Top 10 Basic Cycling Mistakes.
Going out without spares or money
Your bike is ready, you feel fit, it's a beautiful day, and you've headed out over a lovely route
that takes you to places you've never been.
As you reach the furthest point, on the verge of heading back home, disaster strikes. You
suffer a mechanical - a simple puncture, a loose pedal, and you have no spares with you
to fix the problem. What awaits you is an expensive taxi home or a long wait for someone
to come and pick you up.
Most bike problems can be fixed with a relatively small toolkit. Here at GCN we've got a roadside
mechanical playlist which explains what you need to take with you, and how to fix the
majority of problems that you might experience whilst you're out.
Going out without food or water
Hitting the wall or bonking is something that happens to every regular cyclist at some point
or another. The feeling is like no other, and once you've done it once, it's something
you don't want to repeat!
It simply means running out of energy, making you feel light headed, weak, and in some cases
incapable of walking, let alone riding.
Heading out on a decent ride without adequate food or drink is a common mistake for new
cyclists - our recommendation? Go out with more than you think you'll need, and also
enough money to buy food or drink if you run out.
Grabbing the brakes too hard unnecessarily.
Pros make riding look easy - cruising along at 50kph, at incredibly close proximity
to each other, and seemingly hardly even needing to concentrate.
If you're new to the bike yourself, however, you'll find it hard to comprehend how they
can be so smooth on these stiff, lightweight, twitchy road bikes.
One of the first things you should learn is not overreact to a hazard by grabbing the
brakes. Doing this will often lead to a lack of control over the bike, potentially locking
one or both of your wheels up, and also be a major hazard to those around you if you're
on a group ride.
Of course, there are situations when you simply need to stop as quickly as you can, but in
general, a light feathering of the brakes should suffice if you concentrate on making
sure you're riding in the correct position within the group.
Not having your saddle at the correct height.
One of the biggest indications of a novice bike rider is their saddle height - too high,
or too low, it's a common mistake.
Having your saddle at the correct height is important to allow you to be efficient at
putting power through the pedals, and it's not hard to do.
Ride along, and put your heel on the pedals. When the crank is at the bottom of the pedal
stroke, your leg should be almost straight. This should put you in an efficient position,
whilst still allowing you to still put your toes on the floor on either side of the bike.
Putting your rain cape in the tumble drier.
You've done your ride in the pouring rain on mucky roads, and upon returning home, proud
that you've accomplished something in adverse weather conditions, you strip off, get in
the shower and put your clothing in the wash. Not wanting to risk a wet chamois the following
day where you've planned a further epic ride, you shove everything in the tumble dryer,
rain cape included.
What comes out at the end of the cycle is perhaps slightly more aerodynamic than you'd
like, and may as well be resigned to your kid's wardrobe.
Being unable to unclip when you get to a junction or come to a stop.
Whilst this can be very funny for any onlookers, it's potentially very painful. Having bought
a new bike, you decide you need some dedicated cycling shoes and pedals to make you look
like a proper cyclist.
Everything is going fine, you're thinking about what you're doing and are having no
problems at all. That's when the problems start, as you get more and more comfortable,
you lose concentration.
As you're gradually slowing down towards the junction, remember to unclip your foot in
readiness. This will avoid any embarrassing moments when you finally come to a stop.
I missed the bean bag!
Braking once you're already in the corner.
Just like motor racing, or even general driving, the braking should be done before you get
to a corner, not through it.
Braking through the corner, with your bike banked over, is more likely to lock your wheels
up, a situation that will make it very hard to stay rubber side down.
Putting too much lube, and the wrong lube, on your chain.
Nobody likes a squeaky chain, and we all know what prevents it right? Oil, or lubricant.
That said, you need to make sure you use the correct type - pouring castrol motor oil through
a funnel probably isn't going to do your drivetrain much good, and yes, we have seen somebody
do that before.
Specific bike lubricants might be slightly more expensive, but they serve a purpose,
keeping everything running smoothly and not attracting too much dirt.
Try and lubricate a clean chain too - putting lube on top of lube, on top of lube, can leave
you with the ultimate in novice marks, a 4th cat tat on your calf.
Using the wrong gear or cadence
One thing which has continually developed on bikes is the number of gears. From the
early days, when to change your gear you had to reverse your wheel, to now, where
road bikes often have 22 gears, and mountain bikes sometimes even more.
Those gears are there for a reason, to allow you to ride at a comfortable cadence over
all sorts of terrain. Use them to your advantage, and don't get caught grinding at 40rpm or
spinning at 140. Also, make sure you learn which part of the lever moves the gears in
the direction you want - the last thing you want as your cadence slows is to accidentally
shift into an even harder gear.
Wearing pants or underwear under your shorts.
Visible panty line or VPL isn't a great look at the best of times, let alone underneath
your cycling shorts. The chamois inside cycling shorts is meant to be worn against your skin,
not against your Calvin Kleins!
Careful of those knees Matt, there's not much life left in them as it is!