Advice to newbies
My blog description says I'm a newbie, but I've been at this for about three years, so I guess I'm not all that "new" at it anymore. And newbies are actually asking me for advice (see the comment on my last post)! So maybe I should finally start doing something that I'm really good at -- giving advice to other people.
Today's advice is on learning how to drink while riding...
When I first started cycling after a break of many many years, I was scared to death to let go of the handlebars for even a second. I had a bottle cage on my bike, but that was just for holding the bottle so that when I stopped I could take a drink. Well, my former coach caught on pretty quickly when he saw that I didn't drink once on a 45 kilometer ride (my first ever "long" ride -- seems kind of short to me now). He took me to an empty parking lot and had me ride around in circles. At first, he told me just to take my right hand off the handlebars and try to touch my bottle. After we did that for a while, he told me to try taking the bottle out of the bottle cage. And finally, I got to actually drink from the bottle. This took some time and it wasn't as easy as I'm making it sound. Also, it took a while before I was willing to do this out on the road and even longer before I actually felt comfortable doing it.
Really, there's no way to learn how to do this other than just doing it. Find a place to ride where you won't be bothered (or endangered) by traffic and practice just touching the bottle briefly. Do that until you know exactly where it is without having to look down. Do it a lot. Then, when that becomes comfortable, try taking the bottle out of the bottle cage. If you can't get it back in at first, just stop and put it back (yes, it is possible to grab your brakes with a bottle in your hand). Keep practicing this new skill until you can put the bottle back. Again, the trick is to learn how to do it without looking -- that's what will make you feel confident and unafraid. The drinking part is easy -- once you can take the bottle out and put it back, drinking won't be a problem, so I won't even bother explaining that part.
Generally, it's a good idea to ride with two hands, but learning how to ride with one is important, as well (we all have to wipe our noses or push up our sunglasses or scratch an itch at times).
Now I need to take my own advice and learn how to take my left hand off the handlebars so that I can open and close my shoes while on the bike...
Today's advice is on learning how to drink while riding...
When I first started cycling after a break of many many years, I was scared to death to let go of the handlebars for even a second. I had a bottle cage on my bike, but that was just for holding the bottle so that when I stopped I could take a drink. Well, my former coach caught on pretty quickly when he saw that I didn't drink once on a 45 kilometer ride (my first ever "long" ride -- seems kind of short to me now). He took me to an empty parking lot and had me ride around in circles. At first, he told me just to take my right hand off the handlebars and try to touch my bottle. After we did that for a while, he told me to try taking the bottle out of the bottle cage. And finally, I got to actually drink from the bottle. This took some time and it wasn't as easy as I'm making it sound. Also, it took a while before I was willing to do this out on the road and even longer before I actually felt comfortable doing it.
Really, there's no way to learn how to do this other than just doing it. Find a place to ride where you won't be bothered (or endangered) by traffic and practice just touching the bottle briefly. Do that until you know exactly where it is without having to look down. Do it a lot. Then, when that becomes comfortable, try taking the bottle out of the bottle cage. If you can't get it back in at first, just stop and put it back (yes, it is possible to grab your brakes with a bottle in your hand). Keep practicing this new skill until you can put the bottle back. Again, the trick is to learn how to do it without looking -- that's what will make you feel confident and unafraid. The drinking part is easy -- once you can take the bottle out and put it back, drinking won't be a problem, so I won't even bother explaining that part.
Generally, it's a good idea to ride with two hands, but learning how to ride with one is important, as well (we all have to wipe our noses or push up our sunglasses or scratch an itch at times).
Now I need to take my own advice and learn how to take my left hand off the handlebars so that I can open and close my shoes while on the bike...
posted by bari | 19:33
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home