Home Places Riders Podcasts Guidance Store

Become More Confident on the Bike

Becoming more skilful and confident on the bike will make your rides safer and more enjoyable.  We share tips and exercises to build your confidence.

#1. The Importance of Balance

 

A Riding Tip from Coach Foggie.

Balance is Key:
 
As a kid we all used to play and balance on stuff – well I did anyway.
 
As we get older we tend not to practice balancing or playing on anything really. If we play a sport where sideways and turning motions are required then we do practice our balance skills to a degree, which can transfer to the bike.
 
Many cyclists just ride and don’t play other sports and any prolonged linear activity can sometimes have a detrimental effect on our ability to move like we used too. Obviously age related factors and fear of damaging ourselves increases as we get older and as we become more aware of what can go wrong. That’s just natural.
 
A key message here is to get off the bike and play some balance games. Low beams, or lines on the floor, one/two legged standing on flat ground or on a wobble board or Bosu.
 
Practice a couple of times a week, spending just a few minutes trying something different to enhance your personal balance.
 
As you get more competent, close your eyes and try to balance – really hard to do at first. Proprioception is the technical term for understanding where your body is in time and space and it needs practice.
 
This will help you on the bike.
 
Obviously jump onto your bike and practice balancing too. You can do this in your back yard. Just place some objects on the ground and form a narrow passage. Look for the exit and ride slowly through. Keep doing this and then add some bends/corners.
 
Start real low level and build up. Stay unclipped to start with then develop to your clips, if you use them.
 
A key and advanced skill is to learn how to ‘trackstand‘– standing still on the bike without putting your foot down – we will explore that another time.
 
Have fun and enjoy the ride!
 
Chris

 

#2. "Where Your Eyes Go, the Bike Goes"

 

A Riding Tip from Coach Foggie.

Teach yourself to look up, forward, around objects or further down the trail or road. This is not a natural skill and needs practice.

It sounds simple, however many riders look directly in front of themselves or at the object they are passing. If you look at the kerb, tree, pothole, stone etc then the likelihood is that you will head towards it or hit it.

Have fun and enjoy the ride!

Chris 

#3. Looking Behind

A Riding Tip from Coach Foggie

We have had a great question from a member asking for advice about looking behind if you have a stiff neck or other physical constraints.

As you will be aware a necessary skill on the bike is the ability to check behind, whether you are looking for traffic, where your mates are or checking out great views.

There are a couple of physical alternatives to assist with this; they require practice.

  1. An alternative to turning your head is to bring your chin down to the front of your shoulder, on the side you want to look, and you should be able to pick up enough in your peripheral vision to sense if something is there.

  2. Bring your chin closer to your chest, on the side you want to look, and catch a view under your arm to the rear.

  3. Whist riding in a straight line you can let go of the bars with one hand and turn your whole upper torso to the side you want to view – at the same time take hold of the rear of you seat with your free hand to stabilise yourself. Be mindful that this is quite a big movement of the body so your bike will tend to shift towards the way you turned, however you will see more.

  4. Attaching some small retro fitted mirrors to the bar ends can assist in some cases where riders have very limited movement. However again I recommend caution with these as they have blind spots.

These methods may have limited view but much better than nothing.

I have tried to depict the techniques in the attached photos.

Photo credit: Mrs F.

Have fun and enjoy the ride!

Chris

 

Become a Member

Join our private Facebook group

Join our global community of 50+yr old riders to connect with cyclists like you from around the world.

Our group share inspiring stories about why they cycle, upload amazing rides and support each other to love life through riding their bikes.

Sign up to the group