Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
I noticed that I tend to pass people on twisty descents on pavement. I think I'm middle of the pack for bike handling skills, maybe a little naive about trusting myself and my gear too much. But I think handling means more than just not crashing, it means being able to make the bike do what you want.
Seems to me that, whatever it is, "good bike handling" skills are in steep decline, just going by the number of posts regarding basic skills (riding out of the saddle, descending, even stuff like fixing flats and changing gears). Not meaning to channel my inner curmudgeon, but I don't think kids live on their bikes the way we did when I was young (4 - 13 or so). When I was a kid, bikes were toys, transportation, sporting equipment, vehicles for exploration, weapons (on occasion), etc. Nothing teaches "handling" like chasing your brothers and friends all over town on a bike, trying to conduct running snowball fights on your bike, riding down anything short of vertical, trying to ram your brother's bike with yours (while not damaging anyone/any bike), etc.
I think it's a lot harder as an adult to develop the skills we acquired organically as kids by just acting like the idiots we were.