Riding without hands...why not?
 

This was in a post earlier and it caught my attention and I was wondering if I’m the only one who finds this statement strange?

I will not ride no handed. Just won't.

I never thought of not riding without hands. I’ve been doing it since I first learned to ride and don’t find it hard to do. How do you eat, stretch or just relax without sitting up every so often. The only person I've ever run into that finds riding without hands was my 8-year-old daughter and that was only because it scared her to see me do it. Only a couple of week later she was doing it herself much to her own delight.

This is not bragging, I grew up doing it and NEVER thought it was something special. Am I wrong and riding without hands is a skill few posses???

Rarely, mostly for a stretch. I can do it for fairly long distances without trouble, but there's just too many unpredictable things out there that could cause trouble.

Though I'm not confident riding with no hands for long stretches, I do it occasionally and I agree there are times when it's perfectly okay to do. The only problem is the consequences of hitting something unexpectedly, can be tough to recover from. You really have to watch what's going on.

Anyway, I don't think it's a skill "few possess" . . . I see a lot of folks doing it around here, it's like a rest/recovery kind of position or whatever. Lot of the time they're drinking from water bottles.

I don't see anything big wrong with it, used judiciously.

On the other hand, I don't think it's a big deal if you can't or don't want to. Kind of like trackstands I guess . . . it's not really necessary but if you can do it, cool.

yup, not so much more now that i got my road bike as it's a little twichyer(sp). on my old marin hybrid i could spin up hills no problem, even went off of curbs no problem.

I like going between cars no handed then running the light they're all waiting for, freaks the hell out of people.

The statement someone made that they "just won't" ride without hands got me thinking about something I never thought about...riding without holding onto the bars (that's for the joke that's sure to come about riding with NO HANDS). So far someone said "no" to the poll and I guess I'm wondering why not on a safe stretch of road or an empty trail. Is it fear, inability or something else I've missed? I’ve been riding bikes since I was 4 or 5 so that makes it about 45 years of riding a bike. To me learning to ride a bike at an early age was a right of passage in growing up, but maybe I’m wrong and kids sit in front of video games to grow up now and just don’t learn to ride bikes anymore. Am I really out of touch on this one?

slvoid, you really do crack me up.

I do it... but am a bit careful of where and when I do it...

Only to show off in front of girls :rolleyes:

Sure why not? I get to relieve the back-muscles, do some arm & back stretches. Practice my pedaling motion by riding the white painted-line no hands.

Just the last couple of metres before the line after zipping up and putting the sponsors glasses on....

:D

^^^ What I was thinking... to put the hands up!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/P8280018.jpg
(grew up playing video games- don't video games increase hand eye cordination?.. hmm i guess it's more just balance.)

For god sakes - go and get a friggin suntan. Those white legs almost blinded me!

i actully have one... sun was bright... i'll take a pic in a sec and get show u my bike tan

Riding without hands on the tandem used to scare the crap out of my wife. :D

Last time I tried riding without hands I was 13. Still got the scar on my top lip to prove it.

see i have a tan god damn it!!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/IM000426.jpg

(ye i'm an idiot who can't figure out how to turn off the flash... i should get a new camera)

With that lighting, looks more like a burn, dude.

it's not... but i'm done with pictures so just take my word for it... i haven't been riding in days

First the legs, now the camera flash...are you trying to blind people dude? :D

yes, yes i am.

very rarely if ever...:)

Call me a wimp, but I don't like doing it. I can do anything I need to do with the combination of one hand and my teeth, and I'm one of those "better safe than sorry" kind of people.

I find it puts a lot more pressure on my rear end and is fairly uncomfortable. I don't feel as comfortable doing this as I used to when I was younger and had no fear. Yeah, that whole fear of crashing thing definitely works against me there. I certainly wouldn't do it on a street where there are cars going by.