Originally Posted by Helmet Head
- Can you ride no handed?
- Can you take a sip from your water bottle without veering into traffic?
- Can you bunny hop over a pot hole instead of swerving?
- Can you turn your head and maintain your line?
- Do you know how to take a turn at a decent speed?
- What other bike handling skills do you have/recommend?
While no expert....
1) no handed. NOPE! not me. my mountain bike is too twitchy, so is my cross bike. actually, I am too twitchy, and tend to wobble.
2) water bottle sip: yah, no biggie. One thing to remember is that where you look is where you go (which is why "WATCH THE CURB" is perhaps the dumbest thing to say to someone vearing towards a curb... get it? ;p) The "trick" I use is to just keep my eyes where I wish to go, and let the bike go there. If I want to stay straight, I just look up ahead, straight, and the bike tends to go there. Hard to explain really; it is a kinesthetic thing.
3) bunnyhop: yep. To bunny hop over hole, shift weight back a bit, pull up on bars, as the front lifts up off the ground PUSH the bar straight out infront of you and shift your weight back a bit more. This usually (if your weight distribution is right) causes the back end to lift. Next, shift your weight forward a bit and land on the other side of the hole. It has to be one fluid motion.... I more or less suck at it but have done it before. (This works well for clearing logs on a trail at low speed too). You know you screwed up if you land in the hole and commense swearing. Or, you can cheat and pull up hard on the bars at the same time you yank your feet straight up, lifting the back of the bike with your cycling shoe cleats. I am NOT an expert at this, but have friends capable of bunnyhopping about 2 to 3 feet straight up unclipped. Kinda always annoyed me that I could not do it so well.
4) turning head. Quick glances is all I do and remember, be relaxed as this reduces swerving chances.
5) high speed turns: lean!!!!!!!!! and pick a graceful line. DO NOT DO THIS if you cannot see the road surface and the whole turn as you will run the risk of wiping out hard if you have to change course mid turn. Just ask any motorbike rider...
One thing that works well for low speed sharp turns is to weight up the end of the bar on the outside of the turn as this tends to counter act the natural tendancy for the bike to tip in the direction of the turn at low speeds where the bike is angled. For example, if you are turning sharply right at low speed, and the bike is feeling slightly slippy, put a lot of pressure on the LEFT side of the bar with your left hand and keep steering. The bike should stay stable and make the turn. (again, a useful skill off road, but I have used it on switchback turns on MUP and can see it being useful in tight places like parking lots etc).