Soft Paws!

“S” says:
I have been teaching Sid and Doris my bestest technique for riding on the rough roads, and I want to share it with you too.  I call it Soft Paws.
Firstly of course you need a nice luxurious soft pelt like mine stroke stroke preen to sit on as this really makes things nicer in the saddle area.  Sadly Sid and Doris don’t have hairy bottoms, at least when I asked them they said No!!, so I think they are sad that they have bald bottoms which is why they keep them covered up but we can’t all be perfect.

Anyway, the next thing you need to do is to hold the handlebars loosely.  I have noticed that Sid especially seems to grip the handlebars like a mad fool, there is no need for that, and if you do that on rough roads then I find afterwards I can’t even hold my Lucky Stone Collection properly.   That’s the first part of Soft Paws, you will see that I also have velvety pads on my front paws so the handlebars are properly cushioned.

Then you have to stand lightly on the pegs, with your back legs gently loose, that is the second part of Soft Paws.  That takes a bit of the load off the bottom which will be especially important if your bottom is bald.

And then, and this bit is important and I had to practice it a bit, you relax your eyes.  Because otherwise your eyes jiggle up and down in their sockets and then after the rough bit you can’t see straight. Bogabogabogabogaboga your eyes will carry on jiggling around trying to compensate.

But see me, I have that distant, focused, highly intelligent look – I am not trying to focus on each individual cobble, no, I am looking at the Wider Picture.

It takes a certain level of intelligence to achieve this, I think you will agree, and between you and me I am not 100% certain Sid and Doris have got it.  I think they tend to over-obsess about the small details, and that is not Soft Paws.
And that’s it!  High Four to you! 🐾