bike skills - I Love Bicycling

6 Tips to Improve your Bike Skills

January 8, 2016 by Lee Agur

Whether you are a novice or a pro, you might feel the need to improve upon your current bike skills and techniques. As with any form of exercise, how you do it determines how successful the endeavor will be. Luckily for cyclists everywhere, cycling is pretty straightforward and as a result, practically no skill is impossible to master! No matter what you are hoping to improve, from your pre-ride checklist to following the right interval routines, here are 6 tips to improve your bike skills today.

Bike Skills – Do the Pre-ride Checklist

One of the key factors to improving your bike skills is to get your pre-ride checklist in place. It may sound like an unnecessary factor when you want to improve the way that you ride, but if you consider the affect that overlooking a simple mechanical factor can have on your bike and body, you might think again! Simply forgetting to check a small detail on your bike, such as retightening the stem bolts, can lead to more than one complication after you set off, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Bike Skills – Improve Your Shifting

Learning how to shift properly will improve your bike skills by allowing you to maintain speed in the right gear. Anticipation really is the key. You might feel like you have a good grip on shifting correctly, but transitioning too soon can really affect your overall ride. Always attempt to change gears just before you need to. Try not to let your legs get bogged down by too big of a gear. Shift at the dead spot of your pedal stroke where your feet are at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions. The less pressure that you put on the pedals will allow your gears to shift quickly without any large “clunks”.

Bike Skills – Improve Your Comfort

Cycling isn’t just about getting on your bike and riding. For many of us, cycling is a way to get fit, let off steam, or even to compete. While doing it though you not only want to have a comfortable fit on the bike but should be comfortable riding on roads, trails, in traffic, through corners; basically in any situation on the bike. If you’re uncomfortable and tense, you’re not going to enjoy the ride as much as you otherwise would. The first thing to remember is to relax when you ride. Being tense will simply amplify all of the lumps and bumps of the ride along with your nervousness. You should practice and focus on riding more in the situations that make you uncomfortable. If you’re nervous on descents, practice your braking and cornering. If you’re not comfortable riding in traffic, make sure you’re doing the right things and being safe about it. Being comfortable on the bike will improve your enjoyment of riding.

Bike Skills – Intervals Made Easy

Many cyclists are using aerobic interval training when cycling, especially when trying to lose weight or to increase stamina. Cycling with intervals allows you to burn more calories in a shorter period of time and improves aerobic capability at a faster rate than any other form of cycling. To get to grips with intervals, try the following sets:

2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy
1 minute hard, 1 minute easy
30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy
15-second sprint, 5 minutes easy

These are perfect for beginners, and can be used in sets throughout a training session for more advanced riders, too. Just gradually add a set or two of each every week.

Bike Skills – Eat Properly

Food is a key element to the quality of your ride as having too little or too much to eat will affect your performance. Aim to eat around 90 minutes before you set out for a long ride to ensure that you digest the food before beginning and don’t run out of energy during the ride. Also, make sure you bring enough food for the ride to keep your energy levels up. It depends on how long you’re riding but rides over 30 minutes to an hour, you should be bringing something to snack on.

Bike Skills – Drink Responsibly

Always bring water or a sports drink with you when you ride no matter how long you plan to be out. When exercising, even in cold weather, your body is losing fluid. The more dehydrated you are, the hard your body is going to have to work to sustain the same pace. The trick is to drink before you’re thirsty as if you’re thirsty, it’s too late; you’re already playing catch-up.

You should also aim to drink in a responsible manner. Glance at your drinks bottle when you want a sip but don’t take your eyes off of the road to reach down for it. Always tilt the bottle to drink and if an obstacle appears while you have a bottle to hand, hold it between your teeth while you grab back on to the bars. This may sound dangerous but having two hands on your bike to ride a bump will be much safer for you than only holding on with one. And make sure you don’t let go of the bottle before it’s securely in the bottle cage otherwise it’ll be on the road before you know it.

These are a few quick and easy bike skills to practice and get good at as they will up the quality of your rides. What other bike skills do you practice to improve your riding? Let us know in the comments below.

Cycling Starting at 50

December 4, 2015 by Adam Farabaugh

There’s never a wrong time to get into cycling whether at 5 years old or starting at 50 years old. We all do it for various reasons but it always comes down to the fact that it is fun and enjoyable. Age can be seen as a hurdle by many and it can be if you don’t know a few things to look out for going into it.

