Badge Kids › Road Badge › Section 4 › Lesson 4.3
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Riding one-handed without going anywhere
Ride a straight line one-handed on both sides for long enough to hold a signal, and say what the trade costs you.
1Watch
The hand that came off
The hand that came off
A rider on a chalk line lifts their right hand off the bar to point at something ahead; the machine tracks a slow curve to the left, and the frame freezes with the front wheel crossing the line.
15 secondsThat hand was off for about two seconds. That is roughly how long a signal takes, which is why this is a skill with a drill attached rather than something you just do.
2The idea
Why this sits right next to looking behind
The same traffic-free level asks for both: look behind over each shoulder while pedalling in a straight line, and pedal one handed in a straight line. Signalling is not taught until the level after that. The ordering is not an accident.
You do not get taught to signal until you can hold a line without the hand you would be signalling with. Otherwise the signal itself becomes the hazard, and a rider communicating beautifully while drifting into a lane has made the situation worse rather than better.
3The idea
It is also what buys you a proper look
A training article makes the link exactly: you need to be able to ride one-handed for anything more than a glance behind. A quick flick of the head works with both hands on the bars. Anything longer means turning your body, and turning your body means a hand has to come off.
So these are one skill wearing two names. The hand comes off so the shoulders can turn, and the shoulders turn so your eyes can get all the way round. Practise either one properly and you get most of the other for free.
4The idea
The trade, said out loud
The national standard requires riders to understand the risks associated with giving arm signals, such as reduced stability. Notice that it is written as something you must understand, not something you must always do. That is unusual and it is deliberate.
A signal is a trade: one hand of control for one unit of communication. There are moments when that is a bad trade — a rough patch, a hard brake, a machine already moving around under you — and a rider who knows the price can decide not to pay it right then. Control of the machine comes first, always.
5Decide
You want to signal a left turn, and the road just ahead is broken up and rough.
Pick one to carry on.
6Your turn
How long is a signal
Two seconds of one hand
A rider on a corridor. Choose which hand comes off and for how long, from half a second up to five, and whether you keep pedalling. The line the wheel draws stays on screen. Then a signal appears that has to be held out for two full seconds.
Try your weaker side. Nearly everybody has one, and it is usually the side they will need for the turn they make most often.
7Find them
Which of these are true about riding one-handed?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
8Say it
The sentence for the rough patch
Say it out loud, in your normal voice
“Signal early, hands back on.”
The order is the whole content of it. The signal goes out while the road is good, and the hand comes back before the road gets bad, rather than the other way round.
9Do it
Before you leave this page
Ride your chalk corridor one-handed, five runs with the left hand off and five with the right, holding it off for a slow count of two each time, with somebody watching the front wheel. Then do five more where the hand that comes off makes a real signal, held out straight, while the line stays where it was.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
A hand off the bars buys you communication and costs you stability. Know the price before you spend it.
Next lesson: The glance, the check and the stare