Is it feasible that I could be trained to do a manual in a day?

I can’t wheelie and am a confirmed wheels on the ground kind of person.

The other day I nearly rode into a hole that the local herberts had dug to build a jump.  A manual would have  been a useful tool to lessen injury to myself by avoiding an OTB.

You probably won’t be able to manual the length of a football pitch, but in a day you should be able to get the technique sorted.
Also a really good way to get those bad habits spotted and sorted.
Skills day is a worthwhile ‘rider upgrade’.

Go to your nearest big car park after hours and try clearing parking spaces.

No amount of coaching or descriptions on here will help. You need to put the hours in. Which is why when I was a kid I could manual forever and now I’m crap.

The latter point is partially true, but you’re more likely to get a better manual technique quicker with some coaching. I could sort of manual enough to get by on a trail but I was using my arms a lot and so when I moved to a longer bike I was struggling. 15 mins working on manual technique with Katy Curd and now I can manual my longer bike enough for trail use.

If I wanted to be better at longer manuals now (which I’d like to be) it’s now a case of practice practice practice rather than further coaching. I just have the time to put in really.

hi mate,

I’ve been to see Tony Doyle/Jedi at UK bike skills twice.

IME he wont teach you to manual as it’s not a particularly useful skill other than for showing off. He will though teach you to jump and bunnyhop which is what you need to get you over aforementioned obstacle.

Do it, it’s a great day out.

it’s not a particularly useful skill other than for showing off

Long ones maybe, but a small manual properly done is one of the most useful skills I ever learnt.

and it feels great to manual into a bermed corner after a double 🙂

Skills day will certainly help and take the guess work out of it so you know what you are trying to achieve, how to correctly make it happen and you can work on a consistent technique.

Even as a wheels on the ground rider, there is a good chance that you’ll be able to do short ones that will get you over a pot hole or branch on the ground. Which is really all you need for everyday riding. For sure you won’t be manualling for 10m, that stuff takes a LOT of time and dedicated practice.

I can proficiently do very short ones and I find it really benefited my riding. I am able to navigate up and over obstacles much smoother and efficiently than before, maintaining my flow and speed round the trails.

By all means watch a few how to videos and spend some hours in the park practicing. But I found having an experienced teacher telling me how to do and looking at my technique meant I was able to achieve it quicker and with high consistency. I’m of the opinion that bike skills tuition is expensive but well worth it and value for money as I gain a lot from it.

No you can’t.

it’s not a particularly useful skill other than for showing off

I disagree because it’s nice to be able to mess about on your bike and anything that enables that (or makes you want to ride more!) is a useful skill 😎

OP, you probably won’t learn in a day but it’s worth learning how to do it.

I know I’d hit the point pretty quickly where I was just getting worse and worse and even with someone telling me what I was doing wrong I’d just struggle to do it.

Half an hour of practice a day for a couple of weeks would beat an intensive day IMO.

ah the Reverse L, i managed one the other day i was well happy.

Just do this and practise.

To clear typical trail fetaures, like annoying holes or trees across the track, you don’t need to be able to “flat land manual” ie to be able to unicycle along on the back wheel for a considerable distance, which is lucky, because no, you probably can’t learnt to do that in a day! (i think i took me 2 years…)

However, in a day a decent coach should be able to teach you the basics to unweight and lift your front wheel for plenty long enough (lets say a couple of meters) to enable to you stop sticking that front wheel where you really shouldn’t! (like in massive holes and then going OTB 😉

That technique, also translates directly into jumping and bunny hopping and is the corner stone of techniques to start your “3D” riding experience!