Moo's Newbie Cycling 101

Cycling – Beginners 101

So, you want to ride a bike?

This is it! Your first step, the bit where you actually buy yourself a steed, figure out how to ride it and begin your embarkation on your new wonderful velo-journey. So, where to begin? I've found, it's quite easy to gather lots of different angles of advice, information and sometimes it can just become a little overwhelming and overcomplicated. Experienced cyclists will tell you all about their knowledge of bottom brackets, top tubes, carbon stems and the benefits of having less spokes, non experienced cyclists will tell you you don't need anything more than a hybrid and some MTB shorts. However, I've found there's not a great balance between those very first bits of info and the confusing world you enter into after riding for a little while. So here's my attempt to gather the important stuff, the stuff that everyone will forget to tell you – which is actually quite important! Hope this helps....

1. Go for a professional bike fit, I definitely think this this is the most important thing you can do. All geometry can/will be perfectly matched to your shape no matter what bike you get which is completely invaluable, as otherwise all sorts of injury risks and discomforting rides lie ahead.

2. I would suggest joining a local club. Don't go for one of the mad race clubs - these guys expect a lot of their riders and the pressure put on their members I think is too great for someone who wants to enjoy the sport, not thrash it. Local, family friendly, clubs are the best - they offer a great support base, most people are friendly so the social scene is good and there are generally riders of all levels who you can join at weekends for long or short training runs. It's also fantastic to have easy access to advice from your peers.

3. Join British Cycling. If you're going to ride sportives then some clubs (who run the sportives) will want you to have a BC membership (just the lowest one is fine generally) - but at the same time it opens a whole world of discounts, legal advice and insurance opportunities. http://www.britishcycling.org.uk 

4. Get a Garmin or similar device, and a heart rate monitor. Do a little research (nothing too scientific or hardcore!) into heart rate zones and try to figure out how your own weigh up based on this. This can be really handy for assessing your capabilities and improvements and also be a huge help when doing events, for example in the Alps I knew the last day was going to be really tough, so on the climbs on the first and second days I didn't allow my heart rate to go over 165 unless it was really needed - which saved valuable stamina ready for the last, hardest day. Joe Friel and his wonderful blog can provide you with a wealth of technical (but not overly boring!) advice - and extensively covers heart rate and training zones in some of his articles; http://www.joefrielsblog.com/

5. Every minute in the saddle counts. If you're going to do stuff like the London to Paris the best thing you can do is fit in as much time riding as you can. You can prepare as much as you like for hard work but only "getting used to it" can prepare you for 5-7 hours sitting on one of those things! Also, feel free to walk into bike shops and ask to test saddles, it's totally personal to you and if you're planning on spending that long on one you should find the one that works best for you. Fizik are a good call but can get pricey, Selle Italia women's specific are good also (I own a "Diva" which has lots of padding for longer rides).

6. Don't be afraid to climb big, horrible, painful hills - you might feel like you want to put this off but climbing can give you such a huge benefit it should never be neglected. This is best done on lonely sessions, I find, where you can find your rhythm and work out for yourself how you climb. I also highly recommend doing a few runs of the London to Brighton route, this should take you around 4 hours at a steady pace and you can cram in Ditchling Beacon at the end, great practise run and it's a lovely ride.

7. Buy some chamois cream. This is probably *the most* important thing you can do after buying a road bike.

8. When you ride, always have a good breakfast - skipping breakfast is possibly one of the absolute worst things you can do if you're about to embark on a ride! Porridge is the best thing in the world, slow release carbohydrates have magical powers! Also, on that front, always have plenty of fluids on you.

9. Look after your steed. Everything you need to know is in this guys website; http://sheldonbrown.com/

10. If you use an app like Strava (www.strava.com) to track your rides (which is really handy, and provides reasonable markers to track your progress), competition is healthy and trying to beat your own times is fun - but do not over analyse based on those figures. Strava is not totally accurate and a lot of people get super obsessed about beating people on there, which can lead to dangerous riding and over training.

11. News and event calendars for sportive events can be found at www.cyclosport.org – they have a great community, if you use Twitter it's also worth following them on there too (@cyclosport).

12. Things to take with you on every ride (no compromise, it's not worth the risks!) spare inntertube, mini pump, multitool (cycle specific), stick on patches (for quick fixing of punctures), one form of fuel be it a breakfast bar, banana or an energy gel (see information below about “bonking”) as well as your normal fluids, cash/bank cards, phone. If all of these don't fit in your jersey, pop them in a saddle-bag – you can get these really cheap from any bike shop, Wiggle stock an extensive range.

13. Bonking – letting or getting close to letting this happen is probably the worst thing you could ever experience (outside of having accidents). If you're on a long ride, on your own, and you hit the wall – there is not much you can do save hailing/calling a cab home with your steed. You can easily avoid it by ensuring you've stocked up on vital nutrients before and during your ride, mainly carbohydrates and sugars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall

14. Learn to ride in a group! There are valuable skills to be gathered from riding in packs, joining the Peloton is a humbling and technique refining experience which will give you wisdom far beyond what you would gain from riding solo. This link is very useful; http://www.cyclosport.org/12-Dec-2012/news/how-to-ride-in-a-group.html

15. What to wear!? Do make sure you get a pair of well fitted padded lycra shorts – your bum will thank you! A proper cycling jersey is a valuable commodity, while it may not seem so at first - those pockets do serve a valuable purpose! You'll lose fat-mass quickly, invest in layers before you experience the cold like never before. Hi-Viz - looks awful, saves lives. Helmet - 100% wear one, if you skip this on group rides you'll fast lose friends! Not only that but contrary to popular belief it does save lives, it saved mine & I have proof of this!

That's all I can think of for now! If any readers have anything to add please do let me know. I actually drafted this for some friends and colleagues who are getting into the sport, so it's a bit of a copy and paste. I have no idea where I was going with the pictures I've included! Hopefully this helps some confused newbies, we're all learning bit by bit & so it's good to share everything we can! Apologies to my counterparts outside of the UK as a lot of this is very Britain orientated.