Bike Drills/Goofing off

[Trekhawk]

Once a week for part of one ride I spend some time doing drills( goofing off) in an empty carpark at the local college. Its a huge carpark and because its the one furthest from the actual buildings it never has any cars in it.

Its great fun and I can really see some improvement. I have been doing one leg pedal drills, lets see how slow I can go without falling off (Im sure that one has a better name), cornering and last but not least riding with no hands.

Today I was so pleased I rode with no hands for about 300 metres.
Now this is not something Im ever likely to do on the road (yep the carpark is super smooth) but its just such good fun. It reminds me of when I was a kid and just loved goofing off on my bike. Now all I have to do is remember not to tell DH hmm apparently riding no hands on my new bike is not allowed.

Does anyone else love to just goof off on their bike sometimes??

[maillotpois]

That's great!

I will sometimes ride around a parking lot trying to do the no hands thing while I am waiting for people to show up for a ride. I also do some drills with people I am working with if we're going to do an event that has a potential for close contact riding or bumping. That really improves pack rding skills as well. (For those drills you need another person, a grassy area and sneakers...)

Another fun thing to do (if it is safe and no cars coming) while you're waiting for someone on the road is make as tight circles as you can in the road without stepping down. You could do that at your car park, too, but on the road you can't cheat at all if your circle's not tight enough!

[SadieKate]

At the end of many mountain bike rides Bubba and I will slow race each other.

Tight circles requiring ratcheting - frequently - managed to nearly take out the right hip of the turn around person at one of our time trials last year because he wasn't expecting someone to turn so tightly.

I used to do one-legged stuff more when I was helping friends get used to clips. Teaching them that it doesn't take two legs to get up some momentum.

I play around with the no hands thing too. I'm horrible at it. Some days on my mountain bike I can nail it and some days I suck. I actually managed to use both hands to unzip a jersey last winter but never managed to do it again. I suppose I could practice more . . . . . we should goof off more.

You know, I've never tried the pick up the bottle from the ground manuever, but I can butt floss!

[maillotpois]

DH and DSIL can both ride with no hands, effortlessly. I hate them.

[SadieKate]

Add Mr. LeeBob to your list.

[maillotpois]

What.

Ever.

Loser.