How can I stop myself wobbling when I look round?

[Cyclingfun]

Has anyone any experience/tips to share on how you taught yourself to keep riding in a straight line when you look behind or to right or left? I ride a road bike with drops and really need to get this sorted before I end up in trouble with the cars (or other cyclists) around me . Any advice much appreciated.

[OakLeaf]

Is it a neck/shoulder flexibility problem, or a focus problem (or both)? Start with figuring out why you're doing it.

If you're weighting the arm you're turning toward, then you can do some neck stretches at home so that you can turn your neck without shifting the weight on your hands. (Consciously putting an equal amount of weight onto the other hand isn't necessarily a good idea, because then you've got a death grip on your bars. Work more on *not* weighting the hand you're turning toward.)

If it's because you're shifting your focus, work on consciously keeping your focus forward in spite of your glance back (if you practice Chi Running, they call it y'chi, which they say is what it's called in tai chi). This is part of avoiding tunnel vision and target fixation.

Either way, practice where you can do it safely - in an empty parking lot if you're confident you won't fall; on grass if you think you might.

[Cyclegalnyc]

The way I have conquered this is to use a small rearview mirror which attached to my glasses. I don't care how dorky some people think it is...they said that about helmets, too. It took a whole 15 minutes to get used to using the mirror. Listen, would you drive a car without a rearview mirror? I don't think so! It is especially helpful when riding alone, which I frequently do. It can mean the difference between bending a wheel in a huge pothole or seeing it's okay in less than a nanosecond to move left.

[OakLeaf]

Oh, I can't stand riding without a mirror! I surely didn't advise the OP not to use a mirror!

A mirror doesn't do anything about a rider's need to be able to look around.

To clear your blind spot (I wouldn't pilot a motor vehicle without mirrors AND turning my head to clear my blind spot before any maneuver, would you?? please say you do, that's how cyclists and motorcyclists get taken out all the time, by people not clearing their blind spots to merge) ... to look to the side to see what cross traffic is going to do ... to look at your rear tire if you've run something over ... etc., etc., etc.

[goldfinch]

I find it easier to look back if I grip my hand close to the center of the handlebars.

[malkin]

I think I grip further out on the side away from where I am looking.
Not completely sure about this.