Bike Handling Clinic: Drill That Skill

Object Retrieval -- This is a natural progression from ankle grabbing. Using the same concept as the above drill, practice picking up water bottles from the ground. Ride slowly up to the bottle and, pushing your bike away from the side you are leaning to, bring yourself low enough to the ground so that you can retrieve the bottle. You can start by trying to knock the bottles over using your left hand and then your right. Move on to picking up the bottles and then putting them down without letting them fall over. From there, you can practice picking up smaller objects such as soda cans or bottle caps.

Contact Drills

If you spend a lot of time riding in packs, you will inevitably make physical contact with other riders. Even if you usually ride on your own, practicing these drills will improve your overall ability to handle your bike. The most important thing to take away from these drills is that a little bit of contact is not a big deal. As with the previous drills, there is a natural progression of exercises.

Look Back -- A basic skill that many cyclists lack is the ability to look over their shoulder without coming off their line. For this drill, pick a partner who is roughly your size. Start by riding the length of the parking lot with your right hand on your partner's shoulder, looking over your right shoulder. Don't be afraid to lean on your partner. He will keep you going in a straight line. Once you've mastered that, practice looking over the outside shoulder. Try to really turn around and look behind you while maintain a straight line.

Elbow Bumping -- In this drill, you'll make some light contact with your partner. With your hands in the drops to prevent your handlebars from hooking (always protect your handlebars when riding in a tight pack), stick your elbows out and ride the length of the parking lot knocking elbows. You can use your elbows as bumpers, letting them absorb the brunt of the impact.

Shoulder Bumping and Leaning -- Once you are comfortable with elbow touching, you can practice making direct contact with your shoulders. Once again, keep your hands in the drops to protect your handlebars. Try to stay shoulder to shoulder and progressively increase the strength as well as the length of the impact. Practice leaning into each other and holding it for a few seconds.

The ultimate goal with this drill is to ride the length of the parking lot completely leaning on each other. You will be surprised at how stable you feel, even though you are wholly dependent on the other rider to keep you upright. The take away from this drill is that when you are bumped in the pack, your instinct should be to lean into the impact rather than pull away from it.

Bunny Hopping

These skills are important, not just for safety but also to avoid flat tires and to keep your wheels true. As with the other drills, there is a natural progression here.

Front Wheel -- Assuming your parking lot has white lines to indicate parking spaces, practice riding the length of the lot, hopping your front wheel over each line as you cross it. This is mostly done using the arms to pull up on the bars.

Rear Wheel -- Now do the same thing but with your rear wheel. You will use your legs to pull up on the pedals and lift the rear wheel off the ground.

Both Wheels -- Once you've mastered the front and rear wheel separately it is time to get both wheels off the ground at the same time. At a jogging speed, bend your knees, push the bike down into the ground and then burst upwards, pulling up simultaneously on the pedals and the handle bars. Once you feel comfortable jumping white lines, you can try some bigger obstacles such as soda cans or sticks.

Advanced Bunny Hopping -- Once you can easily jump your bike over curbs and pot holes, give these advanced skills a try. Ride up to a soda can so your back wheel is even with the can. Bunny hop just the rear wheel and while it is in the air, swing it to the side, knocking the can over. Next, try a sideways bunny hop. Ride parallel to a white line or an obstacle. Do a bunny hop and once you are off the ground, move the entire bike sideways and over the line or object. Do both these drills to the right and then to the left.

Turning

There are three ways to take a corner on a bike: Lean the bike, lean your body and the bike, and turn the handlebars. Most steering is done by leaning, but learning how to turn the bike using the handlebars can be a useful skill. By turning the handlebars instead of leaning the bike, you prevent the possibility of having the tires slide out from underneath you on a wet road or on a gravelly turn.

Parking Space Crit -- In this exercise, you are going to have your own little criterium inside a single parking space. Attempt to make a full circle inside the confines of a parking space. Remember to look to the place where you want to go instead of where you currently are (this is important in all turns). Once you've mastered turning in one direction, try it the other way.

K Turns -- This drill is more of a confidence builder than an actual skill you might use on the road. At a slow speed, ride parallel to a wall. With the wall on your left, turn directly into the wall so your front wheel hits it at a 90 degree angle. Allow the wheel to bounce back off the wall a few inches. Turn the wheel to the right and continue riding parallel to the wall. Do this several times along the length of the wall.

The Big Finish

I like to finish all my skills clinics with a little competition that incorporates a lot of the skills we just worked on.

The Slow Race -- Have all the riders line up as if at the start of a race. Mark a finish line about 20 meters away. Using balance and steering, each rider will attempt to ride as slowly as possible without falling over. The last rider to cross the line is the winner. If they clip out, ride backwards or crash, they are out of the race.

I tried to cover some basic skills in this article, but if you have other drills you'd like to add, send them to me at josh@liquidfitness.com. Perhaps one day I will put together a comprehensive list of every cycling skills drill known to man!


Josh Horowitz is a USCF certified coach and an active Category 1 racer. For more information about his coaching services and any coaching questions you may have, check out his website, LiquidFitness.com. To find out more about the Liquid Cycling club, go to LiquidCycling.com.

PezCycling News: We tap into what's cool in elite level pro cycling and make the news fun again—every day. Check out our off-beat rider interviews, top level tech reviews, weekly training & fitness articles, cool stories on top rides, race news and reports the way we like 'em, the lovely Daily Distractions and cool stories you can't find anywhere else. Get Pez'd today.

All photos courtesy of Josh Horowitz/PezCycling News.

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