Three Must-Have Skills for City Riding
There was a positive response to last week's post about where to ride in the city. This week, we're back with another handful of tips. These skills take time and practice to develop. The only way to actually get proficient is to ride your bike. However, these skills pay off tremendously when it comes to making riding around town a more practical, everyday activity. They'll reduce your stress level, make you safer and help you break out of the comfortable lull of car-borne transit.
From easiest to hardest:
- Learn how to ride with no hands.
You might be rolling your eyes, but this is actually a necessary skill. It forces you to use your hips to control your bike. A stepping stone to get to fully hands-free riding is by taking one hand off at a time. Once you're comfy with one-hand-off riding, then you can try "jumping" both hands off the bars for a second or two at a time. Once you get comfortable with that, just do longer and longer "jumps" off the bars.
When you realize that your bike is steered by using by your hips, it opens up a whole new level of confidence and maneuverability.
- Learn how to look behind you without deviating from a straight line.
The end goal here is to be able to swivel your head completely - up, down, side to side, without swerving your bike in the road.
That's harder than riding with no hands? Yes. Yes it is. I'd been riding with no hands for years by the time I figured out how to hold a line while looking around.
This helps immensely with safety: you can check behind you to see if cars are sneaking up. It allows you to take your own safety into your hands - throwing up an arm signal and hoping a car doesn't mow you down doesn't sound like a great wager. Visually checking behind you is a better bet... unless, of course, you swerve right into the EV that just silently snuck up on you. Practice it!
- Learn how to trackstand.
If you live in a city, chances are you're well acquainted with stoplights. Imagine having to get out of your car and close the door every time you stopped at a light. That would suck, right? It also sucks to have to get off your bike every single time you stop.
Trackstanding is a very helpful skill if you, like so many others, consistently encounter stoplights. It allows you to smoothly stop and restart off the line as if you were braking and accelerating like all the cage-bound drivers around you. It levels the playing field, if only just a little.
The learning curve is steep at first, but thankfully there's no shortage of opportunities to practice.
Summary
Riding hands-free allows you to control the bike with your hips. This opens up a new level of confidence and maneuverability on the bike.
Enabling your head to swivel freely while holding a straight trajectory allows you to take your safety into your own hands. The more situational awareness you have on the road, the safer you are.
Trackstanding is a graduate-level bike handling skill, but worth learning nonetheless. It allows you to stop and go in a much smoother, less awkward fashion.
Go forth! And ride.
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