Tips for Group Riding
Reprinted From Schwinn Website
Riding with your friends is a great way to enjoy cycling. You can challenge and inspire each other, get caught up on what’s happening, plus get to know new people. That said, there are several keys to making group riding safe and efficient. Ride no more than two abreast – if traffic and road conditions allow, riding side-by-side with a buddy is a great way to pass the miles. While riding two-up is allowed in most states, be sure to check local laws and use common sense.Ride with a group mentality - Remember you are one part of a large body. Ride predictably and don’t overreact. Look out for each other and be aware of what’s happening – then be sure to let the other riders know about it. Don’t lead a group into dangerous situations – don’t enter an intersection when the light has already turned yellow or jump across a stop sign if there isn’t enough space between the cars for the entire group to cross safely. Point out road hazards - broken glass, gravel and stones can be hard for others behind you in the group to see. Use hand signals to indicate turns and braking. Avoid sudden movements – swerving and hard braking can cause crashes in the group Stay in control of your bike at all times. Keep your hands on the handlebars and near your brake levers. Avoid using aero (triathlon) handlebars on group rides, as it is harder to react quickly from that position.Move to the right to let faster riders pass – You might hear the words “on your left”. This is the universally accepted way of saying “Hey, I’m moving faster than you, so let me play through.” It’s just that “on your left” is easier to say when you’re breathing hard.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Cleats, Clips, Clipless Pedals; To Clip In or Not To Clip In?
In a word, Yes.
High-end bicycles don’t come with pedals. Once you reach the point at which you would purchase a bicycle that costs what our cars cost in college, you have ridden some miles. Perhaps you’ve wasted money on low-end bicycles (I did), believing that no one in their right mind would spend more than a couple of hundred dollars on a bike(or so Sweetie informed me). Then, finally, you upgraded, and hopefully developed (or are developing) a preference for a pedal system.
Flat pedals are a great invention. You can pedal a bicycle in whatever shoes you have on at that moment—no special shoes required. The tradeoff, however is that you only use about 40% of your pedal stroke. That’s off the top of my head, maybe it’s less—but if you look at the physics of the pedal stroke you can estimate.
When your foot is in a rigid shoe, and cleated into your pedal, you train yourself to use the entire circle—more power, more muscle-groups, better workout. Riding long endurance rides, if you only used only 1/3 of your pedal stroke, you’d not only be working harder, you’d be isolating one muscle group.
To beginners, the idea of having your foot firmly attached to the bike is frightening. I promise you, after a couple of weeks of getting used to ‘clipless pedals’ you will find the thought of being without them frightening. Your foot can’t be knocked or jolted off the pedal by accident, so it increases your stability. More power, more stability, what’s not to like?
In addition, your cleats are attached to rigid shoes, so your foot doesn’t have to flex, and unconsciously ‘work’, inside your shoe. This will keep you from having foot cramps. And the hard sole makes the transfer of power more efficient. We are going to the trouble of pushing (and pulling) those pedals around, so we may as well reap all of the benefits in power transfer, yes?
And puh-leeez... don’t get me going about those old fashioned clips that used to tighten around your shoe. YIKES!
Off we go to the bike shop to make the salesman happy once again!
If you need to economize, save on pedal models rather than shoes. Try Nashbar.com. Ask questions!
Apologies to those of you who are happily pedaling around in your Dura-ace SPD-L’s, Look Keos, your Speedplays and Egg-beaters. This is, of course, aimed at the new cyclists among us.
Beth Travers
USA Cycling Certified Coach
High-end bicycles don’t come with pedals. Once you reach the point at which you would purchase a bicycle that costs what our cars cost in college, you have ridden some miles. Perhaps you’ve wasted money on low-end bicycles (I did), believing that no one in their right mind would spend more than a couple of hundred dollars on a bike(or so Sweetie informed me). Then, finally, you upgraded, and hopefully developed (or are developing) a preference for a pedal system.
Flat pedals are a great invention. You can pedal a bicycle in whatever shoes you have on at that moment—no special shoes required. The tradeoff, however is that you only use about 40% of your pedal stroke. That’s off the top of my head, maybe it’s less—but if you look at the physics of the pedal stroke you can estimate.
