Obsidian asks for the permission upon first launch, but if you don’t give it access it won’t work at all (it’s a required permission for the app).

you can use an android firewall to block Internet access from the app

True, however, AFAIK if your phone is not rooted, you can’t have a firewall and VPN running at the same time (the firewalls I’ve seen must be configured as VPN).

not the privileges that obsidian has

Also true, although Obsidian has access to that shared storage, and therefore, Obsidian being closed source, you have no way of knowing what they do with the files other apps create in that storage directory. I’m not saying they are acting maliciously, but I don’t like this approach (software vulnerabilities, supply chain attacks, etc.). The devs recognized the issue in another thread, but there’s no solution to the problem as of yet.

I’d love to use this setup, however, the Obsidian Android app requires a kind of file access that is concerning:

Obsdian uses a shared location “/Documents” so that other apps can access the files (e.g. third party sync services) or add stuff.

https://forum.obsidian.md/t/fr-make-obsidian-work-on-android-without-asking-for-storage-permissions/19360

It’s a no-go for me. :/

It beggars belief that those videos have so many views…

Although I still watch YouTube videos (using Freetube on desktop, Newpipe on mobile), I recently joined Nebula.tv + curiosity stream.

You can also practice these whilst being stationary. Get on your bike and lean against a wall (your shoulder touching the wall giving you support and preventing you falling over). Don’t clip the foot on the other side, just in case you lose balance.

This way you only need to focus on clipping in/out without having to worry about falling over. This will hopefully give you a bit of confidence before going out on the roads again. :)