There’s a learning curve with everything, and with age you’ve probably figured out the best way to excel at something. Know the background and what you need to do ahead of time to best prepare yourself. Taking a few easy steps toward cycling starting at 50 will help ensure a smooth start keeping you safe, healthy, and riding well into your prime years.

Conquering the Fear

There can be a healthy dose of fear when starting anything new especially something like cycling that has a number of variables. The biggest thing in conquering those fears in cycling is understanding the risks and your specific fears. A few big fears are as follows:

Afraid of not succeeding.
Afraid of the level of exertion.
Afraid of injury and crashing.

These are all valid fears that if you didn’t have you would be un-human. Cycling can be a difficult sport but it’s all what you make of it. If you go and try to do a long steep climb you might not succeed in your first week of riding. However if you begin slowly and set small, reachable goals you will not only succeed but also grow as a rider to be able to accomplish that climb and more.

With age, individuals do have to be more concerned with what their body can handle. The cardiovascular system, the thing that is taxed the most during riding, is incredibly robust and flexible. As you start riding more and more, it too will become stronger and more resilient. Riding at a higher intensity will strengthen your heart not only making you a better cyclist but also stronger in general as you age due to being able to pump more blood with less effort. Heart health is imperative with age and cycling is a great way to keep it healthy.

Cycling does have the potential to cause injury but the majority of injuries and crashes are due to an error in judgement by the individual. As you’ll see below, having a good bike fit will help to avoid injuries. The best way to avoid crashes is to be good at handling your bike and making quick, risk-averse decisions. Becoming a better bike handler will come with experience but you can do a few things to practice your skills. (“Bike Skills: Cornering-Techniques to Know and get Good At“)

What You Must Do First

As with any new endeavors, and cycling in particular, you must go see your doctor to see where you’re at physically to make sure you are healthy enough to indulge in the sport. Depending on history, they may look at a number of things but the one that they will most definitely look at is blood pressure. This is a good metric to not only make sure is within an acceptable range to begin riding but also to get checked on a regular basis to see how your riding is improving your health. Also be sure to ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding your cycling in particular.

Getting a Good Fit

Before you start riding you are going to want to make sure that you have a good fit on the bike. With age, everything isn’t as flexible as it used to be and injuries can occur more easily and definitely take longer to recover from. The best way to avoid this is to make sure you are in the perfect position on the bike to not put too much strain on any one area. A professional fit is a good idea or you can find more information here on (“How to Do a Proper Bike Fit“) to get the most out of fitting yourself.

One good tip on top of having a proper fit on the bike is having a comfortable saddle. Everyone is different in their preferences so make sure you try a few and get one that fits. You can find more on (“How to Choose the Best Bike Saddle“)on getting the right saddle for you.

Getting Started

As you start riding you want to make sure you don’t go overboard the first couple of rides. All of the cycling muscles and tendons are going to take longer to adapt to the stresses than they would in your twenties. Try and keep rides flat and if you do go over any climbs make sure you spin at a higher cadence. As you continue to ride more and more, a good metric to not overdo it is to not increase your riding more than 10% each week in volume, duration or intensity.

One of the big benefits to riding on top of the health side of things is the social aspect. Cycling is a great way to meet new people and continue the relationship with great friends. As you first start riding more however, you should do a few rides on your own to make sure that you’re comfortable doing things such as clipping in (if you’re riding with clipless pedals), turning, braking, as well as riding in traffic. If you are still struggling with these when you start riding in a group, you can pose a danger to others. A great way to learn and get good at these things is to ride with one other more experienced rider who can give you tips on what to do and more importantly what not to do.

The Importance of Recovery

With cycling past 50, your body is going to take longer to recover than it used to. A big ride is going to take longer to recover from as well as the smaller rides even. There are two big things here that are going to make a difference. One is not trying to do too much after you are already tired. The second is to focus on recovery.

Making sure you get enough sleep after bigger rides as well as eating properly and stretching will help improve your recovery time. Everyone is a little bit different so with a little bit of trial and error you will find what works best for you.

