Cycling needs beginners. It needs cyclists and we all have to start somewhere.
The more riders on the road, the safer we all are. The more velo-infrastructure that gets built. The bigger the market for fresh bikes and whizzbang kit.
So if you’re new to cycling, or returning after a long break, you are a very important person. Come on in, the water’s lovely.
Here are 10 things I wish I knew when I got into road cycling, with an over 40s twist. Because I am over 40s. I am MAMIL.
Feel free to share your own best tips in the comments below.
It’s all about the enjoyment
Let’s say it together folks, cycling is fun.
We do it for chats and giggles, to bathe in nature’s glory, to titivate our fitness. An enjoyable alternative to the crushing mundanity of human existence. And because it’s in that small subset of exercise activities that involve cake.
If, as a beginner, you encounter someone that takes cycling so seriously that they suck joy from the room, you have my permission to smile mysteriously and drift serenely away from the interaction.
Most riders, experienced and new, do exhibit the symptoms of happiness when on and around their bikes. We are the majority. It won’t take you long to find us.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
There’s A VIDEO Version of This Post
Please to enjoy…
It’s not about performance
Well, it might be eventually, but, at the start, don’t overthink it.
IMHO ROFL TLDR, as an unqualified non-coach, ‘just ride more’ is my top advice for new cyclists. And, as I think about it, er, me.
You get 90%* [unsubstantiated claim alert] of the basic fitness benefit by doing greater volume. Which means riding more.
You’ll also boost your bike handling skills, your confidence on the road, your level of attractiveness to the opposite sex.
So just ride more. Worry about more specific training further down the line. Or not at all.
Get a bike fit – ideally before you buy a bike
This post is aimed at the older rider. And YouTube will likely show it mainly to men. So I’ll be more hardline on this.
If you’re taking up cycling over 40, it’s likely you are overweight, have a knee that keeps hurting, or suffer from persistent back pain. Perhaps you’re switching from a higher impact activity cos the writing is on the wall.
Keep reading that writing, the bit in brackets. It says to get a bike fit.
Riding a bike, in the right size, nipple-tweaked to suit your physiology, can sort all of these ailments right out.
An ill-fitting bike can make things worse and put you off cycling from the start.
It’s not just about injury prevention. A good bike fit gives you free power. Often you’ll go faster and further, with less effort and more comfort.
Yes they’re expensive. A professional fit with mobility assessment and all the analysis might set you back £250 or more.
But it’s an investment in your cycling future. Spread out for the rest of your bici-life, it works out at just £1 per year. Martin Lewis says ‘Simples!’
Find a group to ride with
Ride with other people as soon as you can. That might be a small gaggle of mates or by joining an established group or club ride.
You’ll get support, encouragement, advice. And you can share the lycr-embarrassment of clip clopping into the coffee shop in full cycling garb.
The velo-habit is more likely to stick if you have a regular cyclo-social.
For chaps over 40 in particular, where opportunities for real talk are increasingly rare, group bike rides are an amazing way to disconnect from a screen and lube up with like-minded gentlemen.
Amongst us handsome brooding types, prone to quiet erection, cycling can unlock deeper conversations. Riding side by side makes talking easier. Pretty sure there’s some science about that.
Anyway, riding as a group is good fun. Group etiquette – the hand signals, the shouts, riding as a bunch – doesn’t take long to learn. Most club rides not described as an A ride or a chain gang will go at the pace of the slowest rider.
So no excuses, go build some cyclo-social relationships.
You’re not eating enough (and missing the signs)
Totally running out of energy during a long hard ride is easy to recognise. Bonking, the hunger knock, the curate’s trouser press. You feel light-headed, nauseous, legs turned to noodles.
A stop is required to avoid total disaster. Possibly an evacuation request to your directeur sportif (wife/partner/favourite child). Possibly an evacuation demand from your waste disposal unit.
But there are other earlier, more subtle low fuel indicators. You’re a bit less chatty. Unexpected muscles start to cramp. You wonder if illness is brewing. You feel aches and pains that wouldn’t otherwise register on your emotional lidar. You’ve greater than normal trepidation for that upcoming climb.
Any of the above, and many more, are triggers to eat. Eating might not address them directly, but it will help you cope. And you’re likely under-fuelled anyway.
Getting some calories in at this point is the next best thing to having eaten an hour ago. When you didn’t because you were Remco Evanopoeling down a UK A road, impressing all those lazy motorists.
