The vines and terra firma of Chateauneuf Du Pape in the Rhone Valley.

I love wine. I mean, I like beer and scotch and can’t resist ordering a Vesper whenever I pretend to be a gentleman spy, but I love wine. As a semi-professional drinker, the biggest worry I have is that should my as-yet undiagnosed problem with alcohol become a diagnosed problem with alcohol, I’d have to stop drinking wine. A full bodied, well balanced red – not too fruit forward but with a good nose of earth and a long finish – will get my heart racing every time.

And speaking of a good nose of earth, I restrict that strictly to wine; last week’s face-plant while training for cyclocross was taking it a step too far. It’s amazing how a stick positioned in just the right spot at just the right angle can move a much larger object laterally with some ease. Like the Greeks using timber rollers to haul the Trojan Horse to the walls of the city, so my front wheel slid off with surprising speed, sending me to the ground stunned and with a hint of terra firma lingering in my sinuses.

The first thing we think of when we think of having good bike handling skills is someone like Robbie McEwen or Peter Sagan dodging about in the bunch, chasing the best wheels and avoiding crashes in technical finales. Or Sven Nijs avoiding barriers the way I avoid awkward conversations about things like “feelings”. But good bike handling skills are usually much less obvious than that – and much more elemental to having confidence on the bike.

Good bike handling skills are fundamentally about weight distribution and understanding how shifting your weight on the bike will affect the way it reacts to the road. The difficulty with this is that learning how your weight affects the bike involves trial and error, and in this case “trial and error” means “crashing loads”. And for anyone who has crashed a road bike, we all know this involves an empirical study about what happens when a soft surface abraids against a hard rough surface. And also the possibility of motor vehicles and other terribly unpleasant things interacting with said soft surface.

A study in extremes tends to be the most effective tool when examining how subtle weight changes might influence how the rider and machine move together as one. The basic problem with riding on the road is that the surface is so uniform that the opportunity for meaningful study are rare and come with high risks and unpleasant consequences. Which is why riding off road is the secret to becoming a good bike handler and ultimately a better Cyclist. First and foremost, the consequences of being at the bottom of the learning curve are much reduced; speeds are lower and the surfaces are (generally) softer. There are also fewer cars. But mostly, the surface is so erratic that you are constantly forced to experiment with how distributing your weight can influence the way the unit moves together.

Here are a few principles I’ve use when it comes to improving my bike handling:

  1. Don’t be afraid to crash. Crashing is what teaches us where the boundaries lie and riders who never crash are not finding their boundaries. We’re doing this off road partly because of the lowered consequences of coming off. Embrace it.
  2. Look where you want to go, not at the obstacles you’re trying to avoid. There is some serious voodoo that goes on with how your body interacts with your sight, so just keep focussed on where you want to be and your body will follow.
  3. To learn how weight distribution affects traction, find a short, steep hill with some roots and maybe even a few off-camber pitches. Take an afternoon and after you warm up, ride it over and over and over again until you get it right every time. In the dry and then in the wet. You will fall, you will hit your knee. You might even smack your sensitive bits on the top tube or your stem. Its all part of the learning process, so refer to Rule #5.
  4. Find a web of trees and pick what looks like an impossible path through them. Take an afternoon and try to ride that path as fast as possible. Race a training partner if you have one. Take turns leading and chasing. Try applying the front brake in a really tight turn and continue pedalling; then try it with the rear. Then ride with no brakes. Figure out what works for you and what makes you drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
  5. Find the longest, roughest stretch of flattish trail you can find and spend the afternoon riding it full gas as though you’re riding the cobbles in Northern Europe. Ride it in different gears and try to understand what speed and cadence work best. Figure out how to unload the wheels in quick succession to avoid smashing the rim against something hard and getting  a flat.

After a short while, these things become second nature and you don’t even have think about them. The next time you hit the road, you’ll be amazed at comfortable and confident you feel on your machine. And feeling comfortable and confident is the first step towards being Casually Deliberate and Looking Pro.

VLVV.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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  • @frank

    @Haldy

    Want to hone bike handling skills...take up track racing if there is a velodrome near you. Lots of little bike handling nuances learned there! Especially when in a 30+ rider Miss-n-out, or a Madison with 16 teams.

    Yeah...there we are again with the high consequence crashing bit...

    @Haldy

    @cognition

    @ChrissyOne

    You're making me really miss wine, you asshole.

    Clearly you need to head to another cogal soon.

    I believe there is one this Saturday.....

    Stoked. Testing some wheels with 28's on 'em - amazed, actually, that the Veloforma takes a tire that big.

    Who's in? Looks like it might be rainy...YES!

    Well.....you do have to take the track class where they teach some of those handling skills...and then you have to upgrade a few categories before you can ride the Madison or Miss n out....

