This is a good as place as any for this and hopefully there'll be some more stories on similar stuff, like drops, jumps, gaps, etc.
I've been riding aggressively for a long time, all that stuff above and moar, never turning away from a good challenge, but I've never put in the time to learn how to wheelie or manual. Preloading for drops and rolling off loading docks was something I mastered long ago, so keeping the wheel from not dropping away has never been an issue.
With COVID and just this time of the season, it kind of presented the perfect opportunity to try and learn something new. About 3 weeks ago, we were still riding snow trails, although they were starting to fall apart. There is a wide open straight stretch known as the "gas-line" that is relatively flat, only slightly uphill or downhill, and pretty much everyone uses it, XC skiers, walkers, etc. Not long, only about half a mile.
Watched a bunch of videos and then set out trying to do what they said in the videos. Of course, everyone on youtube thinks they are a great teacher, but in reality it's hard. At first I was trying to slam the seat and not locking my arms, which didn't help. Later, I was trying to pop the front end too high and in too low of a gear. Eventually, I was able to hold some kind of wheelie for a few seconds, with no directional control, it definitely wasn't "clicking" at this point and I wasn't getting into any kind of sustainable situation. I think some of the videos lead me down a little wrong path, really emphasizing the pop and saying to be in an easy gear...too easy to maintain forward speed and too high of a pop to pedal against and reach the balance point. On this stretch though, I did have a breakthrough where I got into a higher (harder) gear and was able to pedal against my wheel falling and feel the balance point some. That took at least 2.5 weeks to get to that point. A couple rides after that and I'm doing wheelies on every little stretch I can find.
About a week later, I'm starting to feel side-to-side balance and able to influence it somewhat. Not as much as I'd like, but I definitely felt this last night and had a good ride. They say in the videos to only practice for 45 min at a time, but I find myself doing it for 3 hours and trying to do it on every possible stretch. It also doesn't feel like I'm ripping my arms out of my sockets or anything bad anymore. Still trying to figure out downhill. Sometimes I can do it and control it, sometimes I just keep going faster and eventually lose control. Definitely making some progression though, even despite the guy trying to kill me last night.
Yesterday wheelie-bro ride:
I've been riding aggressively for a long time, all that stuff above and moar, never turning away from a good challenge, but I've never put in the time to learn how to wheelie or manual. Preloading for drops and rolling off loading docks was something I mastered long ago, so keeping the wheel from not dropping away has never been an issue.
With COVID and just this time of the season, it kind of presented the perfect opportunity to try and learn something new. About 3 weeks ago, we were still riding snow trails, although they were starting to fall apart. There is a wide open straight stretch known as the "gas-line" that is relatively flat, only slightly uphill or downhill, and pretty much everyone uses it, XC skiers, walkers, etc. Not long, only about half a mile.
Watched a bunch of videos and then set out trying to do what they said in the videos. Of course, everyone on youtube thinks they are a great teacher, but in reality it's hard. At first I was trying to slam the seat and not locking my arms, which didn't help. Later, I was trying to pop the front end too high and in too low of a gear. Eventually, I was able to hold some kind of wheelie for a few seconds, with no directional control, it definitely wasn't "clicking" at this point and I wasn't getting into any kind of sustainable situation. I think some of the videos lead me down a little wrong path, really emphasizing the pop and saying to be in an easy gear...too easy to maintain forward speed and too high of a pop to pedal against and reach the balance point. On this stretch though, I did have a breakthrough where I got into a higher (harder) gear and was able to pedal against my wheel falling and feel the balance point some. That took at least 2.5 weeks to get to that point. A couple rides after that and I'm doing wheelies on every little stretch I can find.
About a week later, I'm starting to feel side-to-side balance and able to influence it somewhat. Not as much as I'd like, but I definitely felt this last night and had a good ride. They say in the videos to only practice for 45 min at a time, but I find myself doing it for 3 hours and trying to do it on every possible stretch. It also doesn't feel like I'm ripping my arms out of my sockets or anything bad anymore. Still trying to figure out downhill. Sometimes I can do it and control it, sometimes I just keep going faster and eventually lose control. Definitely making some progression though, even despite the guy trying to kill me last night.
Yesterday wheelie-bro ride:
What are your progression stories?
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