Off-Season Road Bike Skills Refresher

During the fall and winter seasons, many cyclists taper their road bike training to a maintenance level. These lower-intensity off-season rides provide a great opportunity to incorporate drills to improve road bike handling skills. This article presents techniques and drills you can incorporate during training rides and focused practice to improve road bike handling skills. Using the off-season to focus on bike handling drills, we can start up the next training or racing season more prepared—and with a higher level of confidence, skill, and safety. Riding drills discussed include Ride the White Line, One-Leg, and other drills to reinforce smooth pedaling and steady bicycle control. Focused practice drills described include the Water Bottle Pickup, Bumping, Hopping, and other drills designed to improve bike handling. Included are twelve figures demonstrating many of the drills and techniques, and two summary tables for quick reference of all the drills and techniques.