The Elusive Pedal Up

There is just no easy way to learn the Pedal Up. I have watched countless videos and read various tutorials from forums around the net. This has gotta be one of the most difficult technique for me to learn in BikeTrial.

I was quite methodical about it. I had surmised that in order to learn the Pedal Up, one must start with the Zap Tap, then the Touch Up (on a 20"... LOL) and then progress to the Pedal Up. They all required one common thing... proper foot positioning on the pedals.

Proper Pedal Footing

I am a right-footer, which meant my right foot is the fore foot on the pedal. And so the starting position for my right foot pedal would be at the 4 o'clock position and my left foot would be at the 10 o'clock position.

Here is a video of a Pedal Up shown to me by Wong Xu (from China). We were riding at the Putrajaya Bike Park two weekends ago and I took the opportunity to ask him to execute the move as slowly as he possible could.... LOL. See the following video, he just made it look so easy!!! LOL.

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Since Wong Xu was a right-footer as well, it was easy for me to see how it was done.

Dood! You Gotta be Dynamic

Later that week, I tried to follow the steps shown in the video. I could bring up the front wheel, but I just could not commit totally to pedal kick with my right foot when the time came. It required a very dynamic pedal kick on the right foot to bring the rear wheel onto the wooden pallet's edge.

Chicken Shit and Then Some

I chickened out always at the last moments... LOL. In fact, I had decided to forgo learning the Pedal Up altogether.

Yesterday, I was learning the pedal hops, pedal kicks and basically riding the home-made sections for an hour or so. I did not know what made me do it (I was dead tired and ready to call it a night)... without thinking, I decided to just try the Pedal Up. I managed to bring the front wheel up and committed to pedal hard on my right foot. To my surprise, I managed to bring the bike up and land two wheels on the double stacked wooden pallets.

Stoking the Adrenalin

The lack of sleep (woke up at 6:00am that day), tiredness and whatever fatigues went away that moment... LOL. I had already taken off my shirt and ready to pack it in... and now... I was totally stoked!!! Wow! I felt the motion and the "groove" of the move. I just had to continue. I wanted my body to remember the move!!!! HAhahaha.

And so, I called Joel to bring out the video camera to document my Pedal Up learning progress... LOL. The following video showed only the successful attempts out of probably a hundred failed or pathetic attempts... HAhah.


A 2 minutes video of a few hours of learning. The still elusive Pedal Up.

Today, I was supposed to go riding with Wong Xu, Syarul and Aris in the Shah Alam Lake Park. But the rain got the better of us and I decided to cancel it. Instead, I went looking for a pair of screws long enough to install the Echo brake booster for my 26" (which had major brake problems).

Anyway, after that I decided to continue learning the Pedal Ups as shown in the video above. Now, I have a bruised buttock, injured elbow and a fistful of blisters and callouses.

Almost got a cramp on my left thigh while writing this blog... need a break. Gonna skip riding tomorrow.... I hope... LOL.

How To Prevent Hand Blister When Riding BikeTrials

I have been having major blister problems on the palms of my hands whenever I ride. I have sweaty palms and wearing gloves does not help.

Normally, after about 20 minutes of riding, my gloves would be soaked with sweat and the skin on my palms would be soft and wrinkled. That's when the hardened skin of the blisters would get soft and the new blister which had formed underneath the old one would get irritated. The constant chafing made it worse and the irritation gets pretty unbearable.

I "googled" and found some remedies for joggers, hikers and walkers, whom suffered from major foot blisters. Most of the remedies concerned wearing proper shoes, using antiperspirant or applying powder. There were also some recommendation on using bandage strips or blister block adhesive tape.

I had none of the above at home but the blister block adhesive tape gave me an idea. I decided to look for some masking tapes and tried them out.


The cheap masking tapes.

I found that the above cheap masking tapes worked very well to a certain extend. The tapes helped to minimize the blister irritation and chafing when wearing gloves and riding. Instead of just 20 minutes or less of riding before I get the blister problem, I can ride at least 2 hours before the irritation gets unbearable. Btw, Syarul, a fellow BikeTrial enthusiast, can vouch that this remedy works... LOL.


The masking tape applied at the sore points before wearing the gloves... LOL.


After riding, the masking tapes were still in tact but soaked in sweat.

My blister problems were mostly on my right hand, just below the last three fingers and part of the thumb that gripped the bike handle. If you have the same problem, try it. I am sure you will appreciate it... as it means more riding time... LOL. Cheers!