When your foot is in a rigid shoe, and cleated into your pedal, you train yourself to use the entire circle—more power, more muscle-groups, better workout. Riding long endurance rides, if you only used only 1/3 of your pedal stroke, you’d not only be working harder, you’d be isolating one muscle group.
To beginners, the idea of having your foot firmly attached to the bike is frightening. I promise you, after a couple of weeks of getting used to ‘clipless pedals’ you will find the thought of being without them frightening. Your foot can’t be knocked or jolted off the pedal by accident, so it increases your stability. More power, more stability, what’s not to like?
In addition, your cleats are attached to rigid shoes, so your foot doesn’t have to flex, and unconsciously ‘work’, inside your shoe. This will keep you from having foot cramps. And the hard sole makes the transfer of power more efficient. We are going to the trouble of pushing (and pulling) those pedals around, so we may as well reap all of the benefits in power transfer, yes?
And puh-leeez... don’t get me going about those old fashioned clips that used to tighten around your shoe. YIKES!
Off we go to the bike shop to make the salesman happy once again!
If you need to economize, save on pedal models rather than shoes. Try Nashbar.com. Ask questions!
Apologies to those of you who are happily pedaling around in your Dura-ace SPD-L’s, Look Keos, your Speedplays and Egg-beaters. This is, of course, aimed at the new cyclists among us.
Beth Travers
USA Cycling Certified Coach
Friday, January 2, 2009
Thoughts for the Day
Food has the inherent ability to help you get either really fast uphill or really fast downhill—your choice
Choose your food for its nutritional benefits.
Reminder: Eat colors
And don’t forget our fine sponsor: www.gotwheatgrass.com
All this who-ah about going fast; Why go fast? Why not just go along at a nice relaxed pace?
Example: It's September ’09... Let's say we have to cover 80 miles in one day. We can cover it, on one hand, in 4.5-5 hours; or, we can cover it in 8 hours. These hours are just ‘bike time’—not including our breaks. Which option makes our ‘bum’ happier?
Train fast AND slow, the rabbit AND the tortoise.
Choose your food for its nutritional benefits.
Reminder: Eat colors
And don’t forget our fine sponsor: www.gotwheatgrass.com
All this who-ah about going fast; Why go fast? Why not just go along at a nice relaxed pace?
Example: It's September ’09... Let's say we have to cover 80 miles in one day. We can cover it, on one hand, in 4.5-5 hours; or, we can cover it in 8 hours. These hours are just ‘bike time’—not including our breaks. Which option makes our ‘bum’ happier?
Train fast AND slow, the rabbit AND the tortoise.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Let's Start With Fit
If you have a bicycle, maybe you have already had a ‘fit’—measurements of your body taken to be sure that the bicycle is set up for you. Or perhaps your bicycle came out of the attic and you aren’t sure whom the bike originally fit. Don’t fit yourself to the bike.
Best case scenario, we all get new bicycles and every one of us knows not to just accept the bike as it is put together from the box. For every little moving part and screw-tightened detail on this bicycle, there is a way to tweak it so that it fits better. Okay, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but when the bike is fit correctly, by a knowledgeable bike-guy/bike-girl, a new rider avoids endless hours of soreness, loss of power, and aching joints and muscles.
Get your bicycle fit correctly—by a reputable professional!
Saddles, the term for those cute, little, sometimes torturous seats on which we plant our potentially vulnerable ‘SIT’ bones (and all our stuff), come in as many shapes and sizes as we do. Bike stores won’t come out and beg you to take up their time trying different saddles until you find the least harmful of the bunch, it’ll have to be your idea. Don’t be shy about asking. Bike stores know that it takes time to find the right match for you, and each saddle you try out that seems like a good match might feel totally incompatible the second hour you spend ‘aboard’. So most retailers give you a thirty day return policy. We all want to be nice and not take advantage, but in this case put your ‘butt’ first. Get it what it needs. It’ll pay off in the end! (pun intended ;)
Beth Travers
USA Cycling Coach
p.s. The big cushy saddles are NOT more comfy in the long run-- be a minimalist. You have to get used to being in a saddle (on, really) to be sure that you have picked one that fits your body.
