For Road Racers!

[doc]

That's why I am all for BOTH HANDS (or at least one) ON THE DARN HANDLEBARS. At least once a week, I encounter a knucklehead who thinks he's "all that" by riding with no hands on the bars. Usually looking all around to see if anyone else is noticing his wonderfulness. Makes a good snot rocket target as I pass by (no, I haven't and wouldn't do that because I believe in trying to live by the golden rule and know the law of what goes around, comes around. But man, it's tempting!!).

Yikes, I hope you never snot rocket me. Riding upright with no hands is a fabulous gift to the lower back. After hunching over on an aggressive frame for 20, 40 or 60 miles, a few moments upright (on relatively flat straight ground) is heavenly. I'm not "all that", I'm merely stretching.

By the way, I believe yoga gave me the balance to do that.

[Grog]

Yikes, I hope you never snot rocket me. Riding upright with no hands is a fabulous gift to the lower back. After hunching over on an aggressive frame for 20, 40 or 60 miles, a few moments upright (on relatively flat straight ground) is heavenly. I'm not "all that", I'm merely stretching.

By the way, I believe yoga gave me the balance to do that.

Core strength and balance do it all.

Being a kid, I always felt lame for not being able to ride with no hands. I still think it's dangerous, and I would never do this in traffic (as I see idiots doing it all the time, on rather bumpy roads...). However it was one of my goals for 2006 to learn this skill, purely as a challenge to my core strength and balance. It took me a while, practicing, but now I can do it and keep pedalling at the same time, on flat, slight downhill or slight uphill terrain. It does bring relief after riding in a headwind, crunched in the drops, for a while. And it gives me great satisfaction. I am very careful to do this in a place where I can't be bothered (coming back home I have a long stretch of 2-meter-wide, perfectly paved shoulder) and catch back the handlebars as soon as I feel any instability. But boy it's great.

(I can't help thinking about the poor guy in that race every time I do it though!!)

So ... I also hope I won't be a target to your snot rockets!

[li10up]

I always thought everyone knew how to ride with no hands. I learned that almost as soon as I learned to ride. It came to a shock to me one day when I sat up to rest going down a hill...nice, smooth road going a little over 20 mph...two of the riders I was with couldn't believe I had done that. I was shocked to hear they didn't know how to ride with no hands. It feels good to sit up, rest and feel the wind.

It's not done to show off. The people who do it probably don't even think twice about it.

Signed,

knucklehead

[cylegoddess]

I never learnt that but I did learn how to ride and read and book at the same time( my two favoritethings),but only on my home street where the neighbors knew that the book obsessed, four eyed, bike nut who has hyperactive lived, 'so watch where your driving honey.'