My goals for 2004

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies.

2) Do a "10" faster than I could ten years ago (a pitiful 27'10", so not too challenging)

Any pointers for (1)? I'll start on the mountain bike and, if possible, progress to the racing
bike American Flyers-style. By "wheelies" I mean riding on the back wheel for at least 100 yards.

I used to be able to do a 100 yards. ( ~3 decades ago :o( )

Practice, low gearing, my bike used to have what we called cow horn handle bars, which were popular
at the time.

In message <[email hidden]>, Zog The Undeniable <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies.

Any pointers for (1)? I'll start on the mountain bike and, if possible, progress to the racing bike
American Flyers-style. By "wheelies" I mean riding on the back wheel for at least 100 yards.

Practice. Starting on dry grass until you get the hang of landing on your feet when you fall over
backwards. As an accomplishment it's pretty pointless, I'd like to be able to do a bunny hop though.
--
Sue ];(🙂

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies.

As the father of a lad who has a passion for Trials riding, and therefore is rarely to be seen
riding on one wheel (front or back, doesn't seem to matter much) I wish you all the best with this
one. For a time we were on first-name terms with many of the staff at Kings Lynn A&E 😉

Apparently, you haven't truly lived until performing a perfect Stoppie amongst the queueing cars at
traffic lights.

Personally I have enough trouble keeping control using two wheels !

--
Chris

Sue said:

Practice. Starting on dry grass until you get the hang of landing on your feet when you fall
over backwards. As an accomplishment it's pretty pointless, I'd like to be able to do a bunny
hop though.

I can do pretty big "SPD hops" but not true bunny hops - which you can do with flat pedals.

"Succorso" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies.

rarely to be seen riding on *two* wheels that should have been.

Damn wine 😉

--
Chris

Zog The Undeniable said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies.

Any pointers for (1)?

Don't use clipless pedals (don't use toeclips either!)

James

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 19:22:33 -0000, "Succorso" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Apparently, you haven't truly lived until performing a perfect Stoppie amongst the queueing cars at
traffic lights.

A challenge for me, I think.

Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
chapmancentral.demon.co.ukchapmancentral.demon.co.ukOpen ↗

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies.

2) Do a "10" faster than I could ten years ago (a pitiful 27'10", so not too challenging)

Any pointers for (1)? I'll start on the mountain bike and, if possible, progress to the racing
bike American Flyers-style. By "wheelies" I mean riding on the back wheel for at least 100 yards.

I found out how to do wheelies by accident - high (as in hard) gearing at traffic lights combined
with a will to get away as fast a possible. Pull on the handbars, whoops, wheelie, get back down
again and blaze off :-)

Tom.

Sue said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Zog The Undeniable <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies.

Any pointers for (1)? I'll start on the mountain bike and, if possible, progress to the racing
bike American Flyers-style. By "wheelies" I mean riding on the back wheel for at least 100
yards.

Quoted message said:

Practice. Starting on dry grass until you get the hang of landing on your feet when you fall
over backwards. As an accomplishment it's pretty pointless, I'd like to be able to do a bunny
hop though.

<embarassed> So would I. The kids around here can all do it and it's clearly very useful for
clearing small obstructions on the trail but I just can't do it... </embarassed>

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

[ This mind intentionally left blank ]

James Annan said:

Zog The Undeniable said:

1) Finally learn to do wheelies. Any pointers for (1)?

Don't use clipless pedals (don't use toeclips either!)

H'mmm. That rules out all of my bikes, then...

... but I can see why not...

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

[ This mind intentionally left blank ]

"Sue" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Zog The Undeniable <[email hidden]> writes

, I'd like to be able to do a bunny hop though.

Quoted message said:

--
Sue ];(🙂

Okay, those in the know - technique, please??!

Phil B York, UK

On 17/1/04 9:25 am, in article [email hidden], "Zog The

Undeniable said:

2) Do a "10" faster than I could ten years ago (a pitiful 27'10", so not too challenging)

That is also one of my goals. My last and only '10' was 12 years ago on the course near Princes
Risborogh. I was living in Harrow at the time and had no car so rode 30 miles to the race as a warm
up, then rode to Oxford for lunch afterwards. I think (IIRC) I'd been playing sax in a band in Kent
the night before as well. The time was 28'14" which wasn't too bad considering the local hard nut
who was a sub 20' rider clocked 24' on the course. Still gives me a realistic chance of beating it
though. I'd done faster times into college with a rucksack on.

Maybe this year I'll do another one if I can get fit. Started well by adding another munro to my
tally (that now makes a measly 4) but I did do that via an ice clime on dodgy snow.

