23 Tips for the Best Cycling

About 90 million American adults ride a bike at least once a year, nearly 30 million cycle regularly for recreation, and a few million even commute by bicycle, according to a recent article in American Demographics. Those numbers may rise in the next few years, thanks to federal legislation that encourages local communities to build cycling into their transit plans. That's good not only for the environment, but also for the nation's health, since cycling is one of the best forms of exercise around. It gives the heart and circulatory system a workout; it puts little stress on joints (except perhaps the knees); it can burn 400 to 700 calories per hour; and if you own a bike, cycling is free and can be done just about anywhere.

Here are some steps you can take to improve cycling performance, safety, comfort, and enjoyment:

Use your head

1. Absolutely crucial: always wear a helmet. Of the nation's 800 annual cycling deaths, head injuries account for about 60%. If all cyclists wore helmets, perhaps half of these deaths and injuries—especially in children—could be avoided. Choose a bright color, and make sure the helmet fits properly. It should sit horizontally on your head and shouldn't move about.

Do the right thing

2. Brake right. To exert optimal pressure, brake with your hands at the ends of the levers. For a quick stop, as you press the brakes firmly, slide your buttocks to the very back of the saddle. This will keep the rear of the bike down so that you don't flip over the handlebars.

3. On a long downhill, don't stay on your brakes. That may overheat the tire's rim and could cause a blowout. It's safest to "feather brake"—that is, tap the brakes, applying intermittent pressure. This is wise in wet weather, too.

4. Don't pedal in high gear for long periods. This can increase the pressure on your knees and lead to overuse injuries such as biker's knee. Shift to lower gears and faster revolutions to get more exercise with less stress on your knees. The best cadence for most cyclists is 60 to 80 revolutions per minute (rpm), though racers pedal in the range of 80 to 100 rpm.

5. Going uphill, shift gears to maintain normal cadence. On a long hill, conserve energy by staying in your seat.

6. When cycling at night or when visibility is poor, wear brightly colored, reflective clothing, and use your headlight. In fact, wearing bright colors is a good idea at any hour. Also consider a rear strobe-type light (attached to the bike or your belt) to enhance visibility at night.

Easy rider

7. Make sure your bike fits. Handlebars, saddle, wheels, gears, and brakes can all be adjusted to match your size and riding ability, but the frame has to fit from the start. To find the right frame size, straddle the bike and stand flatfooted: on a road bike, there should be one to two inches of clearance between your groin and the top tube. On a mountain bike, the clearance should be two to three inches or even more.

8. Position the saddle right to protect your knees. At the bottom of the stroke, your knee should be only slightly bent. If your knee is bent too much, the seat is too low, and you will lose stroking power and strain your knees. If the knee locks when extended, or if you have to reach for the pedal, the seat is too high, which can also stress the knee. The saddle should be level.

9. Position the handlebars correctly—one inch lower than the top of the seat. Drop handlebars (preferable because they allow you to change your riding position) should be about as wide as your shoulders or slightly narrower. Some cyclists who suffer from neck or back discomfort may prefer upright handlebars.

10. To avoid saddle soreness, get the right seat. The hard narrow seats on racing bikes can be particularly uncomfortable for women, who tend to have widely spaced "sit bones." Special anatomically designed saddles—wider and more cushioned at the back—are easy to install. Gel-filled saddles or pads or sheepskin pads can ease the pressure and friction.

11. Change your hand and body position frequently. That will change the angle of your back, neck, and arms, so that different muscles are stressed and pressure is put on different nerves.

12. Don't ride in the racing "drop" position (with your hands on the curved part of the handlebars) for a long time. This may cramp your hands, shoulders, and neck.

13. Unless you're an experienced cyclist, don't use those special aerodynamic handlebars—shaped like an upside-down "V"—which let you lean forward on your forearms and thus reduce wind drag and increase your speed. These increase the risk of injury.

14. After a long uphill, don't coast downhill without pedaling. As you climb up the hill, lactic acid builds up in your muscles and can contribute to muscle soreness. By pedaling lightly but constantly while coasting downhill (even if there's little resistance) you can help remove the lactic acid.

15. Keep your arms relaxed and don't lock your elbows. This technique helps you absorb bumps from the road better.

16. Wear the right shorts if you cycle a lot. Sleek cycling shorts have less fabric to wrinkle or bunch up, so there's less chance of skin irritation. For extra protection, choose cycling shorts with special lining or padding to wick away perspiration and no seams at the crotch.

17. Don't wear headphones. They can block out the street sounds you need to hear in order to ride defensively. Cycling with headphones is a misdemeanor in some areas.

Good road sense

18. Ride with traffic, obey all signs, and give right of way to cars.

19. Use hand signals to alert drivers to your intentions.

20. Try to make eye contact with drivers as you pull into an intersection or make a turn, so they know your intentions and you know that they've seen you.

21. Don't ride side by side with another cyclist.

22. Watch out for storm drains, cattle guards, and rail-road tracks. They're all slippery when wet. And if you don't cross them at a right angle, your front tire may get caught.

23. When cycling in heavy traffic, on a narrow road, or on winding downhill roads, ride in the lane with the cars, not to the side, where you're not as visible and may get pushed off to the side. Of course, if a car wants to pass, move out of the way.

Source: Foundations of Wellness, wellnessletter.com

Neck Problem?

Neck problems are most often due to poor cycling posture.

An occasional source of neck trouble is poor adjustment of a helmet, specifically, a helmet which is too far forward on the head. If the helmet is too low in front, the rider is forced to tilt the head upward to keep the helmet from blocking the view forward. Sharp backward bends in the neck can cause severe problems, so make sure that your helmet is properly fitted for your riding style.

