Advice for an true beginner

quozl

Before Friday I'd never ridden a bike - I never learnt as a kid and now I'm mid 30s

I got an hours lesson from rothar.ie on Friday (excellent, would definitely recommend), and spent 2 hours on Sunday on my brother-in-laws bike teaching myself to turn in UCD.

That's the stage I'm at now. I can go in a sort of straight line and I can turn. Mostly I wouldn't be reliable at turning yet, anything too sharp or down-hill and it's going to be 50/50! Anything that involves me guaranteeing following a line less than 1m wide to avoid being hit by a car is going to be very risky too

The aim is to be commuting to work by bicycle as soon as possible

You'd be surprised how difficult it is to learn to ride a bike purely from a logistics point of view- I had to drive to UCD (about 3 miles) and get my brother-in-law to ride his bike there and then drive back, and then the same when coming back. A bike, when it's not a form of transport is a bloody awkward thing to move around!

I'm thinking about renting a bike from the phoenix park bike bike rentals and spending a couple of hours going around there this weekend. Can you keep completely separate from the traffic as a cyclist in the phoenix park? I don't want to mix with traffic yet.

Any other suggestions? I live in Ranelagh (beechwood) and can't find anywhere handy to practice locally. There's a very small park 6 or 7 minutes walk away (Belgrave square) but I'd guess that cycling's banned in there and I don't want to be intimidating anybody who'd have to share a path with my irratically cycling self.

I'm going to get a hybrid bike on the BTW scheme, so the other thing I'm really interested in is suggestions on cycling routes to take from Beechwood Ranelagh to the James's Street end of Thomas street. (here's the start and end points - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5921860)

Is Rathmines or Ranelagh noticably better for cycling? There are a tonne of cyclists in Rathmines which is a plus but IIRC the buses share cycling lanes and there's less room than there would be going through ranelagh. Though as a habitual-walker I don't really notice the traffic details much

Mr. Grieves

Main roads in Ranelagh and Rathmines are both quite busy at rush hour. I'd often cycle this route if I want to get away from traffic: http://goo.gl/maps/K30dP

For practicing, you could go in the back gate of Gonzaga on Park Drive and cycle round the pitches.

smacl

quozl wrote: »

Any other suggestions?

Get up for a few early morning weekend cycles around your neighbourhood, e.g. 6am on Saturday or Sunday, to get used to the bike with minimal traffic on the road.

Crow92

There's around 22km of designated cycle tracks in phoenix park. The weekends can get busy sometimes if the weathers good like the one just gone so maybe a weekday would be better? There tends to be people walking on cyclepaths but it is a great place to learn to cycle.

quozl

Mr. Grieves wrote: »

I'd often cycle this route if I want to get away from traffic: http://goo.gl/maps/K30dP

For practicing, you could go in the back gate of Gonzaga on Park Drive and cycle round the pitches.

Thanks a lot for the route suggestion, Mr. Grieves, that looks good. I'll definitely try that route when I'm ready for the commute.

Gonzaga is a great idea, though there is something slightly embarassing/creepy about a middle aged man slowly cycling loops around a boys school. LOL

Smacl wrote:

e.g. 6am on Saturday or Sunday, to get used to the bike with minimal traffic on the road.

Thanks Smacl, that's a great idea. Obvious now that you mention it but I hadn't thought of it at all. With luck I'll have the new bike by this weekend and if so then I'll definitely do that.

and thanks, Crow92. If I haven't gotten the bike by this weekend, or maybe even if I have, I'll rent a bike and spend a couple of hours in the phoenix park. I've to schedule time doing things like that with the missus as she'll be stuck with the kids during it but very keen on the idea.

Thanks for the help guys, it's much appreciated.

joxerjohn

One thing that you might try...a lot of young kids are learning on a small two wheel bike which has no pedal and no chain. It could be good for you to try for a while in a park maybe where this is a slight incline. To do this you would just need to remove the pedals and chain and then adjust the saddle height to suit. I am sure you would need some to do this for you. The idea is to just get used of balancing and turning and stopping and getting the feel of it with out needing to do the pedalling initially

Also Cycling Ireland run courses called Sproket Rocket again mainly aimed at young kids up to 10/11, but maybe you could get in touch with someone who does this course to learn the skills that are taught on the course youself from them.

I would recommend that you avoid the roads until you get your confidence, which will come.

Fair play to you for giving it a go and the very best of luck.

