6 Cycling Tips for Anyone and Everyone

These Tips Are For You! Especially if it has Been A While!

1. Get out there and ride!

Don't make any excuses. The best way to get yourself in the mood to ride your bike is to DO IT! The more you do it, the more you'll want to!

If you find it difficult to find enough time during the day, start easy with a 15 minute ride. Once you start, you will want to ride more and more! Try to increase that until you are riding 30-60 minutes 2-3 times per week.

2. Don't want to ride alone? Find a group!

Sometimes riding by yourself can be less fun, and make you feel like staying home. Find a couple friends to ride with or look for an existing cycling group to get encouraged!

3. Invest in some gear

Throw away that old helmet from 1999. Its time to get yourself a new helmet, some cycling appropriate apparel, and some lights for night riding. You will also want to get some cycling tools like a pump, tire lever and a waterbottle. You will feel more confident on the road and investing money into the hobby will make you want to ride more!

4. Safety first!

This one may seem obvious, but make sure you are following all the rules of the road and paying very close attention to pedestrians, other cyclists and motorists. You never know what can happen out there on the road, so stay vigilant!

5. Lock it or lose it

Doesn't matter where you are. The trail, the city, somewhere secluded or packed... Don't leave your bike unattended or unlocked. Thieves are everywhere, and you don't want to make your bike an easy target!

6. Get regular tune ups

Make sure your bike is in proper working order before each ride. There are checklists available online that give you timetables for how often you should check various aspects of the bike's mechanics. Bring your bike to us at Circle City Bicycles so we can make sure everything is working and in good shape!!

Stay tuned to our blog for more cycling tips!

Cycling Tips - 9 Ways To Help Improve Your Ride

Here Are Nine Great Tips To Help You Be A Better Cyclist

1. To corner, enter wide and exit wide.

Carve a smooth arc through the apex of the turn: Start at the outside of the corner, near the center line. Aim toward the inside of the turn, then exit as far to the outside as possible. Do not cross the double yellow line.

2. Brake Less

It sounds counter-intuitive, but the harder you yank on the brakes, the less control you have over your bike. The best riders brake well before a corner. Plus, laying off the stoppers force you to focus on key bike cornering skills such as weight distribution, body position, and line choice.  

3. Look Where you Want to Go

"When riding a tricky or dangerous section of trail (or road), focus on the path you want your bike to follow, not the rock, tree, or other obstacle you're trying to avoid," says globe-trotting mountain biker Hans Rey.

 
4. Avoid Helmet Hair

"For God's sake, make sure your hair is under your helmet and not poking out the front," advises Garmin-Cervelo pro Christian Vande Velde

 

5. Take the Lane

You have a right to the road, so use it! It's safer than riding on the shoulder which is often cracked, covered in gravel, or worse. But don't be a road hog either.

 

6. Set your Suspension — And Check It Often

It's frightening how many riders hit the trail with poorly adjusted forks and shocks. Not only will droopy suspension make your bike feel like a wet noodle, it can also be downright dangerous. A few simple adjustments are all it takes to have your suspension smoothly sucking up bumps. Check online or in your owners manual to get specific instructions on how to set your suspension.

7. Clean Your Shoes Monthly.

Also, Wash Your Gloves  

8. Warm Up

A slow start primes your engine by directing oxygen from your blood cells to your muscles. Spin easy for 20 to 30 minutes before you begin to hammer.

9. Always Carry Cash

Money can't buy love, but it can buy food, water, a phone call, or a spare tube. Watch out for the rest of the tips in this five part series - every Tuesday right here on our blog.

Circle City Bicycles and Fitness

5506 Madison Ave.

Indianapolis, IN 46227

(317) 786-9244

www.CircleCityBicycles.com

Practicing Pedaling is the Path to Perfection

Get Your Pedaling Up To Speed With These Tips

One pedaling drill you can do on any ride with downhills is spinning the pedals as quickly as possible as you accelerate down slopes. To do this correctly, leave the bike in a gear that's too easy, one that forces you to fan the pedals to keep up with the speed of the bike. Your goal is to rev your legs as quickly as you can while remaining seated. At first, you'll probably bounce a lot on the seat. But, with practice, you should be able to stay in the seat and maintain a calm upper body even though your legs are spinning at supersonic speed. If you do this drill a lot, your pedaling speed and efficiency will quickly improve.





Try Rollers 

If you're willing to purchase a handy piece of cycling equipment, a great way to smooth your spin is to train indoors on rollers. Rollers consist of a frame with three spinning drums (one for the front wheel, two for the rear), with a rubber belt connecting the front drum to one of the rear drums. You put your bike on the rollers and start to pedal and you can balance and ride just like you do spinning down the road outside. Most rollers have optional equipment that allows increasing resistance because there isn't much drag from just the roller unit itself.