    28's? Which ones? I had my nice 25mm Pave CG's show up at the shop yesteray, but I am probably just gonna stick with my 24mm Corsa SR's

  • @frank

    @il muro di manayunk

    Although it has been probably 15 years since I've been on a BMX bike, I've found that I've retained many of the instincts, reflexes, and other skills gained from a whole childhood spent on one launching off of stairs, ramps, curbs, and dirt jumps with no regard for personal safety.

    Amazing how that invincibility is gone, huh? I would simply never do that now.

    @antihero

    @Nate

    I am not sure what the connection is between riding off road and Chateauneuf du pape however.

    It's what you consume to kill the pain apres accident.

    Favorite wine, that's all. And if you've ever been there and seen the state of the ground, you don't want to encounter it at speed. Think Ventoux but slightly smaller rocks. You can see them in the background of the lead photo, which I took in '06.

    I know that pays and the wines of les cailloux well: not just CdP but Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Rasteau etc. Next time you are down this way I'll have to dig about in the cellar for a couple good bottles. My parents have a place over in Vaison la Romaine on the other side of the Montmirail. Spent 6 weeks there in 07.

  • @frank

    I have to admit it doesn't always work out. Lost my front wheel on wet leaves on a commute home a few years ago and when down like a sack of proverbial. Took me 2 years of physio and surgery for a SLAP tear to get over that one.

    Not sure what bike handling skills would have helped me there.

  • @frank

    @Chris

    @frank

    Find the longest, roughest stretch of flattish trail you can find and spend the afternoon riding it full gas as though you're riding the cobbles in Northern Europe. Ride it in different gears and try to understand what speed and cadence work best. Figure out how to unload the wheels in quick succession to avoid smashing the rim against something hard and getting a flat.

    Learn to ride as though seated but floating just above the saddle allowing the bike flow and follow the terrain whilst your knees and elbows filter out the jarring vibrations that would loosen eyeballs and teeth.

    That's what I learned riding rigid mountain bikes back in the day; there's a reason the Cobbled Kings ride a big gear; it helps you float over the saddle. But that's just the back wheel - you have to learn how to unload the front wheel and not lean on the bars like a sack o' potatoes.

    That's where I was going with the comment about letting your elbows and knees filter out the vibrations but you're right its more than that. It's sometimes about only maintaining the minimum contact with the bike to be able to change direction and keep the cranks turning. You have to learn to let the bike do it's own thing underneath you, rather than to hang on to it and wrestle it into submission.

    Its massively counter intuitive in the same way that releasing the brake and trusting the tyres to hold when you think you've taken too much speed into a corner can be.

    I wouldn't say my bike handling is great but having learnt to ride motorbikes off road and spending a few years riding downhill bikes has certainly helped.

  • @RobSandy

    @frank

    I have to admit it doesn't always work out. Lost my front wheel on wet leaves on a commute home a few years ago and when down like a sack of proverbial. Took me 2 years of physio and surgery for a SLAP tear to get over that one.

    Not sure what bike handling skills would have helped me there.

    Possibly none apart from crashing skills. The more you crash the better you crash.

  • @Nate

     ...Gigondas...

    mmm... Gigondas I like a lot although I prefer Bordeaux or Madiran.

    I'm also rather enjoying a bit of this at the moment (and not just for the label - the producer, Some Young Punks, has a bunch of great labels)

  • @Chris

    A lesson learnt - I had a similar crash a month later, where I was completely unhurt.

    The difference? The first crash, I put my hand out. The 2nd, I kept my hands on the bars and landed on my shoulder.

    Don't put your hand down!

  • I can't comment on mtb skills or the like but I do think it has something to do with knowing what to do with your centre of gravity. I learnt to ride horses when I was very young and with all the sporting, jumping and fanging around we did you learnt to know where to lean and how far your could push into corners. Hooves aren't tyres I know, but I also know I use some of the skills I have learnt riding ponies on my bike.

  • @frank

    Same works for Cycling. Also, you can try a Softride beam; that will give you intimate exposure into who inefficient your pedal stroke is and how shifting your balance can fuck you up.

    My coach used to send us off on "the keyring drill" - on an abandoned airstrip, we used to drag-race in the lowest gear, slightly downhill, with keys and coins dangling in the pocket. If it's ringing, you're losing...

  • @DeKerr

    @rfreese888 I would suggest that "in traffic" is not the place to "learn" bike handling skillz as the consequence of a miscalculation can result in meeting 1000kg of metal. I agree with the article that the learning needs to be done where the soft leaves, sticks, branches, dirt, and stones can teach more than they can discipline.

    Fair point - I agree that practicing crashes on the Stillorgan dual carriageway into work in Dublin is possibly not an ideal scenario. My point is that commuting has forced me to develop handling skills via day to day negotiation of the hazards of traffic.

    Perhaps this could be enhanced with a few detours through parks where the price of wiping out is not so high.

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