Quote Originally Posted by doc
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!