Cycling starting at 50 is a great time to get into a new and exciting sport that not only is going to be fun but will also help your health and well-being. Knowing these few things before you get into riding and as you first start out will help to make sure that it is a beneficial direction on all levels for you. Cycling is fun, enjoying, and rewarding regardless of age. It’s always better late than never. Start smart and you’ll be riding for decades to come.

Tips For Riding in Gravel

November 28, 2015 by Wade Shaddy

Road bikes are specialized for speed and hard pavement. Skinny, high-pressure tires are skittish, unstable and can be dangerous in gravel. But it’s a sure bet you’ll encounter gravel from a detour, road construction or a stretch of gravel on your planned route. Prepare yourself for the inevitable by following a few time-tested tips for getting through that rough patch. Your road bike is capable of much more than you think.

Gravel Upsides

Don’t be intimidated by gravel, it has it’s upside, there’s almost no traffic. Gravel roads are twisty, turny, and they often follow natural and beautiful landscapes that make cycling so much fun. You get to visit river beds, ghost towns, campsites and follow links allowing you to access stretches of pavement that you’ve always avoided. Gravel roads are often the best choices for cyclists in the need of a short cut.

Gravel Grinders

Every so often a movement arises in the bike world. While road racing on asphalt has been a seriously competitive sport for nearly a century, some cyclists have discovered that riding bikes on gravel might be fun. As a testament to gravel riding, races and ralleys in certain parts of the country have been springing up. The Grasshopper and Gravel Grinder series are two of them. Some of them are completely on gravel roads, others link asphalt and gravel roads together. It’s a given that you’re probably better off with a gravel-specific bike, gravel grinder participants use nearly every kind of bike, from full-suspension mountain bikes to cyclocross, and full-on road racing feather-weights.

Tire Concerns

Road bikes are made for hard surfaces such as asphalt and concrete. But road bikes are fully capable of riding in gravel. Tires are often the biggest issue. Some cyclists argue that road bike tires can’t handle gravel, that they pinch flat, tear or otherwise go flat. But unless you’re running the lightest, most minimalist racing tires, they hold up to gravel.

Size of Gravel

Generally speaking, when individual pebbles or rocks are smaller, or near the width of your tires, you can still ride. But take note when rocks are bigger than your tires. Riding in this type of gravel is not recommended. You run the risk of cutting your road tires — they’re just not designed for it.

No Float

Mountain bikes or other bikes with fat tires float on gravel. But road bikes don’t float on gravel, they cut into it. More momentum helps you to float to a certain extent, but too much speed can cause you to lose control, hit deep patches, or follow a line in the gravel that you don’t want to follow. Approach a new patch of gravel cautiously, and try to maintain a constant speed.

Gear Down

Most riders will need to gear down to ride gravel. A high cadence with lots of torque is your best bet in situations where the gravel or dirt gets loose. Higher cadence allows you to power through situations where you lose traction, and allows you to stay on top of the gear without having to resort to standing up—which is bad news on gravel.

Scan Ahead

Scan ahead, particularly if you’re descending. Pick a line that you can live with, and stay aware. Gravel can be deceiving, with patches and holes over 6-inches deep. It’s not easy to read gravel surfaces, but scanning ahead gives you the benefit of the doubt, and can make all the difference. Skinny road bike tires sink fast in deep gravel. If that happens, you get an up close, personal look at the gravel.

Thin Layers

Thin layers of gravel might be the most dangerous. Especially if they’re located on hard pack. If you’ve done any serious miles, you’ve probably already hit gravel on pavement. The smallest pebble can cause the front end to wash out on corners. Road bikes on pavement typically lean into corners. On gravel, it’s best to steer into the corner, and try to keep the bike as close to 90-degrees as possible to prevent washing out your front tire.

Relax

Don’t be afraid and become tense. The most important technique is the simplest. When riding on gravel or dirt you’ll likely experience some lateral movement, and feel your bike wander from side to side. This is completely normal. The easiest way to control lateral flow is to relax and ride with it. Make sure to keep your shoulders, arms and hands loose and maintain a normal grip on your bars. Your bike will lose the centrifugal balance from the wheels that you’re so comfortable with on pavement, so use your core strength to maneuver the bike.