HivemindXX

I don't know how close it is to you but there's a park that runs along the Dodder between Milltown and Clonskeagh that has a cycle track.

http://www.google.ie/maps?ll=53.313154,-6.238728&spn=0.000026,0.018861&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=53.313154,-6.238728&panoid=stnZidPHRs8HZGP5fH-FnA&cbp=12,284.53,,0,2.81

I think your plan is a good one. Get used to handling the bike first, then start to deal with traffic. One of the most important skills to work on is the ability to look around without swerving to one side.

W0bble5

quozl wrote: »

I've to schedule time doing things like that with the missus as she'll be stuck with the kids during it but very keen on the idea.

There is a dedicated fenced-in cycle track in Corkagh Park in Clondalkin (up beside the Green Isle / N7 / camp site entrance).
If its possible to get there your missus can bring the kids to the playground, feed the ducks or go to the petting zoo while you cycle?!

smacl

quozl wrote: »

Gonzaga is a great idea, though there is something slightly embarassing/creepy about a middle aged man slowly cycling loops around a boys school. LOL

Just wear your Jimmy Tarbuck fan club t-shirt and you'll be grand

cdaly_

joxerjohn wrote: »

One thing that you might try...a lot of young kids are learning on a small two wheel bike which has no pedal and no chain. It could be good for you to try for a while in a park maybe where this is a slight incline. To do this you would just need to remove the pedals and chain and then adjust the saddle height to suit. I am sure you would need some to do this for you. The idea is to just get used of balancing and turning and stopping and getting the feel of it with out needing to do the pedalling initially .

Dunno if that would necessarily be a good idea. It's different for kids where they're in a playing mode and just learning as an aside. OP is working on the learning and probably won't have much of an issue with pedalling too.

That said, if OP wants to remove pedals, there's no need to remove the chain. Just unscrew the pedals from the cranks and you're ready to roll.

quozl

Thanks guys. I can pedal and turn, though I can't turn very sharply or with completely reliable control over exactly how sharply I'm turning. I'm figuring that out as I go.

For one thing, I figured out that braking while you turn seems to be a bad idea. Free-wheeling or peddling seems to work well, but braking while turning seemed to make me less stable - which is very different from a car where breaking while you turn adds to grip, I believe. Finding this out for myself while doing a slightly down-hill turn was fun.

I'm not even sure I'm right about it - is it more stable to free-wheel or peddle rather than brake while turning? I'm sure that sort of thing is beyond obvious to someone who's used to cycling but there's nothing online that I can find out about it. My wife doesn't cycle, and if you google how to turn a bike you get lots of videos about correctly hitting the apex like a pro for maximum speed not how to correctly corner like a 7 year old

Korvanica

OP you could POP an email to the UCD bike shop, the lads there might be able to lend or rent you one, so you wont have to bring one to UCD to practise.

Crow92

It's essentially the same, you have an imaginary line you taking and you follow it, braking disrupts this and buts you off balance so you are right, don't brake in the turn, brake before you turn if you need to.

The faster your going the more stable you are so just keep pedalling to keep yourself going, cause less wobble. Also I find the thing with cycling is all about the small movements, a little bit of weight on the left arm and a tiny lean of the body to turn left and vice versa . Most if the time you can turn with very minimal movement of the handlebars.

Cycling in traffic takes some used to it, buses passing you can be a bit strange but you'll quickly get used to it. Cycling in Dublin has vastly improved the last few years.

quozl

Korvanica wrote: »

OP you could POP an email to the UCD bike shop, the lads there might be able to lend or rent you one, so you wont have to bring one to UCD to practise.

LOL, another should-have-been-obvious-to-me-but-totally-wasn't genius idea! Thank you, I'll try that. They even open for four hours on Saturdays.

delos

I don't know Dublin well, but if there is an industrial estate near you that is quiet on a Sunday you can get loads of practice on roads with very little traffic without the early rise .

One thing that I found took a bit of getting used to starting out was looking behind. Once you are happy going forward take you right hand off the handlebars and drop it by your side - you will be able to look over your right shoulder (or dip your head to look if you prefer) without unbalancing the bike which will happen if you keep holding onto the handlebars. I'm sure there are other ways to do this but give it a try when there is no traffic about and get used to it. It's all about practice and gaining confidence.

Keep at it and you will get there. One benefit that you might not expect is that if you've had a sh*tty day at work the cycle home will get that out of your system much more than sitting in a car.

HivemindXX

quozl wrote: »

For one thing, I figured out that braking while you turn seems to be a bad idea. Free-wheeling or peddling seems to work well, but braking while turning seemed to make me less stable - which is very different from a car where breaking while you turn adds to grip, I believe. Finding this out for myself while doing a slightly down-hill turn was fun.

