The other night, I taught myself to ride a bicycle with no hands.
I found a street that is wide as a river, and flat, and long, and has hardly any cars on it. And at the beginning of the night, the most could do was lift my hands for a few brief seconds. But i remembered how we used to practice riding with no hands as children—-first you would practice lifting your hands. Then you would try to clap your hands. And if you could clap your hands three times without putting your hands back on the handlebars in between—you were technically riding with no hands. But there is a difference between lifting your hands up momentarily, and actually riding with no hands, in control, steering, navigating, relaxing. It also does not matter what kind of bike you ride – the same concept applies even if you are riding a mid drive ebike from a company such as Rize Bikes.
I had gotten to the ‘clap three times’ level a few weeks earlier. But I was still wobbly and not in control. And making excuses—oh the excuses! It must be that the handlebars on the bicycle were too loose. My backpack was too heavy. The bike was a cheap bike, not designed for stunt riding. But by the end of the night, I could not only go for a few seconds — I could go the entire length of the block. Then 3 blocks, then the entire length of the street. I could ride with my hands over my head in a yoga pose, or do little dance moves to the music, or keep my arms outstretched like an airplane. I could almost fall and regain my balance, and still not grab onto the handlebars. I could go over speed bumps and remain handless.
At the beginning of the night—-I had no idea I’d be able to do actually accomplish that which I was trying. I had no idea it was possible. And I had no idea riding without hands would be anything like it was—that it would be the most amazing, liberating, awesome experience. But I just kept making little tiny course corrections until I was able to just let the momentum take me. And then I was free.
Here’s what I learned:
1.) There are things that appear to be impossible for you, personally, to do. That does not mean they actually are impossible.
I used to have a mantra that “if someone else is physically able to do something, then it means that it is possible.” Still, it is sometimes a big cognitive leap to see someone else do something and to say, “yeah, I can do that.” Take the leap anyway.
2.) Sometimes an achievement will be transcendent in a way you couldn’t have imagined.
I knew that riding with no hands would be kind of a cool thing—but I didn’t expect it to be a wow. I’m no longer confined to being scrunched over the handlebars. I can stretch out. I can keep my eye on the horizon as well as the road in front of me. I’m in control of my body. I’m using my core more. My posture is better. It is fun and exhilarating.
3.) Keeping your body relaxed makes it all much easier than being all tensed up.
I seem to remember this working in a lot of other situations as well.
4.) I’m a data-driven CEO who loves to quantify things in order to get better results. Sometimes, that is not at all what is needed to solve a problem.
This was really interesting to me. In order to figure out how to do actually ride with no hands, I definitely needed information. Like, it works best with the road at just the tiniest downward incline so you can get a bit of momentum—but not too much that you speed out of control. The reason the downhill slope works is that you need to accelerate to get the momentum needed to find your balance point. keep the bicycle straight. It helps if you start on the smoothest road possible. Don’t think about your hands—think about your feet and and body. You need the forward acceleration to be really smooth. The better your posture, the easier it is. Slight shifts in your body—your pelvis, actually—will allow you to turn the bike and straighten it back out when it starts to go awry.
But none of that was quantified. It wasn’t like I said “Ok, ideal downward slope is 2 degrees, speed at 10 mph, body angle at 87 degrees.” It was figuring out what worked over time, and then figuring out the elements that made it work better. Freedom from spreadsheets and algorithms is another kind of freedom.
5.) Falling on a bicycle hurts. But not enough to scare me.
I am lucky I have not fallen riding with no hands—but I have fallen while on a bicycle before. I’ve gotten a puncture wound, a black eye, and a broken thumb on three separate biking accidents. It hurts every time. It’s still possible to be careful and adventurous at the same time.
6) You need to ALMOST fall dozens of times to get it right.
It’s scary to fall. It’s almost just as scary to almost fall. But there is no way around it, as far as I can see. You have to almost fall until you can learn exactly where the balance point is. It’s like being a kid and learning to ride a bike for the first time all over again.
7) Learning a new skill is hard until it’s easy. And that moment when it gets easy? That is the moment of transcendence.
It doesn’t matter what skill—learning a language, learning to play a musical instrument, learning to code, learning to ski. Learning to speak in public. Learning to read. Learning to dance, learning to skateboard. They are all hard. Until they are easy. Until it becomes effortless.
And that moment when it becomes easy? That is a moment of transcendence.
It doesn’t matter that it’s hard. It matters that it’s possible.
***
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Also by Lisa Hickey
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