The word “tricks” in the title is generous. These five drills are ordinary, useful skills that make riding calmer and safer, and none involves leaving the ground. They suit beginners and intermediate riders alike, and each takes just a few minutes.
Find a flat, smooth, traffic-free space, such as a quiet car park (with the owner’s permission) or an empty path. Wear a helmet and check your brakes before you start. If a drill feels shaky, make it easier before you make it harder, and stop when you are tired. Practice is general information rather than coaching.
1. The slow race
Pick a start and finish line a short distance apart and try to take as long as you can to cover the gap, without putting a foot down. It sounds backwards, but slow-speed riding is where balance is hardest, and learning it makes everything else steadier.
Keep your eyes up on the finish line, hold the bars lightly and keep gentle pressure on the pedals. A touch of rear brake can help you hold a steady crawl, but use it smoothly. If you wobble badly, speed up slightly; the aim is control, not a perfect crawl on day one.
Do a few runs, then add a gentle curve once the straight line feels comfortable.
2. Line holding
Lay out a line using chalk, a painted marking already on the ground, or a row of markers. Ride along it with your front wheel as close to the line as you can. Looking well ahead, rather than at the front wheel, usually helps.
This is the heart of how to ride a bike in a straight line. A wavering line is often a sign of looking down or gripping hard, so relax and look up. When that is easy, try it a little faster, or ride it with one hand lightly resting near the hood or top of the bar, only once you are comfortable and the ground is clear.
3. One-hand signalling
Being able to signal without drifting is a real-world skill. Practise lifting one hand away from the bar for a moment, signalling, and putting it back, while holding your line.
Start slowly. Take your hand off the bar only briefly at first, keep the other hand on the bar and near a brake, and keep looking ahead. Practise with each hand, because you will need both. The rules for cycling hand signals differ between countries, so check local guidance, and note that on some bikes it is safer to slow down before signalling.
Do not turn this into riding with no hands. Hands-free riding is a separate and riskier skill, and it is not part of this drill.
4. The shoulder check
Before you move out around a parked car or turn at a junction, you need to know what is behind you. The trouble is that many riders steer towards wherever they look. A shoulder check done badly makes the bike veer.
Practise on your line from the second drill. Keep your hands relaxed, glance back over one shoulder for a moment, then look forward again and see if the bike stayed on the line. Start by looking only slightly past your shoulder, then turn a little further as it gets easier. Try both sides. Many people find one side much harder than the other, and that is normal.
Turning your upper body slightly, with your elbows soft, tends to keep the bars steadier than twisting your arm.
5. The emergency stop
Practise an emergency stop on bare, dry, clear ground, because you do not want the first one to happen when it counts. Ride at a gentle pace, then brake firmly but smoothly using both brakes, while moving your weight back a little so the rear wheel stays on the ground.
Do not grab a single brake hard. Braking too suddenly on the front can pitch you forward, and braking too hard on the rear can make the back wheel skid. Build up speed in small steps, and always keep the first attempts slow. If the bike starts to skid, ease off and re-apply. The goal here is simply to learn how your bike feels when it stops, and how front and rear brake use changes that.
After each stop, check that you can restart smoothly and move off in a sensible gear.
Putting the drills together
A simple session might be:
- A few slow races as a warm-up.
- Two or three passes along a line, checking your shoulder once on each.
- A few signals while holding the line.
- Several controlled stops, finishing with a gentle ride home.
Repeat the session once or twice a week rather than doing it all at once. Progress is gradual and varies between riders, and nobody should expect all five drills to feel easy straight away.
These drills build a base for the other work in this section. When you want faster handling, bike handling agility adds figure-eights and quick changes of direction, while speed and agility drills cycling bring pace into the mix once your basic control is solid. If you feel unsure about any drill, a qualified instructor or a local skills session can give feedback that an article cannot.