1 Jun 2015
Need
to go back to the float zone tomorrow nite. Been reading forward on the
lessons but till now my lifts generally have a tendency not to be high enough. Front keeps dropping.. pretty much useless or impossible to get on further I think
Able
to get up to 10 pedal strokes at some point. Problem come in when anticipating
to “balance” upon lift. Always get back to basic- Lift and brake a few times, do nothing more than that…to
warm up to the feel and recall the first few initial lessons.
Most
time front is still just too low. It isn’t the fear of rolling out and needing to
jump off the bike.. been doing that for 30 years.. Somehow something
fundamental is just not being done right….
Breathing
out before executing a lift off helps somewhat.
Also
to counter those immediate turning upon lifting, usually its twisting of bar to the left in my case. (Leftie with a more powerful right hand???)
Improvise Gripping...
Mediate by grabbing with right thumb pointing to left side. Effectively gives only a 3 finger grip with a bit of friction from the thumb but minus actual thumb gripping. Index finger on brake lever not affected.. still able to tap brake fluidly.
Improvise Gripping...
Mediate by grabbing with right thumb pointing to left side. Effectively gives only a 3 finger grip with a bit of friction from the thumb but minus actual thumb gripping. Index finger on brake lever not affected.. still able to tap brake fluidly.
Holding
with both hands more inwards gives better control.
2
Jun 2015
A
lot for today… at first it was pretty frustrating. As usual right off the bat,
tried to lift and go for as long as possible…the harder in trying the less
things work out. Like previous nites.. just went back to concentrating on the
lift.
1-2
and 2-3 pedal strokes. Focus. Breathe. Attention to braking finger.
Warmed Up…
Remembered--
tonite aim was to get more in tune with the float zone. Earlier distraction
came in thinking about handlebar turns and using legs and ankles to
balance…. Declutter. Declutter Declutter
More
basic stuff… Hand positions. Recall last nite a trick to balance the power in
both arms more uniformly was to have a different grip on each hand
Only
when tired then right thumb falls back into an underhand grip.
One
other thing was obvious— rotating wrist (flexion + supination) a little help
arms to be straight after lift-off. But too tense and it becomes another issue
on its own—too rigid to react. This affects the braking coordination the most.. kinda retarded response in the index finger
Wrist positions
like this is pretty much when pulling my most forceful bunny hops or railing
berms at speed in the smoothest manner… Need to remember. It works but need more fin tuning for the wheelie lift.
With
arms and hands under “control” like this- more no. of lifts were straight off
to a better balanced start and subsequent control. This together with holding
bars inner helped to drive the lift higher when necessary with the second pedal
stroke.. -- well sometimes it works sometimes not… so there is a marked
improvement but still not 100% of the time. Need to think… what else?
Until
tonight-- more than 90% of the time was
a matter of pedaling too fast. Front goes low and down it goes…
But
½ way through—suddenly can feel a slower pedaling. Controlled.
Not
every attempt achieved the same but more and more and each time it happened—the
“in the zone” feeling was reinforced even if not many lasted more than 4-6
pedal strokes.. what counts was the control during those pedaling moments.
Few times tried to get this together with thinking about going further—but that becomes too much. Such attempts mostly became an exercise in max pedal count as front race towards the ground once again. Hands and grip focus were all lost.
Rest—back
to basics again.. Just focus on trying to pedal at normal speed now which is approx. 60% that of the "guinea pig in a ferris wheel" motion. Feeling
the engagement as each stroke drives the bike forward and the sensation of
overcoming the dead spot in the crank in each revolution. Pedaling too fast (I
think) comes mostly in overpowering this dead spot where mind may
subconsciously be thinking if not enough power is applied—the cranking motion
will be stuck.
As pedaling rate increase... there is a tendency to forget where the hands are and keep looking down on the wheel which only makes things worse.. Drop faster.
As pedaling rate increase... there is a tendency to forget where the hands are and keep looking down on the wheel which only makes things worse.. Drop faster.
Then
back to focus on leaning back more as pedaling rate drops.
This
would be the next coordination needed to nail in order to stay in the float
zone longer I think…
Few
tries – had lower back arched hence upper body pushes forward as wheel got
higher and tried leaning back… when coordinated properly—there certainly is
more in there. But muscle memory for such moves and positions are just not
there yet. Again need more coordinations.
Tml
nite.—Warm Up. Start with focus on slower pedaling. Next move on to coordinate.
Halfway
thru—got on concrete back to grass—controlling speed of pedaling definitely
easier despite the uneven grass… Tml go back to Quarry area for better practice
grounds.
