five skills that every beginner cyclist should learn... learn to ride slow that sounds really easy
it's not as easy as you think i'm gonna caveat this by saying ride at whatever pace you want
to ride at your ride is nobody else's business you can ride whatever pace you like whatever you enjoy
but if you're new to cycling and you want to start riding longer distances then learning to ride slow
is a skill in itself when you're presented with challenging terrain like steep hills
don't feel as if you have to ride up it as fast as possible the majority of you watching will
probably have gears on your bike learn how to use them effectively and remember there's no pressure
to get to the top of a climb quickly often the difference between riding steady and riding
your absolute maximum upper climb is only a few minutes and even if you're cycling in a group
people are often happy to wait because it's a little break at the top of the climb anyway
a chance to refuel doing hard efforts on the bike can make you fatigue really quickly
because you're using different energy systems within your body that's what causes lactate to
build up and the burning feeling in your legs if you're feeling that you might be riding harder
than you need to be so try utilizing your full range of gears and seeing how far you can go
if you look at the kind of effort that ultra distance athletes put in they'll limit themselves
to a certain wattage and very rarely go over that because of how fatiguing it is to do those hard
efforts looking into the training effects further if you look at a five zone system the training
benefits that you get riding low zone two are very similar to riding high zone two or even low zone
three but you'll be tiring yourself out much more doing the latter you're better off riding
easier on those steady days and then saving your hard efforts for the hard days later in the week
holding a wheel or drafting you can save up to 30 of the energy it takes to keep you moving forwards
by riding behind someone and you'll be saving even more energy drafting multiple riders in a bunch
that's why you see cyclists riding in close groups together and is one of the main tactics
that dictates bike racing learning to ride closely but safely behind someone is a fantastic skill
to learn as a beginner because the more you get into cycling the more you'll find yourself using
it for this skill practice does make perfect so you need to find someone who you can trust
perhaps an experienced rider is better you can ask to ride smoothly in front of you
and you can practice riding close to the wheel straight away you should be able to feel
how much easier it is and you'll be able to notice the difference as you drop back
how much less benefit you get this is a good time to experiment and don't worry about getting too
close because you'll still be getting a benefit even 10 meters back it's just slightly less reduce
the gap as you get more confident and try your best to not overlap their back wheel with your
front wheel while you're practicing if you're overlapping wheels and they need to make a sudden
movement because there's something in the road that you need to avoid they could swerve and that
could cause an accident so always err on the side of caution you're still going to be getting that
benefit and you're at the most risk of having an accident if you're the one overlapping your
front wheel if you find yourself getting too close just feather your back brake very lightly and that
should brush off enough speed that you can move back to a safe distance what you don't want to
do is grab your brakes too hard end up really far back and then having to ride hard to get back on
this tip has featured numerous times in past videos that i've made and for good reason i think
it's one of the most important skills that you can learn eating while riding now that doesn't mean
riding and eating at the same time well that is a useful skill this just means eating during a ride
even very experienced cyclists do get this wrong in fact the fitter you get the more you can kind
of get away with it but you're still going to be creating problems later on if you don't eat
properly and if you want the best out of yourself have the most fun be the most comfortable you can
be perform the best whatever your goal is then eating regularly during a ride is essential now
the food doesn't have to be anything fancy it can be as simple as a banana maybe not
quite like i mean that's ready for banana bread for stuff that's high in carbohydrate your body
even the skinniest person has a ample store of fat to utilize carbohydrates uses a fuel a lot
quicker and uh you want to be putting it back in i'll go for sweets without gelatin in bananas jam
sandwiches gels and bars made by specific cycling brands are fantastic but they're more expensive
and you're paying for the convenience this is a connecticut caffeine gel there's caffeine
in it as well so it's going to wake you up but really you're paying for the packet and how easy
it is to open and eat from if i'm doing a really fast ride i'll probably take something like this
rip it with my teeth and you can get it in your body just with one hand stuff like chocolate
bars can be good but as demonstrated by pete in a recent video sometimes they can just become a
chocolate gel as bad as the mars mars bars are literally just jealous in the summertime as you
get more confident you may want to experiment with eating while riding it's a really useful skill to
have just take it easy do it at slow speed to start with some people might end up doing
group rides where you can't dictate where the stop's going to be or people don't want to stop
at all because you want to cover more ground so consider practicing it as you get more into riding
one of my favorite little hacks is cutting with scissors straight over the top of a sweet packet
and then putting that whole thing in your jersey pocket so you can reach behind and just take one
sweet out at a time works better with small sweets and then you can eat little on often
prepare to stop preemptively this actually encompasses a couple of different skills now
this will eventually become second nature but when you want to come to a stop unclip early if
you're new to using clipless pedals anyone else falling off at two miles an hour because they've
forgotten they were clipped in i know i have put your story in the comments particularly if you're
stopping at traffic lights or junctions you want to be focusing on your surroundings for safety
reasons if you're coming to a complete stop then shifting to an easier gear before you've stopped
is a good habit to get into as well doing it while you're rolling is way easier than
lifting up your back wheel clicking through the gears and then pedaling around with one leg
while you're stuck at a junction when you should really be concentrating on
when you're going to set off again now i do want to point out during this section that you don't
need clipless pedals they do have a host of benefits because they're really efficient
good for power transfer a road bike is already going to feel weird compared to a commuter bike
so if you're making the change from commuter to road and then you're adding in clipless pedals as
well that can be a lot to deal with in one go it does seem to be the dumb thing that everybody who
starts road cycling gets a set of clipless pedals but i really don't think it is necessary for a lot
of people to start with there's actually one guy who does the national 24 hour time trial champs
every single year and he's got flat pedals and i think he's like top five did before so
it doesn't stop him do what works for you just don't feel pressure that you have to get some
right the last one i've left till last because is it an essential skill no but is it a useful skill
yes through and off or a chain gang knowing the basics of this before it's just suddenly sprung
on you during a group ride can be really valuable essentially through and off is a rotation of two
lines of riders one moving forwards and one moving backwards the riders moving up eventually do their
turn in the wind putting in the most effort and then swing off to one side to move backwards
down the line and then rejoin the moving up line at the back doing this you're always protected
from the wind except when you're on the front so it's a really efficient way to ride and make
sure everybody does their fair share of effort you'll see professional riders slipping into this
formation once a breakaway has been established so everyone does their fair turn you cover lots of
ground quite quickly and it's one of those skills that everybody in the uk at least learns when
they're riding with clubs often it will be done on the way back from a ride if there's a nice stretch
of uninterrupted road you can practice this with as little as four people so you've got enough to
create those two lines so consider giving it a go with your friends next time you're out riding just
to see what it's like keep in mind the previous tips in this video about holding a wheel and
not overlapping and you'll be perfectly safe and remember you don't have to be riding super close
to start with just by practicing this skill you'll develop as a rider get more comfortable riding
close to people and be more confident when you're riding around others that marks the end of my list
of skills that i think would benefit beginners obviously there are going to be loads more so let
us know in the comments section what you think is an essential skill for beginner riders and
we can get a discussion going i'd like to hear more from people who have just got into riding
and aren't necessarily that interested in road cycling specifically there's loads of people who
just want to ride bikes for fun not training or anything like that so let us know in the comments
how you found it i really hope this video was useful if you did find it helpful please give us
a like and a comment down below and subscribe to this channel for more and i'll see you guys soon
you