Art of Cycling by Hurst Robert Streb Marla

Art of Cycling by Hurst Robert Streb Marla

Author:Hurst, Robert, Streb, Marla
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780762751976
Publisher: Falcon Guides


Riding

a Straight Line

Riding straight is a crucial skill for navigating many types of situations. If gutter riding feels sketchy, or you squirrel out in tight traffic, get busy with some straight-line exercises before you go too much further. Don’t try to jam your poorly skilled self into situations that demand good skills. Cycling in traffic without being able to ride a straight line is like trying to climb a frozen waterfall in bare feet. It’s going to end badly.

Urban riders have at their disposal an easy and effective teacher of straight-line skills, built right into the transportation infrastructure. The traditional way for a cyclist to practice riding straight is by attempting to ride on top of one of the many solid white lines painted on the street. Use one of the standard 4-inch-wide lines, not one of the honkin’ 8-inchers that are so popular these days. Look ahead instead of down, and let your eyes pull you along. The eyes are powerful. Relaxation is key. The bike is steered, veered, and jerked around with the legs as well as the hands and arms—relax them all. Do this straight-line exercise while pedaling. The pedaling motion should not cause the bike to weave.

When it becomes easy to roll right on top of the line for long stretches, get used to glancing back quickly while holding the line. Resist the natural inclination to veer left when swinging your head back to the left. Turning the neck can start a chain reaction that causes the bike to go haywire. Break the chain by turning only the neck and keeping the shoulders relaxed and square. Don’t lean the bike over and don’t turn the bars. Whatever it takes to hold the straight line. It is not recommended that city cyclists succumb to their temptation to look back by pulling one hand off the bars and sitting up (see Looking Back, on page 105).

After the cyclist learns to ride easily on a 4-inch line and learns how to hold a straight line while looking back, the next step is to learn how to ride a straight line at very slow speeds. Using the same 4-inch line, slow to a walking pace, and then slow down even more, and see what happens. Ideally, the cyclist should be able to hold the line at any speed, all the way down to 0 mph, while swiveling the head all over the place. This drill will expose any basic shortcomings in balance and control. The ability to balance and control the bicycle at low speed is another very important skill that should be viewed as part of the minimum requirement for safe cycling.

The rider’s straight-line skills will be tested at some point on every ride in the city—suddenly narrowed gaps between side mirrors, grates to be traversed, long cracks and lips in the pavement to be avoided, not to mention most lane-sharing situations. When faced with such challenges, concentrate on the line you want to ride, and not on the obstacles you need to avoid.



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