Turns and Curves

Avoid sharp turns: the deeper the gravel, the more your front wheel digs in and accentuates any sudden steering movements you might make. This is the one single mistake that causes the most falls in gravel. Consistent, smooth lines, and avoiding sudden movements, keeps you and your bike upright, particularity at higher speeds.

Don’t Be Afraid

There’s no need to avoid riding in gravel. If you do any long distance riding, adventure touring or participate in any overnight cycle events such as Cycle Oregon, the Seattle to Portland, the Alpine loop on the East Coast, or other similar rides, gravel riding is a great skill to have, and a necessary one. Don’ be intimidated by it. Learn to conquer it first, enjoy it and have fun.

If You Get Serious

If you get bit by the gravel riding bug, there’s options for doing it even more enthusiastically. In the last few years, bike builders have introduced gravel-specific models that have the toughness of a mountain bike, the geometry of a road bike and the clearance for big tires. Sometimes also referred to as adventure bikes, they’re better suited to the demands of on and off-road riding, splitting the difference between the two disciplines. Check them out if you get the chance. What have you got to lose.

Bike Skills: Cornering – Techniques to Know and Get Good At

October 11, 2015 by Adam Farabaugh

Riding a bike comes with the amazing potential to be able to do more than just go down the street or trail at a quicker pace than walking or running. With riding you can go fast enough and maneuver enough to give you a feeling unlike that of any other. Your heart pumps, the adrenaline flows, you can feel the excitement of what you just rode. You could have crashed but you didn’t. You had the skills to not only get through it but to get through it with style. These few tips will help you ride through corners better and with more confidence.

Cornering

Whether on the road or trail, cornering is the best skill you can learn to be a really good bike handler. If you can do all the other cool stuff but can’t corner, you’re riding is going to suffer. The biggest thing with cornering is having confidence in yourself and your tires. Like anything, practice is what is going to make you good. You will fall and if you don’t, you won’t find your limits. Practice, but practice smart so if you do fall, the damage is minimal.

Technique

On the road, cornering well is imperative because if you’re at your limit, you are probably going pretty fast and if you mess up it’s not going to feel good. To start, the first thing is to gauge your speed. Every corner you go through is going to have a rough maximum speed that you can get through it. As you improve, this speed will go up but there is always a limit. If you come into a corner faster than what you can handle, you are going to overshoot it. Brake and slow before the corner, not in it.

Position

Typically when going fast and through technical turns, you want your hands positioned in the drops of your road bike. This lowers your center of gravity and gives you a solid base of which to corner from. As you enter the turn, make sure your outside legs is at the bottom of the pedal stroke thus making sure your inside pedal doesn’t clip the pavement. As you do this, put a bit more weight on your inside hand while putting extra pressure on that outside leg as well. This is going to weight the tires and bike in a way to get the maximum grip out of the tires in contact with the road.

Control

Some riders swing their inside knee out while some keep it close to the top tube. Swinging it out gives a bit more stability but try it and see what feels best. As you start the turn and continue through it, look at where you want to go and keep your eyes moving toward that point. Avoid any rocks or other debris mid-turn with small adjustments as any real objects that you ride over during the turn has the real potential to cause your tire to slide out thus causing a crash.

Braking Mid-Turn

If you need to brake mid-turn, you are not going to be able to do it well while leaned over. You are going to have to straighten the bike back up, going straighter for a bit, and then applying the brakes. If there is still more corner to navigate, hopefully you slowed enough and can then re-enter the turn to make it through, otherwise start to look for exit options.

Exit Options for the Worst Case

If you do come into a turn too hot, or for whatever reason can’t make the turn, you are going to have to find exit options. This is going to just be reaction but the key is to stay cool and don’t over react. One of the first things less experienced riders do is to grab a handful of brakes. If still leaned over and cornering, this is going to send you right to the pavement. Instead, like above, straighten the bike back up, and then slow as much as you can.

If there’s a soft exit off the side of the road, take it and continue to slow and hope you don’t hit anything hard. If that’s not an option, say there is a guard-rail, you are going to have to try and make as much of the turn as you can. You may make it, but if you don’t you’ll have at least slowed some and created less of an angle into the object so it is less of a direct impact making your landing softer. You don’t need to be thinking about this as you enter every turn but when you do encounter it, you need to know what to do. It’s going to just be reaction but the fact that your brain has thought of it once before and has some inclination on what to tell your body to do will go a long way.

