10 Tips I Wish I Knew as a Beginner Cyclist

how not to make your vagina flaps get really sore when you're riding okay and what did you learn there's nothing you can do you just need lots of kilometres right welcome back to the friday vlog series where today we're going to split the video into 10 parts i know that's slightly controversial but both my wife and i my wife was a beginner cyclist in 2019 and i was a beginner cyclist way back in 2009 we're both going to share with you our thoughts things that we wish we knew when we were beginner cyclists and there's going to be 10 of them with a little bonus tip at the end so let's get into it tip number two while these are in no particular sequence of order i could argue this is the most important one and that is don't underestimate the value of a good quality local bike shop like trilogy cycles here on the sunshine coast reason being when i first got into road cycling when i was a beginner i was very much focused on price finding the best deal look that's human nature but i wish someone told me focus on establishing a trusted relationship with a good quality local bike shop assuming you've got one in your area yes you might have a mate that can guide you and thinks he knows a thing or two about road cycling hey terrence yeah mate what psi do you reckon mate you got to go 120 in the front 150 and the rear is the fastest oh yes but there's nothing quite like being able to come to a local bike shop when you're a beginner cyclist to find out what are the best upgrades for you given your budget what are the best group rides to join in your local area based on current fitness levels what's the best cycling club to join given what your goals are in cycling and of course a safe haven when you run into mechanical issues tip number three and we are knocking out the big important ones first and that is when i was a beginner cyclist for the first few months i was a bit silly i rode around with my helmet strapped like that which is dangerous so i wish someone pulled me aside and said cameron first of all does your helmet fit your head properly how do you know that undo the retention system at the back can you fit one finger just between your head and the helmet then it fits then put the helmet strap on do it up tightly the old two finger trick two fingers between your eyes or eyebrows and the top of the helmet and two fingers just underneath your chin and the chin strap or you can do the old yawn trick at the bottom of the yawn you should be able to feel some tension in the strap make sure the v's are just below your ears and please if you're wearing cycling glasses ensure the arms go over the straps of the helmet reason being it's not the cool thing to do if you get into an unfortunate incident you come off your bike you don't want these glasses getting caught up in your helmet straps so tip number four and this has become more of a personal agitation of mine but i was guilty of this as a beginner cyclist see this cream right here nowhere on that label does it say ass smearing cream nor on the instructions does it say go out into the public and smear this cream all over your body like you're in a porno [Music] it's yummy cream which means you can put some on your chamois which is what i like to do little bits in here where the agitation spots are i put a little bit on my skin as well that's what i like to do before longer rides but please don't be the guy or girl that goes out into public giving yourself a reach around do it somewhere discreetly and remember less is more number five is i wish i had a simple strategy for saddle height when i was first a beginner cyclist i had no idea so what i want to do in this little section is share with you a simple strategy you can use which has come from expert bike fitter neil stambre but before i share that strategy with you i did want to thank today's video sponsor being surf shark and notably for this section i wanted to talk about booking travel because recently old mate lookie what we have here a hundred bucks less he got a hundred dollars off his car hire booking recently and we had a question how well with sur shark award-winning vpn when you log on to your computer or your device instead of connecting straight to the internet and opening yourself up to all sorts of security risks you go via a secure server and with surfshark you can choose from over 30 200 servers in 65 different countries now believe it or not many of these travel websites will display different prices based on your location or country so what you can do use surfshark's vpn to change your location and see if that changes the price when you're on the same travel website and if it does and it may just do this you could save yourself a few hundred dollars on your next trip so if you're keen to give this a go check out the link below and enter the promo code cam nickels to get your 83 off with three months extra for free when you sign up to the 24 month plan so what you need to do for this saddle height strategy is sit on the bike either on an indoor trainer or go out onto the road and if you're out on the road get the bike up to speed and then unclip extend your leg out so your heel can comfortably reach the pedal without having to lean into it then drop the seat height by 15 to 20 mil and then ride in that position for two to three minutes at roughly your 20 minute intensity and take note on how the position feels then slowly raise the saddle height in increments of three millimeters and then repeat the same two to three minute test and see how it feels until you get to a point where things start to feel a little unusual you'll possibly start compensating somewhere notably you'll feel a chopping sensation at the bottom of the pedal stroke something will just not feel right so drop your saddle height back two to three millimeters and then you've got a good rough starting point number six make sure you're seen particularly when riding solo wear bright colored kits or jerseys like this one here or something like this