I'm not even sure I'm right about it - is it more stable to free-wheel or peddle rather than brake while turning? I'm sure that sort of thing is beyond obvious to someone who's used to cycling but there's nothing online that I can find out about it. My wife doesn't cycle, and if you google how to turn a bike you get lots of videos about correctly hitting the apex like a pro for maximum speed not how to correctly corner like a 7 year old

The two brakes on a bike feel quite different. In general when I'm going down hill I will be using the rear brake to slow myself or maintain a certain speed. The front brake is more effective in general because as you slow your weight moves forward and there is more weight on the front wheel than the rear but I think it probably does affect your handling more.

In case of emergencies I would either brake hard or swerve, but not both. I'm not saying this is right it's just what I do. All the theory probably seems very intimidating but you will probably find you end up doing everything by instinct pretty quickly without thinking about why.

quozl

Bit of an update on my progress:

I got a trek 7.5fx through the BTW scheme last Friday. It's a lovely bike and I think it'll be ideal for daily 2x6k commutes. It also means that I can now practice without having to somehow source a bike.

Since Friday I've been spending half an hour every evening practicing turning, braking, gear changes etc in the local school playground. So far so good, I have a few scrapes, the only proper fall was from trying to figure out how to do countersteer turns based only on watching a youtube video. I think I didn't lean enough - ow! Another amusing one was spending 5 minutes going up and down through the gears while doing circles in the playground then cycling out the small pedestrian gate. I had to tap the breaks to adjust speed and tapped the gear shift instead as that's what I'd just been messing around with. Braked via my shoulder into the wall instead. Queue another graze, which my toddlers were very impressed with

Monday I ended my parking lot practice with a single spin around the block, .8 of a mile. All left turns - I was too nervous about cars over-taking me and worried about swerving outwards at an unfortunate time, so I kept in too far and smacked my little finger off a parked car mirror. Ow again! Fortunately the car mirror was fine and I just have an instructional graze on the knuckle

Yesterday, I upped that to three spins around the block, which is about 3.8km in total. Already somewhat less terrifying than the previous night and no injuries gained! I did have to get off the road once as I had to start the bike at a traffic light with a big queue of traffic behind me - rushed it, stuffed it, and figured it'd be better for everybody involved if I waited on the path until the cars were gone rather than wind them and me up trying to rush it more.

So, I'm making slow but measurable progress. Hopefully the above brings you all back to learning to ride a bike at age 6 or so. Particularly to all the grazes and bruises

dave_o_brien

quozl wrote: »

Bit of an update on my progress:

I got a trek 7.5fx through the BTW scheme last Friday. It's a lovely bike and I think it'll be ideal for daily 2x6k commutes. It also means that I can now practice without having to somehow source a bike.

Since Friday I've been spending half an hour every evening practicing turning, braking, gear changes etc in the local school playground. So far so good, I have a few scrapes, the only proper fall was from trying to figure out how to do countersteer turns based only on watching a youtube video. I think I didn't lean enough - ow! Another amusing one was spending 5 minutes going up and down through the gears while doing circles in the playground then cycling out the small pedestrian gate. I had to tap the breaks to adjust speed and tapped the gear shift instead as that's what I'd just been messing around with. Braked via my shoulder into the wall instead. Queue another graze, which my toddlers were very impressed with

Monday I ended my parking lot practice with a single spin around the block, .8 of a mile. All left turns - I was too nervous about cars over-taking me and worried about swerving outwards at an unfortunate time, so I kept in too far and smacked my little finger off a parked car mirror. Ow again! Fortunately the car mirror was fine and I just have an instructional graze on the knuckle

Yesterday, I upped that to three spins around the block, which is about 3.8km in total. Already somewhat less terrifying than the previous night and no injuries gained! I did have to get off the road once as I had to start the bike at a traffic light with a big queue of traffic behind me - rushed it, stuffed it, and figured it'd be better for everybody involved if I waited on the path until the cars were gone rather than wind them and me up trying to rush it more.

So, I'm making slow but measurable progress. Hopefully the above brings you all back to learning to ride a bike at age 6 or so. Particularly to all the grazes and bruises

Sounds like you're going great so far, fair play to you!

From my perspective, I wouldn't try to attempt countersteering consciously. It's something that just kind of happens, and while interesting, shouldn't be chased.

When cycling past parked cars, move out a good deal more! Traffic will overtake you at the same distance, but you'll minimise the risk of clipping a mirror or (more importantly) having a door open or a pedestrian pop out between cars into your path.