Riders with a more aggressive riding position need to wear their helmets farther back than those who sit more upright.

Poorly fitted eyeglasses can also cause this problem. If your glasses slide down your nose you may have to tilt your head up higher to be able to be looking through, not over, the glasses.

Source: Harris Cyclery: Bycling & Pain by Sheldon Bown.

Choosing the Right Handlebar Width

Part of a perfect fit is having the right-size bar.

For road handlebars, have somebody measure the distance between the "points" on the front of your shoulders. This is the basis for finding the bar width that allows your arms to be straight while in the drops or on top of the hoods.

Then you have to find out how the handlebar you want is measured.

There's no set standard on how road handlebars are measured. Most are measured from the center of one drop to the center of the other. If the bar you're interested in is measured center to center, simply add 2cm to your shoulder measurement to find the right size--so if the points of your shoulders are 40cm, you want a 42cm handlebar.

Some bars are measured from the outside edge to the outside edge of each side of the bar. For those, you add 4cm--so a 44cm bar would fit 40cm shoulders.

SHOULDER MEASUREMENT
Measure the little pointy places on the front of your shoulders, because the arm radiates from these points. Add 2cm to this measurement for a center-to-center measurement, 4cm for outside-to-outside.

CENTER TO CENTER
Cinelli, Terry, Profile Design, Ritchey, Dimension. Salsa
These brands are measured from center to center--buy the size that's 2cm wider than your shoulder measurement.

OUTSIDE TO OUTSIDE
ITM, TTT, Deda
These are measured outside to outside, so add 4cm to your shoulder measurement to find the right size.

Source: Bicycling Magazine Website

Crank Length

The right crank length, like any other part of fitting a bike, boils down to body size and riding style. Longer cranks provide more leverage for pushing large gears at a low cadence in climbing, time trialing, and the like. Riders who sprint or otherwise use a high cadence will do better with standard crank sizes.

Longer cranks tend to cause a sharp bend in the knees at top dead center, right when power begins to be applied. Cranks that are too short won't be as efficient, as sticking to higher cadences involve the leg mass moving around more than with a shorter crank.

For general road racing and touring, those with road frames smaller than 21" (54 cm), or people less than 5'9", will want a 170 mm crank. Frames from 21.5" to 24" (55 to 61 cm), people from 5'9" to 6'1", will probably want cranks from 170 to 172.5 mm. Those with frames over 24.5", typically over 6'2", tend to want cranks of 172.5 to 175 mm. Be sure to read our article about your optimal frame size.

The story isn't over, of course. If you are a track races, reduce this estimate by 2.5 mm, more if the races are short or the track is steep. If you have frequent knee problems, shorten the cranks by 2.5 to 5 mm, and adjust your gear choices downwards to reduce the stresses your knees have to endure from mashing a crank with more resistance.

If you're calculating this to use an a mountain bike, use cranks 2.5 to 5 mm longer than on a comparable road bike. If you ride time trials or hilly races, add 2.5 mm to your crank. For pure hill climbs, add 5 mm.

Source: www.bicyclesource.com

Saddle sores are history!

"My bum hurts!" is probably the number one complaint of new cyclists, especially those who choose to get back into cycling by doing a 50 mile charity ride with no prior preparation!

For most people, the soreness quickly recedes and after a few more day's of riding, getting on a bike is no longer painful. It's a matter of getting your bum used to sitting on a saddle, preferably an 'anatomical' one, and your back and shoulders used to the new sitting position.

Of course, there are ways to minimise this initial discomfort. Check your saddle isn't too far forward on the 'seat post' and make sure it's a decent width. Many bikes do not come ready fitted with comfy enough saddles.

If, after alteing your riding position through trial and error, moving the saddle forward a touch or fitting a wide - possibly sprung - saddle or a suspension seatpost, and you're riding in proper padded cycle shorts, you're still uncomfortable, maybe you might be on the wrong sort of bike altogether? Many of the mountain bikes in the shops are designed for racing and so sling you far forward into an uncomfortable position. Racers are used to this position and it's quite comfortable for them but for the rest of us a more 'sit-and-beg' position is desirable. Hybrids are normally more upright and so more comfy for beginners. Dutch roadsters are even more upright. But, as was made clear above, you don't want to be so upright that hardly any of your weight is being supported by the handlebars. Again, aim for a happy medium.

If all else fails, why not try a recumbent? These are laid-back cycles with comfy, deck-chair like seats. They take a bit of getting used to but have been godsends for some riders who might otherwise have had to retire from cycling.

SETTING A SADDLE

Height
Saddles set too high or low can lead to knee injuries. Find the right position by sitting on your bike and putting your heel on a pedal in its lowest position. The saddle and seatpost are the right height when your leg is straight (but not locked). The seatpost should not be extended above the inscribed safety limit. Buy a longer seatpost if necessary.

Fore-aft
Most saddles have rails by which they are attached to the seat post clamp. Undoing a locknut or Allen key bolt will enable you to slide the saddle forewards or backwards. With the pedals horizontal to the ground you should be able to draw a vertical line from the front of the forward knee through the centre of the pedal spindle.

Angle of tilt
For true comfort on a bike the tilt of the saddle is crucial but is largely a matter of taste. Women tend to like the saddle nose pointing to the ground slightly, to relieve pressure on the pubic area. That's why women's saddles are shorter than men's. The Terry Liberator saddle gets round this problem by cutting a hole out of the nose.

By making just minor adjustments to the saddle's tilt you can radically improve your comfort. Try your saddle at different angles and ride about for twenty minutes or so to check which angle suits you best.

With thanks to Carlton Reid and BikeBiz, the UK cycle industry webzine for this article.

Source: BikeBiz/ photo courtesy of JustGiving.com