when i first started road cycling i followed the lead of my mates who had been riding for longer than me and at the time dark kits were in fashion so blacks navy blues etc so i bought a navy blue kit and it wasn't until probably two years ago to be honest with you i got hit by a car unfortunately riding solo and guess what colored kit i was wearing at the time it was a black kit so i was lucky to get through that but moving forward now i learned a valuable lesson be seen as much as you can on the road i now wear these bright coloured kits from the peddler these bold kits i also run flashing lights even during the day you can see a red one on the back there i can't find my front though at the moment so a little bonus tip don't leave your lights your bike lights on the floor when your kids are around because you'll probably never find them again groups did you take my bike i think i might be in the pool so for tip number seven let's hear from my wife first cleats thing that is so basic you know i fell over at a set of traffic lights at the celtex on beach road very famous cycling gathering location yes so what do you wish you could find in order to learn how to clip into nothing it was exactly right you just have to get out there and risk your life and look to be fair i did a similar thing to my wife and i wish someone told me up front that bike handling skills it's kind of like training you want to progressively make things more difficult as you become more experienced so if you haven't ridden one of these things ever before or if you haven't ridden a bike in a number of years skinny tires aerodynamics these things are quick so what i would recommend is buy some flat pedals first come to a quiet environment like this local criterium truck i've got here in my hometown and just practice taking off riding around corners stopping get a feel for the bike first then once you're confident here go out onto the road and get confident out there might take you three four five weeks once you're confident out there go buy some clip in pedals and come back to your quiet environment practice clipping in clipping out stopping starting clipping and clipping out and then once you're confident here you can go out onto the road number eight i wish i understood the importance as a beginner cyclist of zone two training particularly putting constant pressure on the cranks while training the aerobic engine none of this you see when i first got into road cycling i was in my late 20s and at the time i was going to the gym i was pumping on eating sultana brand and playing aussie rules football and those two things my friends they are intense and that was my mindset things needed to be intense so i carried that mindset into cycling and every single ride was hard when i was a beginner cyclist and that is not how it should be so if you have not done endurance sports before or it's been a long time since you've done them say it was back in your school days you will have an underdeveloped aerobic base engine and what i realize now particularly as a road cycling coach is that is a huge opportunity for improvement on the bike so get yourself a heart rate strap go out and figure what your max heart rate is perhaps look for a local five six minute com and rip it apart doesn't have to be your max it can be almost your max and take 70 to 75 percent of that max heart rate and between your hard sessions on the bike whatever they look like do zone two sessions concentrating on constant pressure on the cranks keeping your heart rate around 70 to 75 percent now those of you with a power meter do an ftp test and go about 70 of your ftp tip number nine is i wish as a beginner cyclist someone had pulled me aside and really emphasized the importance of bunch or group riding progression now i've got some examples to show you here as this was my first proper bunch or group ride which is the tuesday world champs on beach road in melbourne australia it's full of a graders and good riders that know how to go fast now while that was the ride that enticed me further into the world of road cycling the fact is i was not ready for that level of skill and speed combined far from it where i did learn a thing or two was through my local cycling club so joining a local cycling club and doing e-grade criteriums or what they call latte laps where you get coached on bunch riding etiquette from an experienced rider as you go around so before you seek out the local fast bunch ride or any bunch ride for that matter hit up your local cycling club see what rides they've got available on a weekly basis to learn bunch riding etiquette contact your local cycling coach and go out on the road with him put your ego aside and listen and learn about bunch writing etiquette if you want to learn more on this topic you can check out a little video i've got up there and this is by no means number 10 on the list this is very important this one and that is i wish someone pulled me aside as a beginner cycler sat me down and drilled this one home perhaps the most and that is once you've got a good quality local bike shop you've got your helmet on properly you've developed your skills you're confident i wish i was sat down and told to be predictable out on the road so the bonus tip originally it was going to be about upgrading your wheels get some carbon hoops do not underestimate just how good a nice set of carbon hoops is but i've got something more important to say and look i might get a few dislikes from this comment so if you're with me on this and you've enjoyed this video please don't forget to give it a like that would be greatly appreciated and that is can we all please just agree if you're going to expose your skin out on the road just shave your bloody [Music] tell you legs i'll tell you

Channel: Cam Nicholls

Views: 1,302,071

Keywords: cycling tips, beginner cyclist, clipping in, base training, road bikes, group riding, bike skills

Id: 1VsKPt5l6vw

Length: 11min 58sec (718 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 29 2021