Practice

The more you go through corners, the better and more comfortable you are going to get at going through them. The best way to practice cornering is to find an empty parking lot where there is good pavement and no traffic. Practicing on the open road is dangerous and lends itself to traffic and having to focus on them instead of cornering.

First make a corner out of the parking lines or something of the like. Make sure however that at the outside of your turn there isn’t a curb or anything that you may hit if you do overshoot the corner. The first time you go through the corner, do so at a slower speed, exaggerating your actions such as the weight on your inside hand and outside pedal. Get a feel for it and then go through again from the other direction. You want to get equally good at turning in both directions, not just one. As you get more comfortable, go faster and faster but don’t overshoot your ability. Feel how the tires are contacting the pavement and try leaning the bike over more and less along with playing around with other things until you get extremely comfortable. Practice this once a week until you’re an expert at cornering and extremely comfortable with it.

Becoming good at cornering is going to allow you to be more comfortable on the bike because you are always going to feel in control. If you go too fast for what you’re comfortable with your body will tell you and you’ve found your limit. The key is to raise that limit and always be comfortable. Don’t test your limits where you shouldn’t such as on busy streets or descents where if you overshoot a corner you’re crashing. Do it safely and with that you’ll still have fun with it. Always be in control.

A Complete Guide to Cycling for Beginners

July 27, 2015 by Lee Agur

Cycling for beginners can be a scary thing. This guide will give you beginner cycling tips on everything you will need to know to get started. We will cover pedaling, stopping, position, corners, climbing, changing a flat tire, road bikes for beginners, cycling tips for beginners, training, nutrition, injury prevention, bike fit and training plans for beginners!

Pedaling Your Bike

The first thing you are going to need to learn his how to pedal your bike! Pedaling the bicycle is what cycling is all about! Why would you not want to be the most efficient at this one thing?

Most novices “mash” the pedals, meaning that they apply all the force on the down stroke. It sounds ridiculous, but you really need to focus on pedaling in a circle and applying pressure through the entire stroke. You can accomplish this by pushing down, pulling back, lifting up and then pushing forward. That is one entire stroke.

If you find your quads are really sore after a ride it may be due to the fact that you are mashing the pedals.

If you find you are struggling with your pedal stroke visit: The Perfect Pedaling Technique for more detail.

Stopping Your Bike

Stopping your bike is likely the most important thing you can learn. Clearly, if you squeeze the brakes you are going to slow down and eventually stop, but there are different techniques involved.

Need to slow down or stop slowly. Sitting upright with you hands on the hoods and gently squeezing the brakes will be all that you need to do.

Need to stop more safely and quicker. Put your hands in the drops where you have more leverage and are able to squeeze the brakes harder but you also lower your centre of gravity allowing you to stop more quickly.

Need to stop immediately. Emergency stopping should be practiced. Have your hands in the drops squeeze hard but at the same time drop your bum off the back of the seat and lower your bum as low as you can to your back tire. This is the fastest way you can stop on a bike.

For more details on how to stop your bike go to All you need to know about stopping your bike.

Position On the Bike

There are three different riding positions on a bike: Neutral, drops and standing.

Neutral

The neutral position is the most common position and it involves sitting on the seat with your hands on the hoods “covering” the brakes (this means your hands are over the brakes ready to stop). If your bike fits properly then your arms should be at a 90 degree angle in relation to your torso. At first this may seem like you are leaning too far forward, but as you adapt from a beginner cyclist to a seasoned pro it will feel as natural as sitting in a chair.

Drops

Being in the drops is when your hands are in the C-shaped bottom portion of your handlebars. You are commonly in this position if you are trying to get more aero and go faster or when you are descending. It is safer to be in the drops while you are descending as it gives you more leverage on the brakes allowing you to brake harder, in addition to lowering your centre of gravity allowing you to stop faster.

Standing

Primarily used for climbing, standing is a position that uses a little more energy as you have to support more of your body weight with your arms and legs. In order to stand, start in the neutral position and then slide your weight forward as you begin to stand. Remember to keep pedaling! As you continue to pedal, slowly rock the bike side to side with your arms in unison with your pedal stroke essentially making it easier to pedal.

