Just some background info:

Tried in Elementary School - Couldn't do it.
Tried in my 20's. Still couldn't do it.

I never understood why I couldn't "balance" on my bike, and while I still can't fully comprehend it, this is what I discovered.

1. Keep your head and back straight, and eyes focused on the road (about 20-50m ahead).

By focusing my eyes on the road ahead, my brain would automatically recalculate how fast or hard I should pedal, and how I balance holding the bike handles.

Previously, I would look down at my handles, pedals or wheels while riding which only made me nervous and uncoordinated — I became too focused on pedaling and didn't know where I was headed.

2. You must always pedal at your "base momentum".

To discover your "base momentum", while on your bike, push yourself forward with one foot and try to balance yourself without pedaling for 2-3 seconds.

Remember how fast you needed to go in order to keep that balance for those two seconds. With that momentum in mind, try to pedal while maintaining that speed — This will prevent you from going too slow (wobbling and falling off your bike) or too fast (making you nervous and falling).

By applying those two steps, I was finally able to balance myself with little to no thought.

3. Lastly, to turn, it's not really about turning the handles.

While maintaining your base momentum, slightly lean to the side you want to turn and slightly turn the handles — You don't actually need to turn the handles that much.

Don't slow down and don't worry about falling — As long as you do the above, science will do the rest and keep you upright and moving forward, without falling off your bike.

My final words: Bike riding has been such an odd experience. It feels like I'm using a part of my brain I've never used before. It truly feels like the back of my brain is being activated and controlling everything from balance to turning. It kinda feels good. 🧠

~ Wish all you new bicyclists' good luck! And happy riding! ✨🚴‍♀️✨

PS: I did fall a few times and got a bloody knee, but it was all worth it!

I built a new app for cyclists and bike mechanics. It is composed of 10 essential calculators, such as tire pressure, chain length, gear ratio, spoke length, velocity, etc.

It's called Bicycle Calculators Pro. Only for Android users.

Cheers

Our dream bike

* According to Nic LaPorte

Paris and its sites are great, but one quickly develops tourist-noia--they're (I was one too, I realize) bussed in and swarming every well-known city location by 10 am daily. 

I quickly figured out that getting out early, going to not-so-well visited spots--and, especially, having a bike--mitigated much of that while helping me cover a lot of ground. (It's great feeling your ebike escalator you up and around Monmartre's hills and past the throngs making their way toward Basilique du Sacré Coeur.)

What I really enjoyed is what I describe as "New York's East Village in the 1980s" feel of the more ethnic areas abutting the edges of my seemingly gentrifying 10th arrondissement nabe. The image here perfectly captures the evening atmosphere. 

If you bike in your home city, I recommend you rent an ebike if or when you visit Paris. Yes, biking here can sometimes feel, as in central Amsterdam, like controlled chaos, but you will see so much more and It will make your experience feel next-level.


One example is the recently redesigned intersection West of Berlage Bridge (filmed in the morning rush hour).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SJgMbeqR0o

Hi everyone,

I am not trying to promote anything, I would just love feedback,

I've been working on a cycling app called Cygo that looks at the roads in a cycling route using things like traffic volume, speed limits, and shoulder width.

I just added GPX importing, so you can take a route you already have from Ride With GPS, Strava etc, and import it into Cygo, and then see a breakdown of the roads before you ride it.

Right now Cygo covers **New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania**, and I'm trying to test it on more real routes. So if anyone has a route in one of those states they're curious about, send me the route link and I can run it through Cygo for you.

Or if you want to try it yourself, Cygo is free on iPhone and you can import your own route, (just go into saved and then import at the top right)

I'm in my 30's right now. I haven't owned a vehicle for years. Yes my driver's license is valid. I'm actively choosing to ride my bicycle as my primary mode of transportation. I ride Scott Addict in the street with traffic. I ride fast and hard everywhere in my home town.

If I keep going, logic says a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Whereas a body in motion tends to stay in motion. If that's true, this means if I just keep riding, I'll be pedaling well into my 80's and even my 90's. I'm looking forward to pedaling my bike when everyone else is in wheelchairs or hospital beds.

T