The Top 4 Cycling Technique Tips
4. Use your gears and switch them before you get on the hill and have all the tension on the chain and cogs: All that popping and grinding and inability to shift gears under load is normal. You wouldn't shift your manual transmission car without putting the clutch in, so why would you shift a bike without letting up on the pedals a bit? And that goes for shifting in and out of the front chain rings as well as changing cogs on the rear cassette.
3. Keep your head up, and relax your elbows, shoulders, and hands slightly: Keeping your head up too high, with all the tension in your hands, neck, arms, and shoulders, will give you some aches and pains that are unnecessary and put you at risk for erratic handling of the bicycle in adverse conditions. Being loose allows your bike to respond just the right amount to stones, gravel, or wind. Looking where you are going is pretty obvious. After all, you wouldn't walk down the street in NYC looking at the sidewalk just in front of your feet as you'd get mowed down by other pedestrians, taxis, or cars.
2. Perhaps the most important thing to improve a rider's comfort is the position of the saddle: Having a saddle flat to slightly up will keep you from sliding to the front and allow you to be supported by the saddle in the places intended. You may have to lower your seat slightly from where it is now if you notice it pointing down, but you'll also notice all that pressure on your hands, neck, and back gets alleviated a bit. It's something I'm all too familiar with and one of the greatest things I learned from working with the legendary positioning and aerodynamics guru Steve Hed of HED Wheels.
1. Eat and drink often on the bike: The metric we used to use was a bottle an hour, and with the bigger bottles available today, it's just about right. You can very rarely drink too much water, and I recommend mixing a little electrolyte concoction to keep your reserves up. Eat your favorite solid foods early in your longer rides and save the gels and bars for later. I used to notice I was the first to start eating in longer TX road races and one of the last to be left in the field, even as a 40-something-year-old racing with the Pro/1/2 category.
3. Keep your head up, and relax your elbows, shoulders, and hands slightly: Keeping your head up too high, with all the tension in your hands, neck, arms, and shoulders, will give you some aches and pains that are unnecessary and put you at risk for erratic handling of the bicycle in adverse conditions. Being loose allows your bike to respond just the right amount to stones, gravel, or wind. Looking where you are going is pretty obvious. After all, you wouldn't walk down the street in NYC looking at the sidewalk just in front of your feet as you'd get mowed down by other pedestrians, taxis, or cars.
2. Perhaps the most important thing to improve a rider's comfort is the position of the saddle: Having a saddle flat to slightly up will keep you from sliding to the front and allow you to be supported by the saddle in the places intended. You may have to lower your seat slightly from where it is now if you notice it pointing down, but you'll also notice all that pressure on your hands, neck, and back gets alleviated a bit. It's something I'm all too familiar with and one of the greatest things I learned from working with the legendary positioning and aerodynamics guru Steve Hed of HED Wheels.
1. Eat and drink often on the bike: The metric we used to use was a bottle an hour, and with the bigger bottles available today, it's just about right. You can very rarely drink too much water, and I recommend mixing a little electrolyte concoction to keep your reserves up. Eat your favorite solid foods early in your longer rides and save the gels and bars for later. I used to notice I was the first to start eating in longer TX road races and one of the last to be left in the field, even as a 40-something-year-old racing with the Pro/1/2 category.
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