How to improve bike handling skills

Does anyone have advice on how to improve bike handling skills?

I took a Road I course and it was great. I really enjoyed the on-bike bike handling skills like looking back and identifying something, quick turns, etc. What I'd like is more guidance on improving my handling skills like that.

I'm just getting back into riding after about 14 years of not. And I seem to remember having much better balance and confidence when I was younger. Like right now, I'm quite shaky riding with one hand to drink from a bottle while riding or using hand signals to signal where I'm going and turning at the same time. I also find the toe overlap quite annoying when trying to do a track stand or even riding very slowly - my bike is a 47cm. I'm trying to train myself to pay attention to where my feet are when I pedal slowly and turn but it is tricky.

I'll spend an hour in a parking lot practicing the things I learned in the Road I class and just working on my balance doing figure 8's and other tight turns, looking behind me, trying a few bunny hops. But it feels somewhat direction-less. Any suggestions?

keep riding.
I am 56 and i will probably never be real confident about riding one handed. (after about 5000 miles in the last 2 years I figured that out) but i have made progress, like today I tightened my shoe while riding down the street.

but it's the old adage, practice, practice....

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Originally Posted by Spec&TrekGirl

Does anyone have advice on how to improve bike handling skills?

I took a Road I course and it was great. I really enjoyed the on-bike bike handling skills like looking back and identifying something, quick turns, etc. What I'd like is more guidance on improving my handling skills like that.

I'll spend an hour in a parking lot practicing the things I learned in the Road I class and just working on my balance doing figure 8's and other tight turns, looking behind me, trying a few bunny hops. But it feels somewhat direction-less. Any suggestions?

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You're actually doing pretty well... Many of the parking lot drills in Road I are things that you need to get out by yourself and practice on a fairly regular basis so that they become instinctive... When you need to use them, you need them really bad and don't have a whole lot of time to think about it.

I call it "dancing with your bike"... get out in a big open parking lot somewhere and practice the drills, especially until you can do them at your typical road speed. I taught a class this past weekend for the local boy scouts, and the Tuesday before went out and put in a little over 8 miles just circling through the tennis balls and getting everything dialed in. They were a little impressed when I could clean the "Control" chicane, rock dodge, quick turn and panic stop all at about 16 mph :cool: I typically walk thru the drill as a demo, then I'll ride it slow, then circle around and come back thru at (touring) speed.

The way to become a better rider is to get out and ride your bike, and never quit working to improve on your weaknesses.

Tom

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Originally Posted by PscyclePath

The way to become a better rider is to get out and ride your bike, and never quit working to improve on your weaknesses.

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Yup... Just seconding what Tom said...

yeah, keep riding and you'll find yourself riding no hands down long fast stretches! That is so much fun. But it takes a while to work up to that, both the coordination and the mentality.

I don't mean to hijack your post, but I am just wondering where you can take these type of classes?

Fujichants, you can find a course like this by going to www.bikeleague.org; they have courses and instructors listed and you can search by state to find and instructor near you and contact them about a course. I thought it was definitely worth it. What they first tell you about where to ride to be safest seems counter intuitive but really makes sense when you really think about it.

Psychlepath got me dancing with my bike and that helps. My trainer also asked me to some rides very very slow. Very light gears, high cadence, doing a 3 mile loop several times. Oddly (to me, not to him, he really knows what he's doing) several things improved immediately - my bike handling, my breathing, and my relaxation. My cornering improved immensely in one day.:D

I too, have rather deplorable bike handling skills. Twenty years of no riding and then a year stoking a tandem have rendered me mostly incompetent on my onsie bike.

Ah well, things could be much worse!

I find mountain biking helps with handling skills also.