3rd Jun – Nothing works in tonite
practice—it was like back to Day Zero. Absolutely frustrating. Just hope tml
will somehow be better. Screw it.. just went a few hard laps around the firehouse to sweat it out…
4th Jun - Magic! Warm up, lift 1-2 pedal strokes and
brake it down. Not long before it was back in those short 2-4 strokes lift but
in the float zone. Increase in the attempts where the pedaling was controlled.
Can actually feel the pedal/foot to crank resistance while moving… Good contact
feedback.
Then
more “float zone” feel with more pedal strokes. Was even able to lift back up
at times when front started falling. Best controlled feel with these was actually
to just throw the bodyweight back from the shoulder. Control core to prevent
unnecessary movement.
Break
5—recall butt contact surface with seat. Made one final adjustment 5mm back and
~2 degrees nose down –now seat is just about parallel. Got on, lift a few
more…Perfect.
Then
it started to go downhill a little from here… more attempts were getting
sidewind right after lifting. Checked hand position. All as per what feels
optimal and I notice somehow all the bad vibe seems to start from the leg. Also
more so if the body is bending forward a lot during the lift.
Seems
like when taking the approach with favored foot at 1 o’clock position is
actually the problem now. Both legs are bent. Lift off and balance gets worse
on many nites as fatigue sets in and harder to get into that effortless lift
off feeling and difficult to lift high enough.
Bent
legs and body bend forward—equals a lot of unnecessarily movement even if the
leg is generating power for the lift.
Past
few nites I had a few good easy controlled lift off when favored leg was
actually at 11-12 o’clock position. Leaned against a wall and just checked out
of curiosity.
Realized
that when foot to push down is at 11-12 o’clock, the leg on the other side is
locked straight—knees lock and slightly pressing backward… Seems to act like a
counter force against any unwanted lateral movements.
Rode
off and YES! The attempts were almost all perfect in the lift + first 2-3
strokes and HIGH.. it steps right into the float zone and if the first pedal
stroke was not sufficient, the follow up easily lift it to the zone….
Normally
by this time about 30-40 mins after each nite practice—things will wane and
just become harder.. Not tonight. Last 20-30 attempts all executed smoothly, “effortless”
and finally wheel height is right about there. Can feel that be it 4-6 or those
longer 8-12 pedal strokes… the lift off has been fine tuned to get into the key
things :-
Lift, Balance, Sufficient
Height, “in Zone”—all within the first second or so.
Think
I have been struggling on this even before getting into the float zone. The
first one second with so much that is needed to be coordinated is crucial in
anything that follows.. It’s literally from the fingers to the toes and every
muscle and position in the joints used in between for the perfect execution of
the move. Gonna coin this the “All-In-1
Second” zone. Need to remind self every time before attempting a wheelie.
Followed
by a sense of control as pedaling speed is a controlled affair rather than
racing to meet the ground. All of a sudden, the anticipation of wanting to go
for max pedal stroke is gone…can just feel a longer more sustained wheelie will
shortly be coming.
Looking
back at the video in Day 7 lesson.. I can also recall on a number of attempts
tonight where my wheelie was in some instantaneous stationary position while
finding the balance within the zone. Definitely feels right and good during
those attempts.. Also a number of time together with these stationary instances—the
control to pull wheel up or just drop it a tad was there as well…[Mental Image : Rocking Chair but rocking only
ever so slightly]
Brakes
control—no big issue to tap and go down with conscious effort. However
modulating brakes is probably still some way off. Hands on lever all the time—Ok
no issue but brain to finger reaction—maybe about 95% of the time successful.
Eyes.. the best coordination on this part to work with the rest seems to be "trying to look down the nose" past the front wheel to what's just ahead... There is not much peripheral vision.. But seems to work as to gaze in such a way, the head/ neck is sort of locked. Thereby restricting unnecessary lateral movement. Also this lock automatically helps lean and "lock" up at the shoulder without conscious effort to control the shoulder..
Seems to work but still not very used to this.. more practice needed.
(Thoughts: tricks with one ton of coordination-- need to minimize and simplify as much as possible)
Eyes.. the best coordination on this part to work with the rest seems to be "trying to look down the nose" past the front wheel to what's just ahead... There is not much peripheral vision.. But seems to work as to gaze in such a way, the head/ neck is sort of locked. Thereby restricting unnecessary lateral movement. Also this lock automatically helps lean and "lock" up at the shoulder without conscious effort to control the shoulder..
Seems to work but still not very used to this.. more practice needed.
(Thoughts: tricks with one ton of coordination-- need to minimize and simplify as much as possible)
Tomorrow —one final practice to nail all the things figured out these past few nights and get more aligned with the float zone before moving on.
Pre lift-off Checklist..
- Hand postion
- Wrist Position
- Legs start off position
- The Gaze
Yes,
even manage to set camera on timer and pull off this shot tonight.
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