Taking Corners on a Bike

Most beginner cyclists assume they need to turn the handlebars in order to take a corner; while this is the case at very slow speeds it is usually not practiced while taking most corners at speed. Rather you will lean the bike frame the direction you want to turn and adjust your weight accordingly.

When riding you should always stay relaxed, but it is even more important around a corner as it will allow you to adjust your body weight properly.

Look Where You Want to Go

Your body likes to follow your eyes, so look where you want to go, not where you don’t. A common mistake is continuing to look at what you are trying to avoid; this generally results in a collision with that same object. Let your peripheral vision do the work, it can see that object and you will not hit it.

Look far in to the corner, not right in front of you. Your hips turn the same direction you are looking and your hips determine where the bike is going to steer. Beginners are guilty of looking directly in front of themselves quite frequently, especially when the turns come hard and fast. Depending on your speed and the angle of the corner determines how far in to the corner you look. In sharp corners look as far ahead as possible. Play with it and you will notice significant improvements immediately.

Brake Before the Corner

You should be going the speed you want to go around the corner at the beginning of the turn. Braking in the turn actually makes the bike want to stand up on itself and straighten out, two things you are trying not to do. You end up fighting the bike and shedding more speed than necessary to make the turn safely.

Generally, you only want to be doing one of the following things at any given time: braking, cornering, or pedaling. Combining these things can lead to disaster.

Find the Line

Approach the corner as wide as possible, cut through the apex and finish wide. This is the straightest line through the turn, allowing you to carry more speed and reducing the angle of the turn making it less scary. Many people cut to the apex too early which results in excessive braking near the end of the turn and exiting slowly.

Don’t Pedal in a Corner Pedal out of a Corner

Pedaling in a corner can cause you to strike your inside pedal on the ground and send you flying. If this happens try not to panic and over correct. Over correcting will certainly cause a crash.

Once you have completed the turn and the bike is in a more upright position it is safe to hammer on the pedals again. Hopefully you remembered to shift down to an easier gear before you entered the turn so it is not too difficult to pedal out of it.

How to Steer Your Bike

There are three different ways to steer the bike: Upright steering, leaning and countersteering.

Upright Steering

Upright steering is when you turn your handle bars and keep your body and the bike as upright as possible. This is best reserved for slow speeds and dangerous conditions i.e. wet and slippery conditions. If your tried this at a high speed you would fly off your bike. Been there, done that… don’t recommend it.

Leaning

This is the most common method of steering and involves leaning your bike and body over to make the turn. Lean over more to turn sharper and make sure that you have your outside pedal at the 6 o’clock position pushing your weight through that pedal to keep traction with your tires and not causing a pedal strike.

Countersteering

The next level of steering. In order to test it out, go down a straight road, pick up some speed then push your right hand down… what happens? Initially your front wheel turns right, but as the bike starts to lean over you turn left. The sharper the turn and less consistent the turn (more bends) the more important countersteering becomes.

Position While Countersteering

Initially, you press with your opposite hand, but as you being to turn you want your inside arm straight and applying a bit of pressure to continue to turn the direction you want to go.

Lean your body over, but then lean your bike over even harder. This is not like the leaning technique where the angle of your bike and the angle of your body are the same in relation to the ground. In countersteering you lean the bike over more and your body is more upright in order to keep traction.

Try to keep your weight back and low and remember to push hard on your outside pedal that is located at the 6 o’clock position.

If you learn how to countersteer you will not regret it, it is safer and faster as it allows you to make adjustments through out the turn much quicker.

Ok! Now that we are done with the essential cycling tips for beginners we can move on to more exciting bike skills like climbing hills!

Climbing Hills

The most important aspect of hill climbing is maintaining a steady effort from the bottom all the way to the top. This is a difficult thing to achieve. If you have a heart rate monitor there is a lag of approximately thirty seconds to one minute – keep this in mind. If you are going off of perceived effort – the beginning of the hill is perceptively easy and top seems incredibly difficult at the same effort. Power meters are the only way of receiving instantaneous feedback of your actual effort.

Not everyone wants a power meter, so the best advice is:

Start out slower than you think at the bottom of the hill
Be familiar with the course or ride so you know how long the hill is and what type of effort is required
Practice the hill and see what pace works for you

Cadence

You can mash or you can spin. Everyone is different, but for most people it is more efficient to spin up a hill (maintaining a cadence of 80 to 105). Maintaining this high of a cadence may be difficult in the beginning but as your fitness improves it will become more natural.