Develop A Winning Spin

Rollers require above-average balance and exaggerate any pedaling flaws. With enough practice, you naturally eliminate pedaling problems because they're so noticeable. And, when that happens, you ride faster with the same effort because your pedaling becomes more efficient and more of your energy goes into driving the bike. Think they're just for roadies? Actually, the concentration and spin improvement builds confidence and the ability to ride tight singletrack, maintain your balance in slick mud and skirt narrow ledges high in the mountains, too. 





Forced Spinning

A classic cycling trick to improve pedaling technique is riding a fixed-gear bike in the winter. Constant pedaling is required because you can't coast. And you must accelerate pedal speed on downhills because you can't shift. These factors combine to smooth your pedal stroke and force you to spin complete circles. Pick ride routes that avoid steep climbs and descents. You don't need to buy a new bike to pull this one off, either. A threaded-hub wheel, a track cog, a BMX chain and a few axle spacing tricks can turn your regular bike into a fixed-gear rig. We can help with the conversion.  

 


Try The Track

If you're one of the privileged few who can ride a track bike at a velodrome (a circular, banked track for cycling), you'll reap the same benefits as training on a fixed-gear bike. Never ride a track bike on the road, though. Brakes are a must on the street, and track bikes don't have them.

Keep Checking Our Blog For More Cycling Tips!

Circle City Bicycles and Fitness

5506 Madison Ave.

Indianapolis, IN 46227

(317) 786-9244

Enhance Your Daily Ride With These Encouraging Instructions

Avoid Soreness, Improve Handling, Being Alert and More!

Two easy and most overlooked ways to improve your bike's performance: Inflate the tires before every ride, and keep the chain lubed.

But, here are 14 more tips that you may not have thought of!

2. To avoid muscle soreness and fatigue, don't hunch your shoulders. Tilt your head every few minutes to stave off tight neck muscles. Better yet: stop to admire the scenery

3. If you don't have a chance to slow for an obstacle such as railroad tracks or a pothole, quickly pull upward on the handlebar to lift your front wheel. You may still damage the rear wheel, or it might suffer a pinch flat, but you'll prevent an impact on the front that could cause a crash.




4. Relax your grip. On smooth, traffic-free pavement, practice draping your hands over the handlebar. This not only will help alleviate muscle tension, but also will reduce the amount of road vibration transmitted to your body.

5. Periodically change hand position. Grasp the drops for descents or high-speed riding and the brake lever hoods for relaxed cruising. On long climbs, hold the top of the bar to sit upright and open your chest for easier breathing. When standing, grasp the hoods lightly and gently rock the bike from side to side in sync with your pedal strokes. But always keep each thumb and a finger closed around the hood or bar to prevent yourself from losing control if you hit an unexpected bump.

6. As your effort becomes harder, increase the force of your breaths rather than the frequency.

7. Stay far enough in the traffic lane to avoid being struck if doors on parked cars suddenly open. You'll likely hear some honks from motorists who don't understand why you won't pull to the right to let them pass— a honk in your ear hurts less than a door in your face.

8. On descents, your bike is much more stable when you're pedaling than when you're coasting.

9. Always ride with your elbows bent and your arms and shoulders relaxed. This prevents fatigue caused by muscle tension. It also allows your arms to absorb shock instead of transmitting it to your body.

10. When riding one-handed for any reason, grip the bar on top, next to the stem. If your hand is farther out - such as on the brake-lever hood - the bike is more likely to veer dangerously should the front wheel hit a rock, bump, or pothole

11. Get more life from your tires by switching them from one wheel to another. The rear wears more than twice as fast as the front, so swapping every 500 miles or so significantly extends their longevity.

12. Break up long rides with a 15-second sprint every 30 minutes or so- adding variety to a monotonous pace is better training, relieves saddle pressure, and stretches and relaxes your body.

13. After you grab your water bottle, don't tilt your head to drink. Tilt the bottle and squeeze the water in. You'll have more control.

14. The key to smooth, reliable, non-damaging gear changes when you're pushing hard is to ease your pedal pressure at the instant you move the shift lever. You need to lighten the load on the chain for about one revolution so it won't balk, crunch, or possibly break. Then hit the power again.



15. For optimal handling with 20 pounds or more of cargo, put approximately 60 percent of the weight in the rear panniers or on a rack, 35 percent on the front rack or panniers, and 5 percent in a handlebar bag.

Check out our other helpful post that lists the most common cycling issues and how to fix them!

Circle City Bicycles and Fitness

5506 Madison Ave.

Indianapolis, IN 46227

(317) 786-9244