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The Road Less Travelled

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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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View Comments

wiscot says:

Oct 15 2014 at 2:08 pm

Hey, we all know that when it comes to crashing, there only one way . . . the Joey Way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MzmCWyN9ow

Now with additional footage . . . but Joey's ok!
Haldy says:

Oct 15 2014 at 2:26 pm

Another practice option..good old grasstrack sessions. My couch runs them down at Paortland with many of his athlete's down there. An open grassfield, single speed beater bikes...lots of fun! The Gauntlet is the favorite session ending drill. Each rider take a turn starting behind 4 or 5 of the others and has to bash their way through the gauntlet to the front.
Mikael Liddy says:

Oct 15 2014 at 3:59 pm

@Chris

@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)

I occasionally ride with one of the aforementioned Punks...based on his bike collection I can only assume the wine business is good business!

Full custom Baum roadie

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Indy Fab custom cross bike

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Robert says:

Oct 16 2014 at 5:58 am

Thank you for this post.

This has been my first season trying 'cross and I am deeply humbled.

I hoping that it helps me let go of some of my fears as I travel down the path.
RobSandy says:

Oct 16 2014 at 6:30 am

@RobSandy

As a vaguely on-topic aside, I fell over at the weekend doing nothing sport related at all and bent all my fingers back. So now I can't ride, climb, or bowl in the nets.

Fortunately it was my strumming hand and not my fretting hand or I'd be ready to kill someone.

That's all.
frank says:

Oct 16 2014 at 4:27 pm

@Nate

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.'

Oh well look at mister fancypants!

Fantastic; I will expect you to name the grapes in the photo then.
frank says:

Oct 16 2014 at 4:30 pm

@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.

I lost my front wheel on black ice; not as unfortunate a crash but yes, handling skills won't do you much good there except if experience would tell you not to corner on wet leaves.

@Chris

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.

I have my eye on an offroad moto for gravel recce. And possibly some offroad singletrack link trail scouting.

We went downhilling at Whistler this summer, MAN was that fun!
frank says:

Oct 16 2014 at 4:39 pm

@rfreese888

@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.

GOLD!

@markb

I am told by the coaches who work at Herne Hill Velodrome that the worst time for crashes on the track is on a Tuesday evening when they have road bike training - it's the use of brakes that inevitably cause impacts. So I intend to submit a suggestion to the UCI that will greatly increase the safety of riders in the peloton, the removal of brakes. It will certainly add a bit of spice to the downhill sections (for riders and spectators alike).

Should I start a petition?

For sure! Brakes are for sissies!

@RobSandy

@Chris

@Teocalli Lets not get too technical!

The mental picture I had from the original post was commuting in the dark.

Absolutely. Dark. Wet. Speedbumps. Smooth concrete kerb beside speedbump with wet leaves thereon. Attempt to avoid speedbump by scooting around on the kerb.

Route planning? Well I stopped going that way.

This exchange is priceless!
frank says:

Oct 16 2014 at 4:44 pm

@Haldy

Another practice option..good old grasstrack sessions. My couch runs them down at Paortland with many of his athlete's down there. An open grassfield, single speed beater bikes...lots of fun! The Gauntlet is the favorite session ending drill. Each rider take a turn starting behind 4 or 5 of the others and has to bash their way through the gauntlet to the front.

Now its a party!
Nate says:

Oct 16 2014 at 5:46 pm

@frank

@Nate

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.'

Oh well look at mister fancypants!

Fantastic; I will expect you to name the grapes in the photo then.

Grenache blanc.