Skill Drills

For the last 4 weeks or so, I've really made working on my bike-handling drills a priority. It seemed to have paid off last night, I really felt like I had some breakthroughs.

The first drill that I usually do is the trackstand. I've become progressively more comfortable leaning the bike (and myself) over to maintain my balance. Basically increasing my range of motion on the bike. Usually when I trackstand, I end up rolling forward just a little to maintain my balance. But last night, I was able to hold my balance for quite a while without rolling... really a proper trackstand!

I had a good realization while doing my cornering drills too. I've noticed that I corner better going right than I do going left. I realized that, when turning left, I have a tendency to add steering input with my right hand (since it's my dominant hand I guess); I don't do this when turning right. I've been practicing my cornering drills with my inside hand open for quite a while, so, without thinking too much about, I started working on my corners with both hands open (so I could only push, not pull on the bars). So, there I was, zipping around the driveway, barely hanging on to my bike! Once I realized what I was doing I had to stop and laugh a little. Gene did this when I took his camp last Fall, but I never really thought I would try it. (Disclaimer: Obviously, on a trail, you want to hang on to your handlebars!)

The last drill that went really well was my switchback practice. I haven't practiced making a real turn in a while, I've just been practicing riding around slowly in really tight circles (until I get dizzy). Since I was bored with that, I decided to make mock switchbacks out of squares of pavement on my driveway. I turned left first, no problem, and I felt surprisingly comfortable! I did it again, and went faster! Turning right was not quite as good, but still much better than the last time I'd done it.

It is interesting that when turning fast, I'm more comfortable going right, and turning slow, I'm more comfortable going left. Anyway...