Here’s a great little riding game that me and Mike used to use when riding flat together. You can apply this to any form of riding and its an easy way to embed tricks into your locker so that they become natural and effortless. It’s also a good way to keep your riding muscles in tune and shed a few of those “curry induced” pounds. Mike explains the idea below so why not give it a go!
Neil Waddington
Ride On
Mike O’Connell
Ive never been one to live on a treadmill or rowing machine, so I came up with this idea for a bit of fun and to improve my fitness on my bike, after knowing many of my friends do set workout routines at gyms to get in shape, I thought I would take the logic and apply it to my riding and enhance my well-being.
The aim of the work is to complete all the tricks in the shortest amount of time, improving your core balance, control and consistency, as so many of the set ups and techniques of the tricks cross over and can be applied to other moves.
The rules are easy, you set your tricks and then you try to see what the best time you can pull all the tricks in, and once you are comfortable with the tricks, keep adding to them, whilst at the same time trying to beat your personal best for pulling them all.
It’s really fun and pretty addictive, and will certainly help you both get in shape and feel more confident on your bike. You also find (and sometimes by mistake) it will unlock other tricks and combos you haven’t done before.
Start with just a few, maybe one front wheel trick, one back wheel trick, one rolling etc and then just add into more tricks as your confidence builds, just remember, how do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.
Here is an example of one of my workouts I have done (but you can make your own list starting with tricks that are easy for you and progressing to stuff that you find tricky):
- Backwards Peg Wheelie
- G Turn
- 3 Pinky Squeaks
- Fire Hydrant
- Decade
- Funky Chicken Combo
- Surfer
- Whiplash
- Swivel
- Front Yard Link
My workout is based just on flatland, but you could easily adapt it for street or the skatepark.
So what are you waiting for, grab your bike, go find a car park and give it a go.
And lastly, great news, No skin tight gym attire is required!
RIDE ON
