Hand Position Drills
Have the athlete move the hands to the top of the handlebars, toward the center near the stem, and the body weight to the saddle. He/she should be sitting up on the bike. Instruct the athlete to remove the dominant hand from the bars and then replace it quickly. Do this in increasingly longer intervals. Start off as if to tap the bars, and then increase the interval that the hand is away from the bars, therefore increasing the confidence and security of the athlete.
As the athlete becomes more secure, you can introduce more drills, such as touching the water bottle, waving and touching the helmet. Then move to the non-dominant hand with signaling. Throughout these drills, the hand on the handlebars should be in the center near the stem.
NOTE: To advance the drill, practice taking the water bottle out of the cage without looking, and then replacing it in the cage (which is far more difficult than removing it).
An even more advanced version of this drill is to have the athlete place ONLY the fingertips on the bars. Start on the tops (but to further the difficulty, this can be done on the drops). Then reduce the number of fingers in contact with the bars as skill and confidence increase.
