Idling tips

Hi all, me again.

I’m now riding okay - freemounting every time (just about) and negotiating turns
and curves with verve and style (well, I’m getting round them anyway!). I can
however only go forwards - what eludes me at the moment is idling. Any tips on
beginning this skill would be very welcome!

Trevor Coultart (Anecdotal and/or amusing quotation currently unavailable)

Re: Idling tips

Walls are always very useful. Just work on the motion while supporting yourself
with a wall. The down pedal will go between 9:00 and 3:00 (probably more like
8:00 and 4:00… you’ll have to decide exactly what comfortable for you.)

Once you’re happy with the motion involved, try letting go of the wall as often
as possible, then going forward, and putting in a single idle, and continuing
forward… then forward and 2 idles, and so on.

Once you finally get the motion down in your head, and can successfully tell
your leg what to do, you’ve got it. The only problem you’ll have from there is
working up the leg muscles to continme. When I first learned to idle, 10 idles
was a good amount of work. Now, I’ve worked at it enough, I can get in a few
hundred before I have to switch to the other foot. (Which reminds me, once
you’ve mastered idling with one foot, work on the other. This will be easier
than it was to learn on the first foot, but will still take some effort.)

Once you can idle, you’re very close to being able to go backwards. I recommend
working on idling first not because riding backwards is any more difficult, but
because idling is more useful.

jl

>I’m now riding okay - freemounting every time (just about) and negotiating
>turns and curves with verve and style (well, I’m getting round them anyway!). I
>can however only go forwards - what eludes me at the moment is idling. Any tips
>on beginning this skill would be very welcome!
>
>Trevor Coultart (Anecdotal and/or amusing quotation currently unavailable)
>
>
>


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Re: Idling tips

On 13/1/01 4:46 am, someone called Jeff Lutkus suggested:

> Walls are always very useful.

Thanks - I’ll work on it next time I’m near a wall.

Trevor