- Have you ever found it difficult to look behind you
while cycling without swerving or changing direction?
In this video we're going to give you tips and tricks
so that you find looking behind you a walk in the park.
Chris, are you done doing your makeup?
- Oh, sorry! - C'mon, let's go!
- Now why would you need to look behind you, I hear you ask?
Well, safety.
It's important to know what's coming up the road behind you
especially as you need to make a turn or move out into
the road to avoid any obstructions for example.
But before you can even start to think about
looking behind you, you need to make sure there are no
obstructions up the road in front of you.
So observe carefully what's coming.
Do you need to avoid a pothole?
Is there anything you need to brake for?
And then once you are confident there are no obstructions
up ahead you can start to think about looking behind you.
("Marches" by Tigerblood Jewel)
- If you're trying this for the first time,
and we would definitely recommend you try it in an empty
road like this or even in an empty car park.
- That way you can focus on what it is you are trying
to achieve rather than having to worry about any cars
approaching from the front or behind you.
- And once you're happy with the location,
then you can practice the action.
("Marches" by Tigerblood Jewel)
- Try it stationary first,
click one pedal in as you would as you are riding,
place both hands in your riding position
so for me, my hands are going to go on the hooks.
Then concentrate on bringing your chin to your shoulder,
you don't need to go any further than that,
this way you're keeping you shoulders
and arms nice and straight.
It's really important to keep your shoulders and arms
in that strong frame to ensure
you keep riding in a straight line.
If you try to turn your head too much you will find
your shoulder will start to move
and your body and bike will start to follow,
sending you off in the direction that
you weren't planning on going!
("Marches" by Tigerblood Jewel)
- Now how long should you look behind you for?
Well it's just a glance,
you don't need to look over your shoulder
for a long period of time.
What you need to do is check that there's nothing coming
up behind you quickly.
So you've practiced the action a couple times while
stationary and now you want to try it while riding.
But do it with speeds you're comfortable with first,
but all we have to do is go through the same steps
and just like that it'll become nice and easy.
("Marches" by Tigerblood Jewel)
- This may seem like a rel simple skill
but it's one that is often overlooked and it really
will make you feel like a more competent
and confident cyclist when out on the open road.
Not only that, but it is also a potential lifesaver,
knowing what's coming behind you is absolutely crucial
when riding out on the open road.
- Yeah, you want to know when cars are coming up behind you
and you want to get a glimpse of your friend losing touch
of your wheel, trust me,
that is something you do not want to miss.
- Now believe it or not,
there are more ways to look behind you when on a bike.
One of my personal favorites,
is to use the rider next to you for support.
To do this, you simply put your hand on their shoulder,
probably best to tell them what you're doing first,
you then have a base from which to maintain a good
forward trajectory, assuming that they aren't going to
swerve as well that is.
This is ideal when on group rides for taking a prolonged
look behind you to check out where the riders in the
back of the group are.
Should we show them how it's done?
Pretty simple, isn't it?
And because you're holding onto someone,
you're very unlikely to swerve
and if you do, you're only going to bump into them.
- And then, for the more frequent racers among you,
there's a really easy one where you can look
under you elbow.
Simply dip your head towards your elbow,
lift your elbow and there you have it
you can see exactly where the rider behind you is.
- This is more useful for those scenarios
when you're going through and off ramps in a group
and you just want to check where that wheel behind you is.
- Or even if you just want to drop your friend!
- Yeah, that's true.
You're convinced about dropping your--
So you want to talk about it, ey?
Dropping people.
We've got one more way then, haven't we?
- We have indeed, yes.
Do you want to show them?
- Come on, let's come over.
(light music)
- And lastly there are mirrors.
- Yep, many of us will have seen the common face helmets
mounted mirror that many racers
can be a little bit skirmish about
but there are legitimate reasons for people
having to use a helmet mounted mirror.
Anyone that's had a neck injury or lacks
a little bit of flex in their upper body
will find it a lot easier if they don't have to look
behind them quickly.
And then you have these, the bar-in mounted mirrors
that our friends over at Corky sent us over to try out.
The Corky Bar-In Mirror is a viable alternative
to physically turning around and looking over your shoulder.
It's light, it's discrete, in fact,
when you're not using it,
you barely even notice it on the bars!
- There you have it!
All of our tips and tricks to be able to make looking
behind you nice and easy!
If you did enjoy this video,
then what should you do, Chris?
- Give us a big thumbs up!
- And for more how-to videos,
why don't you click down there on the mirror.