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How far off do you go when you're holding your line?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

How far off do you go when you're holding your line?

Old 09-10-07, 06:35 PM
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How far off do you go when you're holding your line?

This has irked me for a while, thought I'd ask the troops about this...

When you're spinning along down the road and holding your line, do you even find yourself drifting left and right, and always bringing it back to the middle?
So how much do you drift around? 3 inches? 6 inches? 12 inches?

My wheel alignment is good, just wondering if i'm crazy for thinking a bike should always go straight.
Someone set me straight!

Thanks
Mike
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Old 09-10-07, 06:36 PM
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get some rollers
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Old 09-10-07, 06:38 PM
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Solo? Who cares, just don't wander into oncoming traffic or off the shoulder into a ditch oh, and it's ok to go around debris that's in your way too
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Old 09-10-07, 06:38 PM
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Originally Posted by xfimpg
This has irked me for a while, thought I'd ask the troops about this...

When you're spinning along down the road and holding your line, do you even find yourself drifting left and right, and always bringing it back to the middle?
So how much do you drift around? 3 inches? 6 inches? 12 inches?

My wheel alignment is good, just wondering if i'm crazy for thinking a bike should always go straight.
Someone set me straight!

Thanks
Mike
Depends on how many beers I drink before I ride.
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Old 09-10-07, 06:41 PM
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you guys are too much
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Old 09-10-07, 06:46 PM
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Learn to relax your upper body.

And get rollers. I've used them very little, but they really help with holding your line. I really hope I can learn to sprint on them sometime in the near future.
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Old 09-10-07, 06:59 PM
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ahhhhh , rollers as in rollers on a board, got it.
Thanks everyone.
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Old 09-10-07, 06:59 PM
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Originally Posted by xfimpg

When you're spinning along down the road and holding your line, do you even find yourself drifting left and right, and always bringing it back to the middle?


Thanks
Mike

No.
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Old 09-10-07, 07:01 PM
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i have wondered the same thing. I feel like i look like that "drunk guy trying to walk home" in the bar game when i am riding solo, which is most of the time.
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Old 09-10-07, 07:32 PM
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Originally Posted by xfimpg
ahhhhh , rollers as in rollers on a board, got it.
Thanks everyone.
Rollers as in, a set of rollers upon which you ride your bike. Rollers on a board? I don't get it. A skateboard?


https://www.kreitler.com/
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Old 09-10-07, 08:30 PM
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Originally Posted by ed073
No.

this


get rollers or ride the white painted line until you can ride
10 miles without deviating off the painted line. then go no handed.

that is how much control your should have if you ride near another cyclist
practice until it becomes natural ...and weird if you don't do it
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Old 09-10-07, 08:44 PM
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Move to the right when you feel passenger side mirrors hitting your left bum.
Move to the left when you hit gravel.
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Old 09-10-07, 08:48 PM
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If you can't stay on the white line, you definitely need more handling skills. This is a HUGE advantage of rollers.
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Old 09-10-07, 08:56 PM
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Within a couple inches to either side of a standard 4.00" painted highway lane marker is more than adequate for a competent cyclist.
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Old 09-10-07, 09:31 PM
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+1 To rollers and to riding the white line indefinitely. You should be able to stay on the white line through curves without staring at it. Practice drinking and looking behind you (over shoulder and under armpit) without leaving the line. Practice this on your rollers too.
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Old 09-10-07, 09:39 PM
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I'm good within about an eighth of an inch either way. Seriously.
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Old 09-11-07, 06:01 AM
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Great advice. Thanks everyone.
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Old 09-11-07, 06:29 AM
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Stop trying to steer the bike. It knows where to go. Too much input will have you weaving all over the road like grama after one too many toddies. Also don't look down in front of you. Keep you eyes scanning the distance. Don't focus on anything unless she's hot or it will kill you (If it's both stop and see what she's doing for the afternoon).
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Old 09-11-07, 08:15 AM
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I haven't gotten around to trying rollers, but the advice to practice riding the white line (but not when it's wet!) works. Also, if you do some night riding with lights, your light beam will show you if you're wobbling a lot. Between those two, I now ride in a pretty straight line. Can easily hold the white line under most circumstances.
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Old 09-11-07, 08:22 AM
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Unbalanced stroke is throwing your center of gravity back and forth over the top tube. Try for a more balanced spin. And yes rollers are the best tool for this. If you waddle around on rollers you will be in the wall baby.
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Old 09-11-07, 08:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Bob Dopolina
Stop trying to steer the bike. It knows where to go. Too much input will have you weaving all over the road like grama after one too many toddies. Also don't look down in front of you. Keep you eyes scanning the distance. Don't focus on anything unless she's hot or it will kill you (If it's both stop and see what she's doing for the afternoon).
That was funny!

But there are times when looking right down in front of your wheel is a good thing. I sometimes so just that when I am climbing an extended hill, I am not a great climber, not even a good climber, so there are times that I just don't want to know how much further it is to crest. I look down and that helps me pedal through the top of the climb.
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Old 09-11-07, 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by curiouskid55
Unbalanced stroke is throwing your center of gravity back and forth over the top tube. Try for a more balanced spin. And yes rollers are the best tool for this. If you waddle around on rollers you will be in the wall baby.
Good point. And since i have a 3/4" leg length discrepancy, I've wondered if that contributes to a not-as-fluent-as-it-should-be stroke, and hence the wobbling.
Any thoughts?
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Old 09-11-07, 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Bob Dopolina
Stop trying to steer the bike. It knows where to go. Too much input will have you weaving all over the road like grama after one too many toddies. Also don't look down in front of you. Keep you eyes scanning the distance. Don't focus on anything unless she's hot or it will kill you (If it's both stop and see what she's doing for the afternoon).
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Old 09-11-07, 01:21 PM
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Originally Posted by xfimpg
Good point. And since i have a 3/4" leg length discrepancy, I've wondered if that contributes to a not-as-fluent-as-it-should-be stroke, and hence the wobbling.
Any thoughts?
Does your upper body sway left and right? At high cadences, this can make you weave like OJ Simpson's Ford Bronco.
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Old 09-11-07, 01:35 PM
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I can hold within a standard 4" white line, though I have some stuff to learn yet as I cannot do it through curves or while looking behind.

I was watching a Cat 1,2,3 race and... man... were they steady. I cannot forget the sight of two guys trying to bridge to the breakaway, the lead man out of the saddle, hands in the drops and pounding and the guy behind spinning hard in the saddle, a handful of inches off the lead guy's wheel, bike and upper body rock steady, looking like he was on rails.
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