Just realized my riding posture was way off after chatting with a retired courier

I was at a coffee stop near Vancouver last week and an older guy saw me stretching my wrists. He said I was gripping the bars like I was hanging onto a cliff, and showed me how to relax my elbows and use my core more. It hit different because he wasn't just some random dude, he used to ride 200 km a day delivering packages downtown. Now my shoulders don't ache after a 60 km ride. Has anyone else had a random conversation that totally changed how they ride?

3 comments

3 Comments

veramartin1mo ago

That elbow tip changed my life too. Random wisdom is the best.

samw4717d ago

That bit about "random wisdom is the best" really sticks with me. I've had the same thing happen a few times where someone who's been doing something for decades just casually drops a piece of advice that fixes a problem I didn't even know I had. It makes you wonder how much stuff we all miss out on because we're too busy looking at our phones or wearing headphones to hear the old-timers.

rileyw721mo ago

Random wisdom is the best" is exactly right, @veramartin. It's like the universe just drops these little course corrections on you when you're not even looking for them, you know? I feel like most of the really good stuff I've learned about anything came from someone I just happened to be sitting next to.