This always amazes me...

[Grog]

I was riding a few meters behind a friend of mine at the end of last Summer, he had a jacket with zip-off sleeves. He unzipped his sleeves and stuffed them in the back pocket of his jacket while riding. I was pretty impressed. All with no hands, of course. And that lasted a few minutes. Geez.

I can ride for about ... hum, 3 seconds with no hands, and certainly not drafting. It blows my mind, too.

It's all in the core.

[yellow]

I was riding a few meters behind a friend of mine at the end of last Summer, he had a jacket with zip-off sleeves. He unzipped his sleeves and stuffed them in the back pocket of his jacket while riding. I was pretty impressed. All with no hands, of course. And that lasted a few minutes. Geez.

On my ride Sat I watched the ride leader take off and stow his knee warmers while riding. I'd heard of this being done but never seen it. I was really impressed, esp considering the less-than-stellar road condition.

[DrBee]

knee warmers??? I cannot imagine! That must have been quite a site!

[DirtDiva]

Knee warmers indeed. That is impressive.

[bikerchick68]

it's pretty amazing how confident some people are on the bike... I feel like I a a decent rider and then someone like this passes me I cannot imagine drafting and eating...

I STILL don't ride hands free... I don't know... maybe it's my age, cause I used to all the time as a kid... but now it just gives me the willies... I do NOT want to crash... not sure if I'd be more upset over the skin loss or the damage that would no doubt be done to my bike...

[RoadRaven]

I just had a big lecture with my eldest sons and their training friend (ages 17, 16 and 15).
They were out riding with me the other day and were doing handsfree stuff - eg how fast can you go handsfree.
When home I talked about how dumb and irresponsible that is, especially when in a group.

I said that if they they have to go handsfree during a ride (eg to stretch their back or take off a windbreaker) they must go to the back of the bunch. It is too easy - a gust of wind for example - to get blown into another cyclist.
I also said if they crashed handsfree, there was no way I was paying for replacement or mending of their bikes (my sons have expensive carbon GIANTs, thats alot of money they will have to find.

I never stop to eat - I carry what I think I'll need in my back pocket, and the only time I have stopped to refuel is because one of the women I train with prefers to stop to eat.

[Dianyla]

Oh, this post brought back memories for me!

When I was about 13 or so I was out on a ride with my dad. I was just getting into road riding and had been watching a little too many Tour videos and thinking it was just no big deal to take off a layer while riding. I had done a little hands-free sitting up and drinking water about once or twice and was feeling a wee bit overconfident in myself.

Halfway into the ride the morning clouds were burning off and my dad says "hey let's take off these jackets". Five seconds later he notices I've gone missing and looks back to see me on the ground, arms trapped inside my sweatshirt.