I embark on my first adventure tonight.

goodster1

Okay ill be honest not an adventure, more a 12 mile round trip on my first ever road bike.

I have no idea where this obsession with road bikes came from i watched the tour de france for the first time this year and i was instantly hooked.

ill be honest i am rather nervous, the roads and those who occupy them worry me however im sure there is no reason for this to be the case.

Has anybody got any tips for me?

Thanks,

G.

goodster1

I have some Cateye lights, i have inner tubes and spare tyres, i have had a practice on my clipless pedals while holding onto a wall, i found it easy enough however when riding i'm sure it will be more difficult.

looking forward to it.

w00dster

As above has said, ensure you are lit up, both rear and front. Ensure you have appropriate spares and repair kit, don't forgot your pump. Download Strava and set your account up now!
Most importantly, have fun and be safe. Don't worry about your speed, you may find the ride more difficult than you expected. Hope you enjoy it, report back how you got on.

goodster1

w00dster wrote:

As above has said, ensure you are lit up, both rear and front. Ensure you have appropriate spares and repair kit, don't forgot your pump. Download Strava and set your account up now!
Most importantly, have fun and be safe. Don't worry about your speed, you may find the ride more difficult than you expected. Hope you enjoy it, report back how you got on.

What's this Strava? stat tracking? would be cool to track my progress.

arran77

goodster1 wrote:

w00dster wrote:

As above has said, ensure you are lit up, both rear and front. Ensure you have appropriate spares and repair kit, don't forgot your pump. Download Strava and set your account up now!
Most importantly, have fun and be safe. Don't worry about your speed, you may find the ride more difficult than you expected. Hope you enjoy it, report back how you got on.

What's this Strava? stat tracking? would be cool to track my progress.

It's a website for keeping a track of your rides.

You can upload data from your Garmin or other device like a mobile phone and then you can see data on your ride / route etc.

It's a good way to track progress so I'd set up an account if I were you.

BrandonA

Good luck. I'm sure you'll have fun.

In regards to pedals. Try to anticipate when you are likely to need to stop and ensure you unclip one foot before you start breaking. I'd rather unclip early and then not need to stop than end up stopping when I've not unclipped.

I wouldnt' worry about taking a spare tyre. As you as you take a couple of inner tubes and a good pump you will be fine most of the time. I assume you know how to repair/replace an inner tube?

cougie

I'd always run with two lights at the back - just in case one fails. They're so cheap its worth getting some LEDs - even if its just one to go on the helmet or whatever.

Reflectors are useful for night too - on the wheels and pedals show up really well in dark places.

Enjoy.

craker

Try to overtake the cyclists in front of you without making it look like you're trying.

I suppose you need to look at The Rules

goodster1

may sound silly but i do know how to change inner tubes on tyres but i have never done it... would you recommend having a few practice goes?

freezing77

goodster1 wrote:

may sound silly but i do know how to change inner tubes on tyres but i have never done it... would you recommend having a few practice goes?

Practice in the warm and dry at home. Much better than having to do it for the first time in the cold and dark when it is pi**ing it down.
You can then iron out any snags when you are not under any sort of pressure.

CiB

freezing77 wrote:

goodster1 wrote:

may sound silly but i do know how to change inner tubes on tyres but i have never done it... would you recommend having a few practice goes?

Practice in the warm and dry at home. Much better than having to do it for the first time in the cold and dark when it is pi**ing it down.
You can then iron out any snags when you are not under any sort of pressure.

Practice? Have a few goes in the kitchen, then when it's dark change into shorts & tee-shirt, go outside and do it, even better if you can sit on a pavement under or maybe not quite near enough to a streetlight. Ideally it'll be raining too. It's a pretty safe bet that when you do have a flat that will the prevailing weather at the time.

You can reduce the chance of a flat by keeping your tyres firmly inflated, 100-110 psi will do, and riding on the smoother road surfaces worn down by the nearside wheels on motor traffic. You'll be in the right position on the road and are much less likely to hit anything that might cause a flat, other than pot-holes etc.

cougie

+1 on the practicing changing.

Riding at night is a bit trickier as the potholes are less obvious than they are in the daylight and there might be other things you hit too.

