve, manual all the way over the second hump. This will give you a better pump and elevate you one step closer to manualing greatness. The front side of a tabletop makes a nice manualing aid, as well.Wheelie Sideways An hour into your singletrack climb, you enter a super-tight switchback. You know your bike won’t track through the deep rut carving through the apex, so you ride past it, pick your wheel up, swing your bike around, and set your wheel down at the top of the turn.
Look and lean into the turn like normal.
Explode with power and pick up the front end. Burst forward out of your saddle. Push with your legs and pull with your arms. Keep leaning into the turn!
Set it back down and enjoy the rest of your ride.
Start in a neutral position, arms and legs slightly bent, weight centered.
Crouch down and forward. Bring your chest close to your handlebars.
All of a sudden, with great vigor, push your torso upward and backward. Straighten your arms all the way. Straighten your legs a bit and push your hips backward and your pedals forward. Imagine your body rotating back over the contact patch of your rear tire.
Let your body continue to rotate up and back. When your arms straighten, your body’s momentum will pull the front end up. (This way, you lift the bike with the mass of your body rather than your arms.) The farther back you go, the closer your center of gravity gets to your rear tire’s contact patch, and the longer you can keep your wheel up. Don’t go too far, though, or you’ll “loop out,” which means “fall on your bum.”If you can get your front wheel onto a sidewalk, you can let your rear wheel bash right over the curb. Go slow and stay loose, and soon you’ll experience real freedom.KEEP IT THERE Because you can’t use your pedals to cheat your front end upward, you have to maintain balance with perfect body position and sharp reflexes. Expert -manualers can balance forever over all sorts of terrain, from rocks to bumps to stream crossings.Here are some tips to help you find some balance in your life:
Straighten your arms and lean all the way back to the balance point.
If you need to raise your front wheel, push your hips backward or pedals forward.
If you need to lower your front wheel, pull yourself forward.
It’s all in the hips. Leave your arms pretty much straight.MANUAL TIPS Preload. When you go from your neutral position to your crouch, drop your weight quickly and then immediately push back upward. The rebound of your bike’s tires, frame, and suspension will add to your explosion.Timing. You want your wheel to be highest when it reaches the obstacle. Lift too soon and you hit on the upswing. Too late and you hit on the downfall. Perfect timing depends on your speed, the height of the obstacle, and how fast you lift your wheel. Pop lots of wheelies, and perfect timing will come.Learn on a hardtail. On a full-suspension bike, you not only have to maintain your balance over the rear wheel, you also have to compensate for the moving suspension.Manual a Double It’s easier to manual across a pair of humps than to manual on flat ground. The first hump helps lift your front wheel, and the second hump gives you a target to aim for. This little trick gives you a feel for manual balance, plus it’s a fast way to get over the humps.
Let the first hump lift your front wheel. Shift your weight backward to keep the front end up.
Bend your legs as your wheel rolls up the hump.
Push your rear wheel down the backside. This gives you some free speed and helps hold the front end up.
Set the front tire onto the backside of the second hump.
Absorb the hump with your legs.
Straighten your legs and pump down the backside.As your skills improve, manual all the way over the second hump. This will give you a better pump and elevate you one step closer to manualing greatness. The front side of a tabletop makes a nice manualing aid, as well.Wheelie Sideways An hour into your singletrack climb, you enter a super-tight switchback. You know your bike won’t track through the deep rut carving through the apex, so you ride past it, pick your wheel up, swing your bike around, and set your wheel down at the top of the turn.
Look and lean into the turn like normal.
Explode with power and pick up the front end. Burst forward out of your saddle. Push with your legs and pull with your arms. Keep leaning into the turn!
Set it back down and enjoy the rest of your ride.
Bunny Hop - While Coasting Load your suspension or tires for a hardtail or ridid bike by dropping you weight downward then unweight the bike by springing upward the bike should follow (If you are clipped in this is easy and you can lift the bike higher by pulling the bike up and into you) If you are not clipped in you will need to roll the bars forward and push your weight a bit forward to bring the rear wheel off the ground. Bunny hops are useful for clearing obstacles without losing any momentum such as logs, rock gardens, and lesser mountain bikers who have fallen and can't get up.
Weight Shifts - This employs skills used in wheelies and the bunny hop where you lift the front wheel up and place it on top of an object above the rear wheel you then unweight the rear wheel to bring it up to where the front wheel was. This can be used get up and over larger obstacles such as big logs, rock ledges, picnic tables etc..
Skinnies - This is what it sounds like you are practicing balancing on a skinny riding surface like a curb or wall.
Slow Speed Turns - Try moving as slow as you can while not needing to Dab a foot and riding figure eights or placing some rocks down and riding around them.
Most important is have fun with the process of improving your riding skills. Pick something to work on and do it for 10 minutes a few times a week you will soon see these skills translate to the trail.
Labels: Tips
