Video: 7 Skills You Can Practice In A Parking Lot

 I can not stop laughing! Was thinking the same thing. Imagine your riding buddies arriving and finding you in puddle of blood, doh

 I can feel your pain ;-)

 Let me guess, while doing the frt wheel lift lol

 Funny because this happened on a ride today.

 Legit tried wheelieing couple years ago, one minute before a group ride in the lot (no better time to start right?), biffed hard in gravel, bent my seatpost sideways and bruised my ego. Been practicing wheelies ever since

 I always practice my wheelies when I’m waiting, you’d think after so so many years of trying that I’d be able to do them but no, still getting it wrong...

 Embarrassingly, I wouldn't have gotten that without your comment. Clearly I need another coffee!

 Well how are you going to pedal forwards and ride backwards?

 lol

 yep. you get 5min grace period with me if you haven't called or texted you are running late. After that, I just leave. And you also get 3 strikes with being late. Late 3 times in a row? not an accident.

I have no time for people that feel their time is more valuable than mine.

 @conoat: exactly, if I waited for everyone who said 7am and didn't show till 8-830 I'd still be sitting next to my car right now.

And I know its going to poss people off, but I can't stand people trying to learn how to wheelie in the middle of the lot. we have narrow lots that 2 cars can't comfortably drive past eachother, there is always someone with an upside down frame in the middle of the way and someone staring at their front wheel swerving around. Seriously, why is the parking lot the spot of choice?

 Agreed. Now if only someone could make a 10 minute how to bunny hop video, preferably with some really incomplete advice and a title that suggests that bunny hops can be learned in an afternoon..

Not that I'm bitter you understand...

It was such a relief when I joined ryanleech.com and realised how long it actually takes a lot of (/most ?) people to learn to bunny.

 @Woody25: have you been watching the joy of bike video on bunny hops too?

 "front wheel in both directions"

I obviously need more coffee as my brain took at least 10 seconds to figure out what the difference was if you're bike was pointed to the left or to the right. Gotcha now, and yes, it is much harder when you turn away from your forward foot!

 Thank you! Agreed! We both got sunburnt this day and we only got 7 skills covered hahah so I think round 2 could be in order.

 I have kids…

 @thechunderdownunder:

 @thechunderdownunder: Practice with them - then it becomes good parenting rather than selfish solo practice Your kids could be the cool ones who can bunnyhop and wheelie if you can get them interested!

 I feel attacked by this comment. Bit unfair to eight year olds though.

 TBH I envy you. I can manual pretty decently, but I can't wheelie more than a couple meters without falling to either side. I've even taken Ryan Leech's excellent wheelie course, but I still suck. I guess you're either born with it, or you're not

 @southoftheborder: TBH, I envy you. I’d love to be able to manny, it’s so cool. When I try, I feel like I’m pulling my arms out of my shoulders.

 I learnt to manual in hebden bridge. Those steep road descents are perfect to learn on. It’s just half a bunny hope and then you feather the brake just like a wheelie. If you can wheelie, you can manual.

 @rockhopper70: Well, if it's of any help, I've found manualling depends a lot on keeping your arms extended and pulling/pushing from the hips. Don't throw your chest back, start with a low saddle height, standing and with your weight centered on the bike. Then, lower your hips vertically and just before hitting the saddle with your bum, throw it towards the back if the bike, almost drawing an L with your hips. Again, don't use your chest, use your hips!!! The front wheel should be off the ground now. And you keep it in the air by pumping back and forth with your hips.

A tip which seems to work for me is to never touch the front brake. As long as the front wheel is spinning, I'm able to keep manualling. As soon as it stops, it gets harder.

But as Aaron Chase says in Tricktionary, "sometimes you can manual all day, other days you can't lift your front wheel off the ground for the life of it!".

 Iv found practise helps... Shit loads of practise. Every time you go down a hill or even on the flat on the way to your local just try and get your front wheel off the ground and after 6 months to a year you'll be manualing everything

 @southoftheborder the Ryan Leech course is great isn't it, it got me wheelieing, although I'm still only up to about 50 metres on my very best days. That course name "30 day wheelie challenge" is a bit misleading though, it's really 30 lessons, with each lesson needing to be repeated multiple (sometimes dozens) of times until that bit clicks.

There's a lot of neural pathway building and muscle control conditioning going on, even with wheelies, that just takes many repeated attempts to build up. I found practicing an hour a day four days a week was about the best balance of learning vs hurting my back. Anything less than that and I wasn't remembering what I'd learned in the previous session.

If you stick up a video under the lesson you're stuck on the coaches will get you progressing again.

 @Woody25: Yeah, I started last year and kept a good pace for maybe a month, but then life came in and I had to drop it. As you said, muscle memory is the hardest skill to develop (at least for me). If you don't practice often the necessary fine movements ae quickly forgotten.

 If your rear wheel has a break, you should probably fix that.

 Cause he's a Kiwi so they drive on the left. It's the same in the UK.

It's also makes more sense cause its the same as a motorbike (front brake on the left).

 @tommy85: which one's the clutch on my enduro bike?

(and more inportantly where's the throttle?)

 @tommy85: Moto's have CLUTCH on the left, front brake on the right, and rear brake pedal on RH side in front of footpeg.....unless you ride a really ancient motorcycle, then there are some variations....

 Dang Kiwi's...and Aussies, and UK folks, and... Japanese... and I'm sure I'm missing someone

 @christinachappetta: that’ll be us, Ted.

