Road bike commuting advice

Sewinman

So I have been riding my road bike for a week or two and have fallen off once and nearly stacked it about 5 other times. I fell off after riding over a cable from a temporary traffic light - the cable moved and my front wheel tried to make a break for it. Other times the wheels have slipped on man holes etc.

Its got to the stage where i am pretty cautious and not enjoying the experince that much - particularly in the wet.

Is this normal or does ones riding skills improve? Any tips?

Is it easier to get feet out of spd type pedals?

thanks in adance,

Yours of Grazed Extremities.

Greg T

Sorry you are having a rough time....

I remember when I started riding in - I went through the learning process that you, learning my route, knowing where the hazards were, getting better with my bike skills. It does take some time before you can ride in day after day without incident or "near miss" but it is worth it.

You'll keep a charp eye on road cables from now now on....

Learning your route is a big thing, you'll learn where the slippy man holes are and take early avoiding action to navigate them.

Keep with it, if you are in doubt - pootle - especially in wet weather. I invoked Pootle screen last night when it was wet and blowy.

cougie

Are you just a little rusty on a bike perhaps ?

If you have to ride across things - make sure you hit them bang on - dont try and cross at an angle or you will come a cropper.

Manholes are slippier in the wet - why ride over them ?

SPDs are easier to escape than toeclips - but if I were you - I'd practice a bit more before I went to them.

Give it a bit of time and you will get into the hang of things. Maybe practice somewhere quiet at the weekend though - away from traffic to build up your confidence ?

Jen J

Sewinman wrote:

So I have been riding my road bike for a week or two and have fallen off once and nearly stacked it about 5 other times. I fell off after riding over a cable from a temporary traffic light - the cable moved and my front wheel tried to make a break for it. Other times the wheels have slipped on man holes etc.

Its got to the stage where i am pretty cautious and not enjoying the experince that much - particularly in the wet.

Is this normal or does ones riding skills improve? Any tips?

Is it easier to get feet out of spd type pedals?

thanks in adance,

Yours of Grazed Extremities.

I started biking a few weeks ago, and have come off properly 3 times since then - all of which have resulted in painful grazes/bruises that are a constant reminder of the fall (my right elbow is stinging as I type this)

I am still fairly terrified of getting on the bike, and am going to work later, and leaving work later, all because I'm putting off biking. However I'm starting to relax more once I'm riding, and starting to genuinely enjoy it.

My biking skills are rapidly improving, and my confidence is increasing. I tried clipless at the weekend, and although I did come off once, the difference in riding was fantastic. But as my commute is a just a mile long with 11 lights, I'll probably stick with clipless for long weekend rides.

I still get a sense of dread whenever I look at my bikes, but now there's a little cheeky smile there too

Sewinman

Wow Jen - well done for sticking with it!

I had been commuting on a hybrid and the level of skill needed to ride that was about 100% less. I think i am still learning the skills required for a proper road bike...getting my feet in the toe clips is a bother for instance.

Good tip re hitting things straight on...most of the near misses have been putting power down on bends. :twisted:

facemunk

when I first got my roadie I made the most astoundingly brilliant (not) slip on a manhole. Over I went, skidding down the road, right in front of the Ritz Hotel in rush-hour. A good morning's entertainment for oooh about a couple of hundred onlookers...

Early scrapes and bruises aside, I now ride in with confidence, it's practice that does it - you'll see :-)

cjcp

1. Ride away from the pavement, and outside any yellow or red lines. The lines are slippy in the wet, and general detritus/glass/guff and leaves tend to gather closer to the pavement.

2. Brake before you enter the corner, not as you're cornering.

3. Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike. Your feel for the bike and how it will respond will improve. As you say, skills should improve the more you ride.

dal105

When I first started commuting it was a regular talking point in the office as to whether I'd managed to complete my journey without crashing. Most of the times I fell off were because of issues with the road (ice, poor surfaces, obstacles)

I now haven't crashed for over a year (although I guess falling off tonight on the way home is now a certainty) , so I guess its mostly experience of looking ahead and also improvements to handling skills.