What happens if you are in the easiest gear and you are unable to maintain a cadence of at least 80? It is likely that you need to get a compact or triple crankset. Beginners road bikes can come with a triple crankset up front and it is likely you should take that option. Mashing just burns you out faster.

Position

While climbing you should:

Sit upright in order to open your lungs for more oxygen intake to engage larger muscle groups.
Have a relaxed grip so you do not waste energy with a death grip and cause tension to limit your oxygen intake.
Have a quiet upper body (don’t bob your head back and forth – it wastes energy and is usually caused by mashing on the pedals instead of spinning)
Mostly remain seated:

Standing vs. Sitting.

It is more efficient to stay seated during a hill climb than to stand; however, you can produce more power while standing.

When you stand your core does more work because your pelvis is not anchored to the saddle so your core and back muscles have to pull up on an unweighted pedal resulting in a higher energy expenditure. You also engage your arms to pull down on the bars and support yourself.

When is it beneficial to stand?

On long climbs it is beneficial to stand to engage different muscles groups and let the other ones have a rest. Try to save this for the steep sections of the climb.
When your cadence slows down and it is difficult to continue “spinning”.
When cresting over top a summit to transition into a flat or descent. It can give your muscles a feeling of relief.
When you need to go as fast as possible as it engages more muscle groups, but be careful as it expends more energy.

Mental Attitude

Mental attitude towards hills makes a big difference on how you perform. You have to stay in a positive space no matter how much you are hurting and believe you can do it. Use little mind tricks as simple as envisioning rockets on your bike and then literally say, “rockets engage!” embarrassing, but effective. Never be mentally defeated and always finish a climb no matter how slow you have to go… even if you have to walk!

Shifting Gears Properly

Gear shifting comes with experience. Shift to an easy gear too soon and lose your momentum, shift too late and you run the risk of not being able to shift at all.

When you shift down to an easier gear there is more strain on the chain and sometimes it will not shift if there is too much pressure, ease up on the pedal stroke for a brief moment to allow the shift to happen. Shifting gears becomes a “feel” thing, over time you will instinctively know how much pressure your chain can take and how brief of a moment you have to stop pedaling for.

Additionally, when you change from a seated position to a standing position you should shift up at least one, if not two gears when your foot is at the two o’clock position because when you stand your cadence slows down. You do not want to lose momentum or have the person behind you run into you.

Changing a Flat Tire

A flat tire is the most common bike repair that you are going to have to perform. Find out how to change a flat bike tire by watching this short video:

What are Good Road Bikes for Beginners?

The best beginner road bike is the one you are most comfortable on! For a great list of entry level road bikes click on the link. My top pick: The specialized allez.

The specialized allez sports comfortable yet fast geometry combined with its great handling makes it the best bike under $1000. To get the most bang for your buck you want something comfortable enough to ride on but stiff enough to go fast. The specialized allez sport is the best combination of these two qualities.

Cycling Tips For Beginners

One article is far too little to scratch the surface of all the cycling tips for beginners. Below is a list of additional articles that I highly recommend you read when you have time! There is a lot to learn as a beginner!

How To Breathe While Cycling – I bet you don’t do it properly.

Finding Your Ideal Cadence – The proper cadence can make you more efficient.

Perfect Pedaling Technique – This is difficult to master but it is worth your attention.

Cycling Aerodynamics – How much does it really help?

Should I Buy a Bike Online? – If you are getting a beginner road bike and have not bought a bike before, buy one from your local bike shop! If you know exactly what you want and have tried it before maybe there is some savings online.

How to Bike Safely on Wet Roads – As a newbie this can be particularly scary, make sure you give yourself ample time to slow down as it takes much longer.

How to Stay Cool While Cycling – Overheating while you are out road biking?

The Perfect Sprinting Technique – Want to start beating people to the line?

Climbing Steep Hills – So you have nailed climbing hills, but need a few extra tips to get you up the steep ones!

Top 10 Best Cycling Books – This list of books provides cycling tips for beginners, cycling training programs for beginners, amusing reads and more.