Initialised

oxoman wrote:

Make sure your lights are good and be visible, ride approx 18" from the kerb be assertive

18" is still riding in the gutter and is not an assertive position, you should be 1-2 metres out depending on speed and conditions, you'll be in the leftmost tyre line (as CiB suggested) which is usually visible to motorists and will give them a clear indication of your line so will reduce the number of close passes and leave you with plenty of room to escape and has the added bonus of being constantly swept clear of puncture fairy teeth.

Get in the habit of dodging potholes etc... to the right as it encourages drivers to give you even more space.

Pituophis

I always said I would never be seen dead in one of those "gay" bright yellow jackets with the reflectors all over them.
I do most of my riding in the evenings, and after the last two winters I've just bought my first one so I can be seen alive in it instead.
Think the first wear might be a bit traumatic but I expect I won't care less after that. :roll:

Two rear lights is a good call.

qube

Maybe he meant the bright, happy colour!!

Pituophis

Qube wrote:

Maybe he meant the bright, happy colour!!

That's exactly what I meant, some bigoted people are always quick to jump to conclusions. :shock:
Seriously, I didn't think the expression was considered a slur on homosexuality any longer, but had just morphed into modern language as after all, it did when it once just meant "happy and gleeful".

ben@31

goodster1 wrote:

What's this Strava?

It's addictive and changed my rides from a slow bimble into an effort to get a good result.

Which isn't a bad thing.

Keeps me fit, gives me ideas of new routes and motivates to get out cycling more. I like to use it as a diary of how many times I've been out this month and how far I've cycled, I like to set an objective to aim for, for example cycle and run 125km this week. Before anyone moans, you don't have to compete against others you can do it against yourself, I know I'll never get some KOMs around here, so I just map my routes and keep a log of what I've done.




If you see anyone cycling on a windy day. I mean really really windy... He's probably going for a Strava segment
Runnning segment leaderboards tend to be more "accurate".

poacher13

Initialised wrote:

oxoman wrote:

Make sure your lights are good and be visible, ride approx 18" from the kerb be assertive

18" is still riding in the gutter and is not an assertive position, you should be 1-2 metres out depending on speed and conditions, you'll be in the leftmost tyre line (as CiB suggested) which is usually visible to motorists and will give them a clear indication of your line so will reduce the number of close passes and leave you with plenty of room to escape and has the added bonus of being constantly swept clear of puncture fairy teeth.

Get in the habit of dodging potholes etc... to the right as it encourages drivers to give you even more space.

Dude are you sure?? 2 metres from the kerb in the dark and make sure you swerve to the right to encourage drivers to give you more room? Either your taking the pi55 or lucky to still be alive!! :?

Initialised

poacher13 wrote:

Initialised wrote:

oxoman wrote:

Make sure your lights are good and be visible, ride approx 18" from the kerb be assertive

18" is still riding in the gutter and is not an assertive position, you should be 1-2 metres out depending on speed and conditions, you'll be in the leftmost tyre line (as CiB suggested) which is usually visible to motorists and will give them a clear indication of your line so will reduce the number of close passes and leave you with plenty of room to escape and has the added bonus of being constantly swept clear of puncture fairy teeth.

Get in the habit of dodging potholes etc... to the right as it encourages drivers to give you even more space.

Dude are you sure?? 2 metres from the kerb in the dark and make sure you swerve to the right to encourage drivers to give you more room? Either your taking the pi55 or lucky to still be alive!! :?

The advice is to ride in the leftmost tyre line this is usually 1-2m from the kerb.

Do you want drivers to pass you with 18" to spare or would you prefer a little more?

I find that until you are in the middle of the lane drivers (in general, there are always idiots) give you as much space as you take from the edge, it's like a cat judging whether it can fit through a space with it's whiskers. The driver's brain will pick this distance to pass before they are even aware of it. By riding 'well away from the kerb' you are exploiting a neurological shortcut (honed on the plains of Africa hunting on game trails, selected for by avoiding getting trampled while out getting dinner). You are doing the driver's 'thinking' for them, chances are they wont have time to change their mind, override instinct and pass closer. If they've seen (even if they haven't consciously registered) that you tend to swerve right to avoid obstacles they will give more space.

Yes it really works, I might get one close pass per week on the daily commute riding like this, when I used to hug the kerb it was a lot more common. Yes you get to odd irate mouth breather but if you've got 1-2m of road to escape into you've got a much better chance of survival than if you only have 18" of gutter.