Best case scenario, we all get new bicycles and every one of us knows not to just accept the bike as it is put together from the box. For every little moving part and screw-tightened detail on this bicycle, there is a way to tweak it so that it fits better. Okay, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but when the bike is fit correctly, by a knowledgeable bike-guy/bike-girl, a new rider avoids endless hours of soreness, loss of power, and aching joints and muscles.
Get your bicycle fit correctly—by a reputable professional!
Saddles, the term for those cute, little, sometimes torturous seats on which we plant our potentially vulnerable ‘SIT’ bones (and all our stuff), come in as many shapes and sizes as we do. Bike stores won’t come out and beg you to take up their time trying different saddles until you find the least harmful of the bunch, it’ll have to be your idea. Don’t be shy about asking. Bike stores know that it takes time to find the right match for you, and each saddle you try out that seems like a good match might feel totally incompatible the second hour you spend ‘aboard’. So most retailers give you a thirty day return policy. We all want to be nice and not take advantage, but in this case put your ‘butt’ first. Get it what it needs. It’ll pay off in the end! (pun intended ;)
Beth Travers
USA Cycling Coach
p.s. The big cushy saddles are NOT more comfy in the long run-- be a minimalist. You have to get used to being in a saddle (on, really) to be sure that you have picked one that fits your body.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Looking Down The Road
Nine months to go. It isn’t very long, really, when you are looking at the task of training your body to ride a bicycle 75 to 100 miles a day—each day—for a period of a couple of weeks.
There are issues; first, simply putting in the time—the actual hours—or saddle time as we call it. This done, your backside won’t become the biggest of your problems. Second, there is endurance. We are going to push our own weight plus the weight of the bicycle for hours at a time, up and down hills, through wind and weather. We will have to condition our legs, hips, and gluteus maximus to propel the bike along, and we have to condition our core muscles so that the long hours holding ourselves in position don’t exhaust us.
Speaking of exhaustion and endurance brings us to mental endurance. We have to condition our minds as well; we'll have to focus on our goals.
For every journey we take in life, there's a beginning. We know that if we don’t start, we don’t finish.
I am the great procrastinator, and maybe I’m not alone. But today, and each new today, we recommit, and we try not to put off training again until the week after we pedal into New York City.
Ready?
Its cool to start at the beginning. Ride around the block. If that's enough, stop. Tomorrow go around the block again. The next day go around your block and the next block over. Venture out on a greenway. We'll ride the eight hundred miles one mile at a time, so let’s train the same way.
We'll put together some training tips and post them one or two thoughts at a time. Feel free to ask questions and one of us will try our best to answer.
Beth Travers
USA Cycling Certified Coach
There are issues; first, simply putting in the time—the actual hours—or saddle time as we call it. This done, your backside won’t become the biggest of your problems. Second, there is endurance. We are going to push our own weight plus the weight of the bicycle for hours at a time, up and down hills, through wind and weather. We will have to condition our legs, hips, and gluteus maximus to propel the bike along, and we have to condition our core muscles so that the long hours holding ourselves in position don’t exhaust us.
Speaking of exhaustion and endurance brings us to mental endurance. We have to condition our minds as well; we'll have to focus on our goals.
For every journey we take in life, there's a beginning. We know that if we don’t start, we don’t finish.
I am the great procrastinator, and maybe I’m not alone. But today, and each new today, we recommit, and we try not to put off training again until the week after we pedal into New York City.
Ready?
Its cool to start at the beginning. Ride around the block. If that's enough, stop. Tomorrow go around the block again. The next day go around your block and the next block over. Venture out on a greenway. We'll ride the eight hundred miles one mile at a time, so let’s train the same way.
We'll put together some training tips and post them one or two thoughts at a time. Feel free to ask questions and one of us will try our best to answer.
Beth Travers
USA Cycling Certified Coach
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)