Tried going no-hands on my commute after watching a YouTube video and ate pavement at a stoplight
So last week I saw this super smooth video of some guy cruising along with no hands on his handlebars, looking all relaxed and cool. I thought hey, I've been commuting for about 2 years now on this old hybrid bike, how hard can it be? Big mistake. The very first time I tried it, I was rolling up to a stoplight on Grand Avenue and hit a tiny crack in the asphalt. My front wheel jerked sideways and I went right over the handlebars. Scraped up my palm pretty bad and my elbow still hurts if I bend it too much. My backpack with my laptop took most of the hit though, thank goodness. What I learned is that those videos are probably filmed on perfectly smooth bike paths with no traffic, not a cracked city street full of potholes. Plus my bike has a slight wobble in the steering from when I overloaded the front basket last month. Has anyone else tried something flashy on their commute only to regret it immediately? What happened?