{"id":55,"date":"2020-04-20T09:10:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T16:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestrides.org\/manual\/?page_id=55"},"modified":"2023-02-13T19:32:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T03:32:55","slug":"how-to-ride-part-1-your-first-ride","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bestrides.org\/bikeschool\/?page_id=55","title":{"rendered":"Your First Bike Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever. (Lance Armstrong)<\/em><\/p>

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first pedal stroke. (Lao Tzu Chain)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How Uncomfortable Is Riding a Road Bike?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we begin, I\u2019m going to repeat what I said at the beginning of the Buying a Bike chapter, because it\u2019s a central concern of non-riders: how painful is riding a road bike? I know that before I took the plunge, I stopped people on road bikes and asked them, \u201cHow much does it hurt to ride one of those things?\u201d Non-riders know that road riding hurts your back, your butt, your hands, your neck, your feet, your knees, and probably a few other parts. These agonies are things cyclists put up with to go fast, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. Road riding is perfectly comfortable. No back pain. No knee pain. No butt pain. No nothing. It\u2019s all a myth. Pros commonly ride road bikes for 4-6 hours a day, every day, without pain. Racers in RAM (the Race Across America) ride for 24 hours a day for several days in a row, and if they do it right they feel only tiredness. Orthopedists often prescribe cycling for patients with knee pain. If your road bike hurts you, in any way, that\u2019s a problem that needs to be fixed\u2014I\u2019ll help you figure out how, throughout this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most notorious myth is, road riding causes back pain, because you\u2019re bent over like that. Again, no. I suffer from chronic lower back pain. A few times a year, I\u2019m stretched out on the floor unable to move. But on my worst day, if I can manage to get my leg over the top tube, I can ride my bike without discomfort. That\u2019s because bending over only hurts when you have to support that posture with your back muscles. On a bike, you\u2019re supporting yourself with your arms. To prove this, kneel down next to a bed and bend over, laying your chest on the mattress. Isn\u2019t that relaxing? See how that doesn\u2019t hurt your back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to assume that you know how to ride a bike to the grocery store, but you\u2019ve never ridden a road bike as a sport or serious recreation. What do you need to know to graduate from one to the other? There\u2019s a lot of ground to cover, so we\u2019ll do it in two parts: this chapter is all you need to know or do as you prepare for your first ride. The Advanced Skills chapter discusses the more advanced riding skills you can get by without on Day 1 but will want to start working on ASAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Mindful<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything in this chapter is a lot to think about while riding a bike, and, frankly, more is coming. You don\u2019t want to think about all of it all the time or you\u2019ll go nuts. If you want to not think about technique on a social ride, that\u2019s OK. Hey, if you never want to think about these things, that\u2019s OK\u2014you\u2019re allowed to \u201cjust ride your bike.\u201d Most people do just that. But I\u2019m frankly coming from another mindset, where you want to do things well, you want to make the riding as rewarding, as effortless, as efficient, as effective, as (dare I say it?) artful<\/em> as possible. Because it\u2019s fun to do things right and well. It\u2019s what yoga practitioners call being mindful\u2014doing the deed consciously and with an intention of grace. If you\u2019re that sort of person\u2014if you\u2019re the sort of person who, if there\u2019s a better way to pedal, wants to know about it\u2014you\u2019ll want the stuff in this chapter and the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way of thinking may seem strange\u2014after all, it\u2019s just riding a bike. Do I really think about how<\/em> I\u2019m pedaling when I ride? Yes, on a training ride. The same way a serious baseball player thinks about their swing when they’re in the batting cage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do a Basic Bike Fit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the bike is \u201cyour size,\u201d we need to do some tweaking before we ride. Your LBS should work with you on most of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saddle angle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The saddle should be level to the ground. Ignore anyone or anything that says different. Lay a carpenter\u2019s level along the top to check. To make sure it worked, go for a ride and try sliding forward and aft on the saddle\u2014it shouldn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re going downhill or uphill more in one direction than the other. Tipping a saddle nose down is particularly dire, because it invites back and hip problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saddle height<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a big deal. By far the most common cycling problem I see in other riders is a seat that’s too low. And the penalty for a too-low seat is huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many complex formulae for determining saddle height, and you can google them and use them if you want to. If you want to keep it simple, you want a saddle height that uses all the muscles in your legs. If the saddle is too low, you can\u2019t extend your legs so you lose power, and you put unnecessary strain on your knees\u2014drop your saddle to an absurdly low level and try to ride up a hill to feel this beyond dispute. If the saddle is too high, you\u2019ll have to rock your hips or point your toes to reach the bottom of the pedal stroke, both power-robbing behaviors. You want to use the full stroke of the leg but never quite straighten it, because at that moment you lose power. So we want a pedal-to-saddle distance that, when you\u2019re pedaling with level hips and feet level to the ground, leaves just a slight bend in the knee at the bottom of the stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can eyeball this (or better yet have a friend eyeball this): sit level on the bike cleated in with your pedal at 6 o\u2019clock and your foot level to the ground and look at your knee\u2014it should be slightly bent but no more. Another test is to assume the same position but lock your knee\u2014your heel should be slightly angled toward the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most beginning riders want a saddle that\u2019s too low because that\u2019s what they\u2019re used to from townies (it makes it easier to put a foot on the ground), so you can assume you\u2019re one of them and just keep raising your saddle by small increments until something tells you that\u2019s too far\u2014either you want to rock your hips or point your toes, or you just feel a dead spot at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Don\u2019t stop when it feels \u201chigh enough\u201d\u2014go to too high, then back off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general I encourage you to not be fussy about bikes, but this one thing is worth obsessing over, because the cost of even a slight error is high. Every time I rent a bike, I raise the saddle to what feels and looks right, ride for ten minutes, realize that on the climbs I’ve got no power and my knees are killing me, raise the seat a half inch, ride for ten minutes, realize that on the climbs I’ve still got no power and my knees are still killing me, and raise the seat another quarter inch. At last, full power and pain-free riding!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saddle fore and aft position<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maximum power comes when you\u2019re driving straight down onto the pedals, which turns out to mean your knees are directly over the pedals at 3 o\u2019clock. If your saddle is behind or ahead of this spot, you\u2019re making riding harder than it has to be. It\u2019s the difference between lifting twenty pounds that\u2019s positioned directly under you and lifting it when it\u2019s two feet in front of you. This position can\u2019t be eyeballed, so you need a plumb line (ask a friend to assist or lean against a wall). Sitting square on the bike with pedals at 3 and 6 o\u2019clock, drop a plumb line from the little indentation immediately below your forward kneecap down through the pedal. The line should bisect the pedal spindle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many racers obsess about this measurement. And there are personal preferences\u2014many riders like their saddles a bit behind this \u201cideal\u201d position. And of course you move around on the saddle, so the perfect position for sprinting isn\u2019t the perfect position for climbing. I\u2019ve talked to respected wrenches who said, \u201cPut the seat post in the middle of the saddle rails and forget it.\u201d So I think ballpark is OK on this issue. Measure it once to make sure you aren\u2019t way off, then mark the position on your saddle rails with Gorilla tape (saddles have a tendency to work their way back on the saddle rails).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Handlebar drop<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may well want to raise the height of your handlebars. But don\u2019t do anything unalterable here, because this is one measurement on the bike that is going to change if you\u2019re new to riding\u2014the longer you ride, the lower you\u2019ll want your handlebar to be, unless you have back issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Begin by measuring the distance from the top of the saddle to the ground, then the distance from the top of the handlebar to the ground, substract one from the other, and that\u2019s your handlebar drop\u2014the distance your bar sits below your saddle. If you\u2019re old, inflexible, or new to cycling, you\u2019ll want that distance to be small, with the bar about 1\u201d below the saddle. Racers like it large, with the bar as much as a foot below the saddle, because they want to get as low as possible to minimize wind resistance. Everyone else is in between. Start out with your bar high and lower it as you gain confidence and become more aggressive in your riding. But don\u2019t try to replicate the upright position of your townie bike\u2014you want to be bent over some, carrying some weight on your arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three ways to effectively raise a handlebar. They\u2019re all doable by a handy beginner, but you may want to discuss them with your LBS or have them do it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n