Physics brought me down in my A-levels. And that's exactly what's happening now. I'm falling, and I'm falling to the left into the grass. I'm on a journey of self-discovery. My challenge is of a physical nature. I'm looking for an unstable balance - a balance that can only be maintained in motion. In my case, that means learning the wheelie. But instead of pulling up the front wheel and whirring over the tarmac in a relaxed manner and in harmony with physics, my attempts are more like a rodeo ride.
The wheelie, the must-move for bikers, so they say. For me, the show manoeuvre was always just a cheap ice-cream parlour trick. At least that's what I told myself. Who needs that? But was that the truth, or was it just a cover-up of my incompetence? Secretly, I kept catching myself half-heartedly trying it. Secretly on the trail, of course, because who wants to suffer the ignominy of failing at the basics of biking with a bike that's too expensive and too fat? I've never really practised the trick. But now I have no choice. My sons love biking, just like me. Which sounds like fun at first. But they don't know my sons: they're like huskies on speed, always wanting to try something insanely daring on the trails. Things that Danny MacAskill has shown them on YouTube...
You can read how our author's wheelie challenge turned out in the full report. You can download it below as a PDF for 0.99 euros.
More about Ryan Leech's Wheelie Challenge at www.ryanleech.com/wheelies
Even more help on the net
Ryan Leech's course is not suitable for everyone. If you browse the internet, you will quickly find other providers. The page: www.fahrtechnik.tv by Marco Brodesser is very suitable for learning. On YouTube you will also find many
video tutorials that show and explain special moves such as the wheelie, but also classics such as the drop or the bunny hop. But beware: not everything is really explained correctly.