..d

On 18/1/04 4:34 pm, in article [email hidden],

Phil Bixby said:

Okay, those in the know - technique, please??!

as someone who can just about bunnyhop anything (even a raleigh shopper) though not very high, the
technique is all in the wrists.

Do this at a slow pace and use flat pedals. You'll get better technique that way. Don't even try
this until you are confident at riding slowly standing on the pedals.

Start off with the front wheel. If you yank on the handlebars then you should be able to lift the
front wheel off the ground, just.

Try this again but before pulling up on the handlebars crouch on the pedals, push up and as you
unweight the pedals you pull the bars up too, bringing the bike with you. You should be able to lift
the front wheel a good six inches or so without a problem doing this. Once you get the idea of the
technique it is fine.

Step 2 the back wheel. This is broadly the same but instead of pulling the handlebar up and back,
you push it up and forwards. DO NOT USE THE BRAKES. It is a good idea to do this on a soft surface.
What you are trying to do is to lift the back wheel by unweighting the pedals again. Careful not to
go over the bars. Did I say DON'T use the BRAKES. You should be able to do this without touching
the brakes.

You will find this much easier if you have a fore-and-aft grip on the bars, eg. bar ends (MTB), sit
up and beg (roadster) or on the hoods if you are on a road bike. It is hard on side to side grips
(eg the raleigh shopper mentioned earlier) as you need a bl***y strong grip.

The final step is to put these together. What you are trying to do is to lift both wheels equally as
you unweight the pedals. This you do by getting the right amount of twist (fore and aft, not side to
side) on the handlebars to lift both wheels at the same time.

The technique is seriously useful. If you can do it on flat bars then you will impress all the yoof
who can do it with clips but cannot cope on an old granny sit up and beg bike.

I have used this successfully to jump serious bits of road work. At 20 mph you can clear a good few
metres of horizontal distance. We used to ride around box hill a lot. Going down the zig-zags we'd
try to bunny hop the speed bumps. If you timed it wrong and flew off the top, you went a long way
through the air. (Younger, fitter and more foolish days).

Hope this helps. Say Hi to the casualty medics.. it's a tough life.

..d

On 18/1/04 8:42 pm, in article [email hidden],

Martin Family said:

Phil Bixby said:

Okay, those in the know - technique, please??!

as someone who can just about bunnyhop anything (even a raleigh shopper) though not very high, the
technique is all in the wrists.

I should clarify that anything does not include the dark side or vehicles with less than
two wheels...

..d

Martin Family said:

Quoted message said:

as someone who can just about bunnyhop anything (even a raleigh shopper) though not very high,
the technique is all in the wrists.

I should clarify that anything does not include the dark side or vehicles with less than two
wheels...

That makes me feel slightly less inadequate. Although I can't bunnyhop a bike without clipless
pedals, I can at least bunnyhop a unicycle (or an ultimate wheel, come to that).

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
speedy5.freeserve.co.ukdannyOpen ↗
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Thanks for that (apart from the bit about the A&E department) - as soon as horizontal rain ceases
here in glorious Yorkshire I'll go in search of speedbumps to clear!

Just a thought:- If "proper" bunnyhops are done without SPD's, should us roadies' hops be henceforth
known as "spuddyhops"?

Phil B York, UK

Oooooooo, me headset!

"Martin Family" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:BC30A025.946F%martin-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Phil Bixby said:

Okay, those in the know - technique, please??!

as someone who can just about bunnyhop anything (even a raleigh shopper) though not very high, the
technique is all in the wrists.

snipped...

Danny Colyer said:

Martin Family said:

Quoted message said:

as someone who can just about bunnyhop anything (even a raleigh shopper) though not very high,
the technique is all in the wrists.

I should clarify that anything does not include the dark side or vehicles with less than two
wheels...

That makes me feel slightly less inadequate. Although I can't bunnyhop a bike without clipless
pedals, I can at least bunnyhop a unicycle (or an ultimate wheel, come to that).

I can't ride a unicycle so have never tried. I did succome to the dark side once and tried a bent
but the pedals were just at the limit of my leg length (an inch or so beyond my short stubby pins)
so it was 'interesting'.

..d

David Martin said:

I can't ride a unicycle so have never tried. I did succome to the dark side once and tried a bent
but the pedals were just at the limit of my leg length (an inch or so beyond my short stubby pins)
so it was 'interesting'.

The Dark Side is not restricted to Bristolians of Green Cross Man size:

<http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk/Web/public.nsf/Documents/padawan>

Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
chapmancentral.demon.co.ukchapmancentral.demon.co.ukOpen ↗