As a rule of thumb about braking: front brake to stop, rear to adjust speed. Avoid using the front brake in a turn.

When coming to a stop, try to shift into an easier gear, as when you go to take off again, it will be easier, which will be especially helpful with cars behind.

Try to remain calm when cars are around. Despite their reputation, most cars are driven by people who don't want to injure anybody. They may get annoyed, but the overwhelming majority won't do anything dafter than maybe beep.

Keep up the good work, you'll be asking about the benefits of carbon in no time.

quozl

One question - is it normal when you change gears for the chain to slip (my best description of it) for maybe 1/4 or 1/2 a rotation of the pedal afterwards? The loss of power & therefore control is disconcerting!

I notice that when I go up gears that there can be a complete lack of resistance on the pedal afterwards for that 1/4 or 1/2 a rotation.

I hadn't noticed this until a day or two ago but I hadn't really been using the gears until then! It's also about the same time that I had my counter-steer attempt crash so I'd like to reassure myself that this is normal and I haven't damaged anything. Nothing looks damaged to me but I don't actually know what things should look like!

Beasty

OK - you've had over a week to get used to this cycling lark - sign-on for the track league opens tonight at 6.30 at Sundrive ...:D

The chain sould not slip like that - there should be a barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur - if you turn it you should see it move slightly to the left or right - try and get the chain perfectly in line with the cassette sprockets (below the cassette) (it's not unusual with a new bike as the cables stretch slightly as they start to get used)

joxerjohn

I think that you maybe over complicating a few things.

RE: your position on the road, make sure you stay well out from the kerb or parked cars. your wheel should be roughly about three feet from the kerb and really not any less. It is more dangerous for you not taking enough space on the road as you have already found so keep well out to avoid some of the accidents you have already had. Traffic will avoid you.

RE: Gears; your bike has lots of gears, 18 in all, but your really do not need to use them all !

Think of it as if you have only two main gears (or two groups of gears) that you operate with the left shifter. Low gears for going up steepish hills and high gears for fairly flat and down hill.

The low gears will be when the chain is on the inside front chainring and the high gears wlll be when the chain is on the outside front chain ring.

For riding on the fairly flat ground as found where you live you can use the high gears with the chain in the middle of the cassette at the rear, i.e on the fifth sproket of your nine speed cassette. With the right hand shifter you can make small adjustments up or down if you find the pedalling becoming too hard or to easy.

If you go to Corkagh Park as was previously suggested you will be able to ride around the whole circuit without the need to change gears hardly at all. So keep it simple.

What you need to be concentrating on is what is on the road ahead and any obsatacles you need to avoid, you should not be thinking too much about gears and brakes etc. with a bit of practice these aspects will become second nature to you just as they do when driving a car.

Keep it up and be careful out there !

quozl

Cheers, Joxerjohn. I'm only using about 4 or 5 gears pretty much as you have suggested there - I understand the theory behind them. You might be surprised how un-flat my local block is - I'm on the top of a hill.

I investigated Corkagh park, it looks perfect but it's a fairly long drive away. I'm hoping to head to the phoenix park this weekend but wife and twin toddlers mean that getting time to travel for this sort of thing is difficult. The Phoenix Park has the advantage that it has my wife's favourite playground in it

quozl

For anybody else in my situation here's some resources for complete beginners:

45 page booklet on safe cycling in traffic.
http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm

Very well reviewed book on safe cycling. Has the added advantage of being written by a UK author so you don't have to mentally transpose every right for left. I haven't got this yet - i'm waiting for delivery so am basing this on the almost entirely positive commentary I've seen on this book.
http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/book.html

Leage of American Bicyclists. Covers basics like emergency stops, sharp cornering and snaking your bike around obstacles while continuing in a straight line. As well as the general stuff about road-position etc.
http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/better/miscellaneous.php
They also produce a 20 minute video about how to commute on a bike and key bicycle handling skills. It's a bit painful and hammy but I found it useful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s5hJhLBUec

Excerpt from a DVD for police cyclists giving a good explanation of how to emergency brake. This is covered elsewhere, just this police video is possibly the clearest explanation I've seen of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z820UnNKVHc

A video that you should watch if you're new to cycling. I think I found this on this forum. It gives a wonderful demonstration of how big HGV blind spots are. I knew they were there, I hadn't realised quite how large they are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzL0Kyk4m-8

and finally:
Cycling lessons in Dublin, even if you've never been on a bike before
http://rothar.ie/cycling_classes.htm