I'd like to use this post to provide encouragement to new owners of Cruzbikes who are struggling. I am not an athlete, do not play one on TV, and have no great sense of balance. I've never been able to ride no-hands on an upright bike. Hell, I can't even do that rolling dismount where you plant one foot on one pedal, then swing the opposite leg back and over the rear of the bike. The first time I skied was also the last. My current main bike is a recumbent, though, so I've had that advantage.
I have ridden a Silvio twice now, once for about 10 minutes last week, then a full hour yesterday non-stop. In that short time, I gained tremendously in confidence. Based on those two rides, I've decided to buy a Silvio. Here's what helped me. It's nothing earth-shattering, but I hope it helps somebody out there. FYI, my test drives took place along the driveways between the garages at the storage facility that houses Spincyclz (http://www.spincyclz.com). Not "challenging" conditions, but certainly enough to test starting, stopping, accelerating, bump-jumping, and tight turns--most basic maneuvers except climbing. Advice:
1. Relax. It's not easy, especially when you're voiding the contents of your bowels b/c the bike is acting so weird.
2. Thinking about it is your enemy. Your body is wise; your mind will land you in a ditch. Does this sound too Zen? It is. I knew a Buddhist monk. One of his favorite sayings was "You're understanding will get you nowhere." True in the higher realms; mostly true here.
3. Practice individual maneuvers repeatedly. It turns out I was lucky to be confined to the driveways separating rows of storage garages. So there were a lot of repetitive maneuvers. I did a lot of laps. When I noticed that I had a much harder time making left turns than right turns, I did 10 or 20 laps, all counter-clockwise. By the end I was hammering through left turns. They still weren't pretty, but I had improved 100% due to sheer repetition, and b/c by the end, I had stopped thinking about the turn. Toward the end, I tried slaloming (i.e., going serpentine) along a straight stretch. It was new. It was hard. So there's a lot more to learn. But that's OK. So maybe new owners might want to go around the block 50 times. Then 50 times in the opposite direction. Then a little straight hill 50 times. Etc.
4. For me, the failsafe was taking my feet off the pedals. That way, I could focus on just one pair of limbs controlling the bike, not two. So if I started to freak out, I could put all my attention to the place it would ordinarily go to steer a bike: the handlebars. "Learn to steer w/ your feet", you say? I don't think so. Maybe someday.
At the start of the hour I went over a bump and my feet came off the pedals. Thought I was dead meat. At the end, my feet still flew off on that bump, but I was too busy picking my nose to notice. But no worries. Even with my legs in a full gyno spread and one hand, uh, occupied, I still had a free hand to steer the mothership. At the start of the hour, there was nobody around the storage facility but Spincyclz' Nanda Holz, me, and another customer, also test-driving. At first, I freaked when I encountered the other customer--even though the driveways were 50 feet wide. At the end, a number of people had shown up at the facility. There were parked cars, kids, trailers. I threaded my way through and around them. Again, I won't lie and say I was smooth, but I was out there. And most telling, I think, at the end of the hour I was ready to clip in. I didn't, but only b/c I'd met my 1 hour saddle time goal, and had reached a buy decision. Easily.
I have ridden a Silvio twice now, once for about 10 minutes last week, then a full hour yesterday non-stop. In that short time, I gained tremendously in confidence. Based on those two rides, I've decided to buy a Silvio. Here's what helped me. It's nothing earth-shattering, but I hope it helps somebody out there. FYI, my test drives took place along the driveways between the garages at the storage facility that houses Spincyclz (http://www.spincyclz.com). Not "challenging" conditions, but certainly enough to test starting, stopping, accelerating, bump-jumping, and tight turns--most basic maneuvers except climbing. Advice:
1. Relax. It's not easy, especially when you're voiding the contents of your bowels b/c the bike is acting so weird.
2. Thinking about it is your enemy. Your body is wise; your mind will land you in a ditch. Does this sound too Zen? It is. I knew a Buddhist monk. One of his favorite sayings was "You're understanding will get you nowhere." True in the higher realms; mostly true here.
3. Practice individual maneuvers repeatedly. It turns out I was lucky to be confined to the driveways separating rows of storage garages. So there were a lot of repetitive maneuvers. I did a lot of laps. When I noticed that I had a much harder time making left turns than right turns, I did 10 or 20 laps, all counter-clockwise. By the end I was hammering through left turns. They still weren't pretty, but I had improved 100% due to sheer repetition, and b/c by the end, I had stopped thinking about the turn. Toward the end, I tried slaloming (i.e., going serpentine) along a straight stretch. It was new. It was hard. So there's a lot more to learn. But that's OK. So maybe new owners might want to go around the block 50 times. Then 50 times in the opposite direction. Then a little straight hill 50 times. Etc.
4. For me, the failsafe was taking my feet off the pedals. That way, I could focus on just one pair of limbs controlling the bike, not two. So if I started to freak out, I could put all my attention to the place it would ordinarily go to steer a bike: the handlebars. "Learn to steer w/ your feet", you say? I don't think so. Maybe someday.
At the start of the hour I went over a bump and my feet came off the pedals. Thought I was dead meat. At the end, my feet still flew off on that bump, but I was too busy picking my nose to notice. But no worries. Even with my legs in a full gyno spread and one hand, uh, occupied, I still had a free hand to steer the mothership. At the start of the hour, there was nobody around the storage facility but Spincyclz' Nanda Holz, me, and another customer, also test-driving. At first, I freaked when I encountered the other customer--even though the driveways were 50 feet wide. At the end, a number of people had shown up at the facility. There were parked cars, kids, trailers. I threaded my way through and around them. Again, I won't lie and say I was smooth, but I was out there. And most telling, I think, at the end of the hour I was ready to clip in. I didn't, but only b/c I'd met my 1 hour saddle time goal, and had reached a buy decision. Easily.
