Manual through rollers

2.BODY POSITION

Once you’re up on the back wheel, keep your arms locked straight but maintain a bend in your knees, so you can absorb the undulations of the track. As the wheel rolls up the transition towards the crest, bend your knees more to allow the bike to come up towards you. Then as you go over the peak, extend your legs to push the bike down the other side. The point at which you start pushing down is the thing most people struggle with. Everyone is scared of looping out over the back, so a common mistake is to push down too early before the back wheel has reached the lip, which drops the front wheel instantly. Start at slow speeds and don’t be afraid of going too far a few times to get the feel for it!

MANUALS THROUGH ROLLERS

3.MAINTAIN YOUR BALANCE

On low rollers with gentle transitions the changes in gradient are mellow, so you won’t need to do too much to stay at the balance point. It gets harder when the rollers are taller and steeper, and the bowls between them are deeper. Here you’ve got to have the guts to really extend your arms and legs and get right over the back wheel. Different spacing between the rollers makes it less predictable too, so pick a set that are fairly even and work on maintaining a manual through two bowls, then three, etc. Learn from your mistakes by thinking about what you did right and wrong on each attempt.