First significant thing I noticed was back in the '80's was buying a 2nd hand Raleigh Road Ace the frame was 531 and it felt like I'd lost two stone the way it flew along the road compared to the usual steel scaffold tubes I was used to, 12 speed non index Ultegra
From then on Deore xt index thumbshifters on my White Spider
So many things since then
I'm not as young as I used to be.
Keep your thumbs wrapped round the grips.
Keep your thumbs wrapped round the grips.
Except when climbing. Serious, if you can't stop the front from wandering go to a hook grip, it changes the forearm angle and enables you to pull hard down and back.
Old Ken told me that and I still use it (may be different now on LLS bikes, don't know, never ridden one)
Maybe road (or now gravel too) orientated. Old boy on one of my first group rides asked me which foot I kicked a football with. Then told me when riding along to focus on my other leg, and my 'good leg' would follow along and do the right thing. 35 years later I still think of him and that comment nearly every ride.
I never did get to look as cool as the guys on the cover of MBUK!
That cyclists become more and more sucked in by marketing every year. And more and more affected by fashion.
Falling off hurts less if you don't fall off.
Bikes made for racing on, don't always make the best bikes for the average punter.
That cyclists become more and more sucked in by marketing every year. And more and more affected by fashion.
Anything developed when you were starting out cycling was the right thing for the job, everything thats come along since is fashion and marketing, right?
Bikes made for racing on, don’t always make the best bikes for the average punter.
See also chainrings and cassettes.
Grease all the moving parts. Except for the braking bits.
Speed helps.
I can use bikes and cycling as an analogy for almost anything.
Secure your tools and particularly boots in the back of your tipper van.
Fitness is only rented, never owned.
i have forget nearly everything i have learned.
but one thing sticks with me.
you get the same buzz every time you let your brakes off and fly downhill
got the buzz as a 10 year old. get the same buzz as a 57 year old.
If you can’t fully commit then don’t try or there’s a good chance it will end badly.
You develop a 'spidey-sense' that that car there is going to underestimate the speed you are going round this roundabout and pull out on you. Consequently, you find yourself preempting all sorts of life-threatening shenanigans.
Change into an easier gear before you realise you need one
Put your money in the working parts of the bike.
There's (almost) always someone faster than you, so don't worry about it.
Don't judge a ride by statistics. This works both before and after the ride.
A trail called "Rollercoaster" will likely have more climbing than you expect.
That feature will still be there next week, and the week after, so don't beat yourself up if you're not feeling it.
Deore is fine, anything more is nice, but mostly just show.
Your fastest mate will always be riding a 10 year old sack of shit, with seized pivots and 1 working brake. There's something to learn there.
Less is more.
Less gears
Less weight
Less squish
More fun
More fit
More fast (generally, off-road, and excluding ebikes!)
Bikes made for racing on, don’t always make the best bikes for the average punter.
So true.
It's always worth getting out for a ride.
A bike that was fun to ride 3 years ago is still fun to ride today, no matter what new toys have come along since.
Wearing the right kit makes all the difference. But sadly it's not always the kit you think you need in the car park/your back garden before you start riding.
Keeping on top of basic routine maintenance saves a load of hassle on the trail/in the workshop.
Bonkings not fun.
Cycling makes you hungry.
Making do with and enjoying what i have and not falling for every single new marketing ploy. I’m not sure how some mountain bikes have got to 10k. Buying good bike clothing.
Fitness is only rented, never owned.
It's amazing how different the attitude to "fitness" there is between the folks who do it for a living, and punters. You often hear of folks like Greg Minaar who will reveal in interviews that he hasn't been on a bike "In Months" in the off season, or that folks will stress endless over a single race coming in 5 months, when pros are effectively racing every weekend, sometimes everyday...
It took me a long time to learn this
Ride your bike for fun first and foremost not for training.
Mudguards make sense however bad you think they look.
That most other riders are faster than me.
Mudguards make sense however bad you think they look.
The longer the better.
No matter how bad your feeling a bike ride can only make things better.
And any day on your bike is a good day.
You never don't feel better after a bike ride.
I have this as a spreadsheet name on the front of my laptop. It's a list of dates, weather, type and duration of ride, how I felt at the start (usually reluctant or very reluctant) how I felt after (always great).
So when I look out of the window and say "nah" I can always find a colder, wetter day when I felt the same, went out and came back happy.
^^What Stevenmenmuir and bigJohn said.
and...
If it fits ride it.
It's not about the bike,it's all in the mind.
Miles givsya Smiles.
Disagree, many times I've felt worse after a bike ride.
For those of us that still use inner tubes
After removing flat inner tube check inside of tyre at least twice for embedded thorns , metal, glass, stones etc......which leads onto I wish I'd a brought along more than one inner tube with me!
Cleaning your chain and cassette is always worth the hassle
You often hear of folks like Greg Minaar who will reveal in interviews that he hasn’t been on a bike “In Months” in the off season, or that folks will stress endless over a single race coming in 5 months, when pros are effectively racing every weekend, sometimes everyday…
Related to this, many folk will spend hours online stressing over every last component or worrying if they've got the "right" gear ratio for a certain hill rather than actually...riding the bike.
That cyclists become more and more sucked in by marketing every year. And more and more affected by fashion.
But have you seen / do you remember what we were wearing and riding in 1990-91? : ) At least the fashions have changed to something a little less garish.
Those little key loops inside camelbacks- use them for your car keys
Being basically fit and confident on a bike is a far better life than relying on a car for transport.
It's not about the bike. The bike detail is just a fine tune on the experience and/or a separate point of design and technical interest - the important thing is to get out and have the right attitude towards the riding.
The further you ride the more emotive the experience can get. Sounds like guff but there's something about being on a bike through dawn until after dusk that I get a lot from and repeating that on a multi-day ride only increases that feeling.
You're a happier rider when you understand what you want and what works for you, rather than listening to brands who are telling what you need.
Grant Petersen, Jeff Jones and Jan Heine are more right than they get credit for.
I'm massively suspicious of almost all bike industry carbon fibre products.
It doesn't get easier, you just get quicker.
Shake Dry jackets are pretty amazing - bone dry at the cafe on Saturday's ride and jacket was bone dry when I went to put it back on after tea and cake....
The other thing that constantly amazes me is how crap most people are at fixing punctures on group road rides, it should only take 1-2 mins to swap an inner tube assuming nothing goes badly wrong.