Descending on a Bike – Trying to descend on a bike safely and quickly is an art.

Road Bike Tire Pressure – Find the correct road bike tire pressure for you.

Beginner Cycling Training

When you start out as a newbie, cycling training can seem difficult. Firstly you need to learn the Basic Goals of Training, once you know what you are attempting to accomplish then you will have a better idea of how to get there!

Interval Training – What it is and how it works.

2×20 Interval Training Workout – This is the best workout for aerobic fitness there is. If you are training for a race longer than 10 minutes this should be your go to workout.

Beat Indoor Cycling Boredom – Find you are getting bored with training on an indoor trainer? Spice it up with these ideas.

The Benefits of a Proper Warm Up – You should always warm up before you add any sort of intensity in to your ride.

Aerobic Energy vs Anaerobic Energy – It is surprising how much more energy you use anaerobically rather than aerobically.

Cycling 100 Miles or a Century – Looking to complete your first 100 mile race?

Bonking – It is almost guaranteed that you are going to “bonk” (run out of energy and feel terrible) if you are a beginner cyclist because you will not have your nutrition needs figured out yet, nor will you have the efficiency to properly utilize that energy. Check out how to avoid bonking.

Nutrition for the Beginner Cyclist

When you start cycling, taking in the proper nutrition before, during and after a ride is likely your most important and difficult task.

What to Eat on a Long Ride – Here is a general guideline of how much you should be eating per hour of cycling.

Ten Foods to Eat After a Long Ride – Recovery is every bit as important as the actual ride for training. Make sure you allow your body to recover properly by feeding it the appropriate foods!

Nutrition and Fueling for Cycling – An overall look at nutrition and fueling for cycling written by Canadian National Road Race Champion Scott Price.

Best Way to Lose Weight Cycling – Most of the studies and suggestions are wrong. This common sense approach to losing more weight while cycling just makes sense.

How Many Calories do You Burn When Cycling – Do you know approximately how many calories you burn while you are cycling? Here is a rough guideline to follow.

ABC’s to Fats, Proteins and Carbs – Understand what your body needs and when it needs it.

Hydration Tips – Hydrating properly is such a variable, depending on the weather conditions, effort and individual. Get a rough guideline on how to determine how much water you need during your ride.

Is the Paleo Diet for Cyclists – Want to know if the paleo diet is beneficial or harmful to you becoming the best cyclist you can be?

What you need on a long bike ride – Don’t forget the essentials!

Cycling to Lose Weight Tips – A few quick tips that will help you achieve your goals that much easier.

Cycling for Beginners – Injury Prevention

There is nothing worse than finding a new passion and then immediately being sidelined by an injury, especially if it could have been prevented!

Knee Pain – This is one of the most common injuries as biking is a repetitive motion. If you are having knee pain and/or want to prevent it read this article.

Lower Back Pain – What causes lower back pain and how to solve the problems.

Stretching Exercises for Cyclists – Almost all cyclists are guilty of not enough stretching, it doesn’t matter if you are a seasoned pro or a new cyclist stretching is a great injury prevention measure that is not utilized enough.

Foot Pain – Are you getting foot pain?

Exercises to Strengthen Core – You need a strong core to be a great cyclist. Try these exercises to improve your core strength.

Post Ride Massage – The benefits of a post ride massage and how to do it yourself.

Cycling For Beginners- Bike fit

How to do a Basic Bike Fit – Learn how to do a basic bike fit so you can ride comfortably.

How to Find the Proper Saddle Height – A few centimetres too low and you will use a lot of extra energy and bring on knee pain, too high and you will sway back and forth reaching for your pedals.

Proper Cleat Position – Proper cleat position can help with alignment and endurance. Make sure to get it right.

Fore and Aft Saddle Position – Where your saddle is positioned in terms of how far forward or back it is in relation to your cranks is important for proper position and comfort.

Saddle Tilt – Important parts going numb? It could have something to do with the tilt of the saddle.

Beginner Cycling Training Plan

You know what the best cycling training for a beginner is? Just getting out there and doing it! Whatever makes it more fun! Find groups to ride with, track your rides on strava. Whatever it takes to get you out riding!

I Love Bicycling will be coming out with some beginner cycling training plans soon. Subscribe to our newsletter below to stay in the loop.