 Australians have rear brake on the left too . I want my most dexterous hand on the most important and dangerous brake . Grabbing the front brake with my left hand would end badly ...

 @Rosemount: as an Australian left-handed person who loves to skid, having my dominant hand on the rear break is critical to my mountain biking enjoyment!

 @Rosemount: Yeah exactly most people operate the most important brake with their weaker hand just because of some weird rule that says they’re meant to be that way around from a time before disk brakes and double black tech trails. It’s still pretty weird that most of the world steer with their weaker arm and change gear with their good arm on most cars in the world ether.

 @thenotoriousmic:

or.....

Right hand - 'generally' the stronger hand for the Rear brake and Rear derailleur shifting.

Left hand - 'generally' the weaker hand - for the brake that should be Left alone more often and the seat post Lever.

 If you have your let hand on the rear brake then you can still steer when you are wielding your sword in your right hand - simple!

 @suspended-flesh: you have that backwards. Your writing hand is the finesse/control hand and your opposite hand is the brute force hand.

 @GT-CORRADO: i dont get why this is a thing. I ride moto and i ride mtb. i have never had a problem. i'm sure there are loads of people in north america who are the same as me.

 Maybe so, but in my case, no. I happen to be right-handed but I learned to write left handed-only. I actually got sent to the office in 3rd grade, but they couldn't break me.

 @makripper True - people can do both easily. It's not like MTBers who get into moto try to reverse the lever sides...

 @suspended-flesh: if your left handed then you should run your front brake on the left. Most people for some reason are right handed but rule of thumb like the other guy said, operate your front brake with the hand you write with.

 @thenotoriousmic: I'm different, but the US setup works great for me. I'd say the vast majority of US bike racers are probably right-handed and have the rear brake on the right. They do just fine. I have ridden the occasional without any problem, too.

 @suspended-flesh: it’s not going to make a huge difference. Like I can run my brakes ether way no problem but there’s definitely an advantage to operating your front brake with your stronger hand. Especially if you’re riding steep tech lines where brake control is key.

 @ODubhslaine: PMSL! gwangwangwan

 @thenotoriousmic: nah it's not like it's a load of arm strength to stop a bike with brakes these days lol. I can't remember the last time I got fatigue from using my brakes on long decents

 @makripper: Yep - I do all the braking I need with with one finger. The whole hand-strength thing is pretty moot in 2021. Just being contrarian.

 @makripper: by stronger I mean your better more coordinated hand. You front brake does most of your braking and it’s the most sensitive brake to operate which is why you should use your dominant hand to operate your front brake. Honestly there’s absolutely no reason to use your dominant hand to operate the back brake unless you like making things slightly more difficult for yourself for no reason.

 @thenotoriousmic: I've been doing just fine since the early 90's. I'm sure I could do it the other way just fine but I have zero incentive.

 @makripper: that’s fine dude. It’s your bike do what you want with it. Just if your one of those guys looking for every little small advantage then it might be worth considering.

 @GilesSTurner: that would be halerious to watch

 if you're not above paying for some help the Ryan Leech video series will get you there!

 it's a life long endeavour for myself hahah we have gotten better though so practice really does pay off! And looks cool :-)

 I find more speed and a higher gear helps with that

 Try dropping your seat lower, and lock your arms out the whole time. Sounds stupid, but it really works.

 If you're tipping to the right, try leaning left and vice-versa. Hope that helps.

 pull the bars toward you with one arm more than the other. like if you're falling right, pull left hand toward you a little harder than your right. look into the distance!

 @christinachappetta: I was entertained again .
You`re gettin good at this video stuff .

 Go faster and make sure your actually on your balance point, not just pedalling fast enough to keep your wheel off the ground. Try and keep your seat as low as possible as this will get your front wheel higher which makes the bike easy to control and also make sure your front wheel is spinning. It’s a lot harder to wheelie if your brake is dragging.

 It's all in the hips.

 @BiNARYBiKE: Yes, definitely in the hips. Arms locked, back straight, slight adjustments in the hips. Also, practice on a slight uphill grade, and lower the seat a couple inches. Practice going beyond the balancing point and jumping off which will help with confidence.

 @BiNARYBiKE:

No lie - Shakira taught me to manuel.

 @JC47: best advise I’ve seen here so far

 Keep pedal strokes smooth. don't look at the front tire, look down the line.

 i feel like the entire american comments section rides at highland lmao. tbh it is an amazing park though cant wait to get back.

 yep

 And now you know why I keep 2-3 helmets in my car.

 @RonSauce: Just one spare helmet here, but also shoes, shorts, jersey, pads, gloves and chamois.
Still hasn't stopped me forgetting my bike on two occasions.

 @chakaping: im not sharing a chamois. Sharing a helmet is nasty to me too, thats why I keep a rental.

 Don't forget the timestamps. Gotta have 'stamps.

 Good spot, I'm actually in the Ride100% SE glasses this day :-)

 @christinachappetta:
Homeboy, hold on, my rhymes are so strong

Nothing could go wrong, so why do you prolong

Songs that ain't strong? Brother, you're dead wrong

And got the nerve to have them Star Trek shades on

 @christinachappetta: thank you.I like the lenses.Seem they d help enlighten the darkness of the forest.

 @TheR: fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee, these blue-blockers look good on me!

 Same as a parkade.

 where people park cars

 @pigman65: ..well here in the perfect nation of the USA, we drive in the parkway and park in the driveway.

 If you're old,surely you remember the 80s and 90s sunglasses,so...

 @nozes: nah, we remember. Nobody thought Randy Savage had style then either.

 And?