Road beginners/ pre-club

Toe knee

After my first 15mile ride yesterday I thought of this ,

I had previously been riding on my own ( had a road bike a month ) but after having a bad experience with a white van and considering going back to my hybrid, a kind experienced member offered to go on a ride with me ( wirral_paul ) .
We went out on a ride through wirrals finest villages, and what I learnt in regards to road positioning,hand signals,verbal instructions, eg club instructions, my confidence has well and truly been restored.

Now because of my experience yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to have a cycling group that could introduce the road beginner to the basics of road biking / club riding, maybe have a couple of experienced riders show new road riders on a weekly basis how to gain confidence on the road.

As a beginner you worry about , the bike you have , what to wear, your fitness level,where to ride ,how far to go,recovery,diet, hydration,basically just fitting into the cycling society.

So I thought if a group could be formed in your local areas to cater for any cyclist regardless of bike,clothing,fitness level,age. To be instructed by say an experienced rider at the front and back of a group maybe wearing green jerseys to warn motorists of new cyclists under instruction.

Also this would benefit cycling clubs as the people who had been on the learning group outings would be aware of the group riding,signals...etc and thus enable people to join clubs with an added confidence,and reducing the amount of learning the club had to provide to the beginner.

Let's see if his can happen on the Wirral first, please reply with your thought , interest in joining a group like this .

Thanks tony

BillyMansell

Much of what you talk about in terms of education and the development of skills and confidence could be covered by existing NSI training. Unfortunately NSI training is woefully underfunded barely covering the need from young children but there would be no harm in you finding out from your local host organisation (usually the county council) who your local NSI trainers are and seeing if any would be interested in training adults.

Whilst your own interest is in developing your skills and confidence prior to joining a club, there will be many adults taking up cycling who may not want to join a club but could benefit from training to build their skills and confidence so they can enjoy cycling more.

grechzoo

any good info online about all the stuff the OP said he learnt.

just starting out myself, will joina club but might not before i begin commuting so would like to make sure i know everything i need to to make it safer and more enjoyable on the road.