And on a related note…
You don’t lose weight by eating less on a ride
You fuel to do the exercise that gets the fitness, that allows you to recover, to go again, to get the fitness, and recover, and not get injured.
And you worry about losing the weight later. Or not.
Because now you are fit, with exercise-enhanced mental joie-de-vivre. And maybe the soft-around-the-edges dad-bod is a feature not a bug, particularly now you’re developing a magnificent set of thunder-buttocks.
You’re not drinking enough
For any ride under an hour, you just need to drink on the bike. And – guys, guys – hear me out, I suggest that drink is water.
For anything longer, you need to be sipping regularly, and something more than water.
My current preference is to keep two bottles on the go, one with the pure stuff and one with an electrolyte tablet. I’m a bit of a Thomas cramper, and the salts seem to help.
Others will add energy sachets containing carbs for additional fuel. Whatever tickles your downtube and doesn’t mess up your bowels.
The headline message though: don’t skimp on drinking for fear of needing a wee. Better that way than a full system meltdown through lack of hydration. And ride recovery will be quicker as well.
That high risk al fresco piss vista was worth it after all.
Get a bike computer sooner rather than later
As an absolute beginner, you don’t need a bike computer. But this website and my YouTube channel is founded on twelvety throusand reviews on the things so I’m going to recommend you get one. I predict a riot in the comments.
Certainly a top of the range Garmin is not mandatory. A basic GPS will suffice.
Even if you’re not wanting to get hung up on stats, it’s helpful to see a little bit of data on your handlebars: how far you’ve ridden, a general idea of speed. These will help inform the next ride and your sense of progress over time.
You can use your phone, but an always-on screen soon runs down the battery, plus who wants to expose their iPhone 23 to a rain-soaking and potential rough and tumble (coincidentally my perfect Friday night).
Also, you’ve reached a certain age. No one knows what to buy you for Christmas. Do them a favour by adding an ELEMNT BOLT, other computers are available, to your list.
We’re all scared of something
Whatever the aspect of cycling that you’re nervous about, riding in a group, getting a puncture, feeling self conscious in lycra, we’re all in the same boat.
Everyone has a ride or a distance or a climb that they’re shitting themselves about.
If they don’t, and they’re not a pro, then they might be a dickhead and should largely be ignored.
So don’t worry about worrying. Most concerns go away as you ride more. The rest you can solve by asking one of the nice cycling majority for help or advice.
Quick Fire Mega Bundle of Tips
Let’s up the hot tip count, machine gun stylee:
- Wear bib shorts – your gooch will thank you.
- If you buy a gravel bike with knobbly tires there’ll be more rolling resistance so you’ll go slower for the same effort.
- Progress to clipless pedals as soon as you can – you’ll use them eventually, everyone does, so bite the bullet.
- Drafting is great – get comfortable riding close to a rider in front – ideally someone in your group – and experience getting the same speed for 30% less effort. Remember, in time, to take your turn at the front.
- Own your space on the road – no need to be a dickhead, but be assertive. Use eye contact to ensure other road users see you.
- Carry tyre levers, an inner tube and a multi-tool on each ride. Practise fixing a flat tyre at home. Just-in-time learning on a damp, cold roadside is thoroughly unpleasant.
- And finally, when you go on a family holiday somewhere warm, rent a higher-end road bike with electronic gears. Actually, that last one’s just aimed at me. Feel free to steal it. The tip, not the bike.
Now, having blown right through my ten tip promise, let’s bring things into land with a slightly more philosophical…
Bonus tip
There is no higher level of cycling self-actualisation. Kung Fu Panda this ain’t.
There is no moral superiority to be afforded because someone rides for freedom and exploration rather than to rack up the stats on Strava. Or because they ride in farce–10 gales rather than besmirch themselves on Zwift.
So if someone suggests there is, normally in a comment with the form, ‘I do [this] rather than [that]’, where ‘that’ is normally some strawman cycling caricature, you have my permission to send said claim straight to your mental recycling bin.
A polite nod and a smile, whilst you think of nice things, like a chicken biryani and a backscratch, will suffice.
Hear me now, not that these main characters will.
We are not on a noble quest. Our cycling escapades, whilst important to us, do not matter to others.
We are not even the stormtrooper that hits his head on the door frame, never mind Luke Skywalker. We’re all just specks of dust on a tiny bit of grit in the interstellar slipper.
To leave on a positive mental note, talking of nice things to think about whilst we smile and nod, let’s all consider Princess Leia on Jabba’s boat.