I think I'd recommend ditching the toe clips - I found them very hard to get in and out of when I used them. Once you've mastered the action, which you will within a week or so of starting to use them, clipless SPD type pedals are the way forward. I use SPD-SL road ones, but you might find the mountain bike type easier to get into, as they tend to be double sided.

Greg T

Sewinman wrote:

...most of the near misses have been putting power down on bends. :twisted:

Yep that's the puppy.

Pilot error.

As our man says do your braking before the bend and try to give yourself the space so that you don't have to change your line as you go round. Knowing your route helps as you'll know if there are any manholes / potholes / other hazards on the way round so you can choose your line early and avoid them.

Edited to add.

Try and not power round the bends until you stop falling off?

Eat My Dust

Greg T wrote:

Try and not power round the bends until you stop falling off?

lol, very sound advice!

Can I add that temp traffic lights and the cables they run across the road can indeed be a hazard. The best thing is to hit them straight on. That goes for any object you are forced to ride over. If you are used to riding a hybrid or MTB then switch to a road bike this can be a nightmare!

Sewinman

Thanks for all the advice chaps. I liken it to moving from riding a fat trecking pony to a race horse.

secretsam

Sewinman wrote:

I think i am still learning the skills required for a proper road bike...getting my feet in the toe clips is a bother for instance.

Good tip re hitting things straight on...most of the near misses have been putting power down on bends. :twisted:

1. try keeping the toestraps very loose, or not using them on the foot you put down at lights, junctions etc (most people put the same foot down each time...)

2. do you know what 'power oversteer' is on a (rear-wheel drive) car? same deal with bikes: power in a bend and the back wheel is forced away as it scrambles for traction, and off you go...

3. I sometimes find holding the bike loosely and standing up on the pedals helps negotiate nastiness - let the bike find its way, you are just a passenger

4. Beware white lines, etc in the wet...slippy

Dunston_checks_in

Agree with most of the above. One quick addition though: toe clips can be a real menace. If you're not feeling confident with them, I'd switch to MTB style SPDs as soon as possible and ride them loose. That will make a real difference.

the_hundredth_idiot

A tip from me (who made the switch from MTBer to roadie just in the last month) is to see if it helps to lower your seat a bit.

I don't mean so low that you risk chinning yourself with your knee (I think we all know the look I mean) but just a little so that your feet are closer to the ground and your centre of gravity a bit lower. I think the bike shop set my seat too high and I definitely felt nervous on the ride home. A couple of minutes with an allen key and an inch off the seat hight made a world of difference.

Sewinman

Dunston_checks_in wrote:

Agree with most of the above. One quick addition though: toe clips can be a real menace. If you're not feeling confident with them, I'd switch to MTB style SPDs as soon as possible and ride them loose. That will make a real difference.

I am pretty sure i would not have fallen off if i had not been in clips...i could not get my feet out and just sort of keeled over at quite a low speed. Good shout...

gandhi

Perhaps you need to chill out when you're riding? When things get sketchy, if you just stay relaxed, and don't panic, normally nothing bad happens. Most road bike falls that I see are when people decide they're going to fast for the situation, and they seize up.

Focus on staying calm and relaxed (tough after you've had a fall), and you can get away with a lot. Make sure that you're upper body isn't locked when you're riding. Keep your arms and neck relaxed, and you should find that the bike flows nicely and you'll have far fewer "moments".

biondino

Eat My Dust wrote:

Can I add that temp traffic lights and the cables they run across the road can indeed be a hazard. The best thing is to hit them straight on. That goes for any object you are forced to ride over.

Want to repeat this one. With the exception of the worst potholes (few and far between, thankfully), it is usually better to ride over an obstacle, however bumpy, especially in the wet, than to try a split second wrenching of the bike around it. Imagine if you're riding in the rain and see a manhole at the last minute, then try and go round it but catch the corner with a front wheel that's pointing in another direction - you're coming off every time.

Painted lines and manhole covers shouldn't be dangerous if you hit them straight on, so just avoid turning on them.

sc999cs

Sewinman wrote:

... does ones riding skills improve?

Yes your riding skills do improve, but unfortunately it's only by being in these circumstances that you learn to properly handle them. Lots of good advice so far but I'd just like to re-emphasise two of them:- hit obstacles square on, not at an angle; and relax while riding and let the bike do the work (SecretSam's point 3).