The video makes it look pretty easy, doesn’t it? Like, maybe you could do some crocheting while you’re riding you bike.
So don’t take this guy too seriously. I suspect he’s showing off.
Here are a few tips from moi, just to get you started.
First, get a bike. Get used to riding it with both hands on the handlebars.
Next, practice riding with just one hand on the bars, alternating right and left.
Now you are ready to take both hands off the handlebars for just a few seconds, just an inch or two off the bars so you can grab ’em again quickly if you start to wobble. You will wobble till you get the hang of it.
That’s all for now. The next lesson will take you some steps farther. In the meantime, see how you do with your hands just a teensy-weensy bit off the bars for a few seconds.
Important Extra Tip: Wind, rain, and traffic are not helpful.
When I was … eight or nine, my parents would take us all to a school track and they would do their exercise walks. Sometimes I would take my bike; once when I went there, I rode my bike around the track five or six times, no hands; then at the end I was so dizzy that I fell off the bike. LOL
I think I’m more safety conscious than I was then, so I feel more insecure riding sans hands and don’t do it much.
Forsooth! You’re much too young to give up riding no-handed!
Oh, I still do it. It’s just that I don’t do it as often (well, to tell the truth, I don’t ride my bike much, lol).
Good to see you’re still at the keyboard! May I add an additional tip? In addition to wind, rain and traffic, please don’t try these tricks when the snow flies 🙂
You know, it really hadn’t occurred to me to do that. Much too cold!
I also used to easily ride bike with no hands. Fortunately no falls from that either! We used to tell a little joke about a kid showing off to his mother when he learned to ride with no hands. She’s standing on the stoep (porch) watching. The kid coming down the path: “Look Ma, I’m riding!” Next time he came down with no hands: “Look Ma, no hands!”. When he came down again: ” Look Ma, no feet!”. And then walking up to her: “Look Ma, no teeth…!”
My guess is that today’s helicopter parents would never allow this.
Probably not! : ) But then, maybe that’s because today the doctor bills that would follow would bankrupt us, even with our supposed insurance coverage. Another topic though…
The only way you’d get me to take my hands off the handlebars is if I’m on an exercise bike. I haven’t been on a real bike since I was a teenager.
I, too, had not been on a bike since my teens. But it is true–you never forget how to ride a bike.
I should point out that my wife has had experiences that would indicate the proverb isn’t true for everyone.
I wonder how anyone can ride a bike without holding on the handles. Learning to do that would be quite hazardous, in my opinion.
Just remember two things.
1. If there’s nothing wrong with your bike, or the road surface, or you (don’t get jiggly), and if your bike is going fast enough, it has a natural tendency both to remain upright and to go straight.
2. The secret is to work into it by very small increments. Start by taking your hands an inch of the bars for just two or three seconds, and increase gradually as you gain confidence.
It’s not as hard as it looks.