How to Stop - Dismounting

First Draft

Stopping is pretty easy, right? You hit the brakes, you come to a stop, you go home. Well, for a First Timer it might not be that easy. There's nothing wrong with that either. So let's talk about learning to stop the right way, right now.

The problem with stopping for a new rider is simply balance, and being able to reach the ground without injuring sensitive parts. As they slow down, balance becomes harder to maintain, new riders may take (many do this) BOTH feet off the pedals before they are stopped and drag their feet to end that final bit of momentum and help keep their balance. Unfortunately, this doesn't really work that well. When you take both your feet off the pedals, your weight resides on your bottom (and those sensitive parts), which is not a part of you that is good at keeping balance. Ridiculous you say? Sit on the floor, curl your legs up, wrap your arms around your legs, now take your feet off the floor and balance on your bottom. It's hard, right? That places ALL the effort of balance into your stomach muscles, a place many of us aren't necessarily real strong.

No, this is an area where you need to practice in the driveway or any place safe. Simply ride a bit, then slow down and learn to KEEP your balance. If you would like to cheat for a while, ride with a solid wall (NOT a fence) on your left side. As you slow down, keep your feet on the pedals (level with the ground), apply the brake with your right hand. Use only two fingers! (Squeezing the brake lever with all your fingers gives you a weak hold on the grip at best, and you won't be able to control the handlebars (aka steering) very well.) As you come to a stop, reach out to the wall with your left hand and lean on it. Leave your feet on the pedals because you need to do it again. Push off of the wall and start pedaling, then repeat. Slow down, practice keeping your balance. Here's how to make it easy, keep both hands on the grips, both feet on the pedals (pedals level with the ground) and your head UP looking ahead. You do NOT need to look down. There is nothing down there of interest, just your feet and the ground. Do you look at your feet when you walk? Most people tend to fall over when they do that. Let's step aside from braking for a moment.

Your body keeps it balance by two mechanisms: 1) visual confirmation of what is up and down, left and right, it's an emotional process (really), 2) canals in your ears that sense your orientation of up and down.

Number One: when your eyes confirm that up is up, down is down, left is left, and right is right, your brain feels (feels aka emotion) it's dealing with something it's familiar with, something it's comfortable with. On the other hand, try walking with your head hanging sideways and looking at the sky. I think you'll find it's very hard to walk in a straight line and you'll probably start to feel sick. The sickness isn't real, it's caused by your brain being unhappy with the way the world is being represented to it, it's uncomfortable with the situation and is definitely going to try and stop it.

Number Two: I forget the name of the canals in your ears, but they do exist. Liquid moves around in the canals and motion is sensed by tiny hairs. This information is compiled by your brain to determine your orientation with gravity and your motion. This is a physical process. We've all spun around and around until we were dizzy. This is caused mostly by the liquids sloshing around in the canals and your brain doesn't know what to do with all the data. Usually the feeling passes in a short time. HOWEVER, try doing the same thing with your head looking straight down or with your eyes closed. This multiplies the affect MANY times because the visual cues your brain has to sort out the data are removed, even less sense is made of the spinning and the result is usually a collapse to the ground. Even from the stability of the ground the world will continue to spin for some time.

Bottom line, you don't need to look down to stop.

Okay, so you can stop. Which foot do you put down? It may sound silly, but it means a lot. Whichever foot is in the rear position is the foot you put down. Why? If you followed my instructions, your pedals are level with the ground. They should stay that way even after you have stopped. If you leave your forward foot on the pedal, that leg is not extended and affords your body some comfort on the saddle. It also affords your body a greater reach with the other leg that is being put down on the ground. It also gives you a tendancy to shift your weight away from the foot still on the pedal and onto the foot going towards the ground, sort of leaning over a bit, which also affords a better chance of reaching to ground with room to spare. Otherwise, you'll make the mistake most do. You'll have one foot on the pedal with that leg fully extended and one foot reaching for the ground and perhaps not reaching all the way, while quite a lot of uncomfortable pressure being exerted on your bottom, or more specifically, what's in between. You may ever fall over to spare yourself that pressure.

Stop with pedals level. Just as you come to a halt, stick out the rear foot. The fact that you are stopped will keep the forward pedal from going down. You will stop in a comfortable position, easily able to reach the ground, and best of all your already in the perfect position to start pedaling again. You can get started by pushing off with the foot on the ground and combining that with a pedal stroke from the foot on the pedal. A strong send-off.

For a final note, most mountain bikers of ANY skill level will tend to stop and lean on a tree, fence, car what have you. This keeps their feet on the pedals, their behinds comfortably on their seats, and leaves them in a position to launch back into action. Don't worry if you need to do this for a while. I can come to a complete stop and balance on just the two tires for an indefinite period without too much effort. Yet whenever I stop on the trail, I stop where I can lean on a tree etc because it's easy and fast.

You've finished the First Timer Training Area! Congratulations!