A lot was said on another thread about the poor bike handling skills of newbies. Ok, if you would like to avoid having me and my first tribike swerve in front of you at the next race how about some drills and tips on bike handling from the more expierenced riders? I went from a Schwinn Tempo road bike a full 5 sizes! too big with clip ons to A Cervelo Dual that fits me perfectly. I have 10 miles on the Dual and I have to admit it seems a little squirrelly to me. Anybody have anything specific that helped them out, other than putting 10,000 miles in.
I would find some buddies and ride some friendly rides with them. Maybe a Sunday morning breakfast ride, those are fun. Stay off of the aero bars while drafting or riding close.
Get used to riding side by side so you don’t get scared when people get close.
Practice getting a drink and eating and holding a straight line. Know all of your computer/watch/HRM functions so you can go through them while riding and paying attention to the road.
When I went to a tri bike, I seemed to ride toe down when on the bars so concentrate on smooth efficient pedaling.
Have fun on the bike doing long solo rides at least once a week.
I’m from Michigan too, where about are you riding?
jaretj
(I’m desperately trying to be the man my dog thinks I am.)
If you went from an oversized bike to a properly fitting bike, then the handling will feel faster due to the shorter wheelbase, and you probably have more weight over the front wheel. Also, if you are riding steep, then that will also quicken the handling.
Good news, you’ll get used to it with a bit of saddle time, and it won’t take 10,000 miles to get used to it either.
If you weren’t on aero bars before, then to be able to ride a straight line the most important thing is to keep a quiet, stable torso. don’t pull on the aero bars (or if you do, make sure you tug on both sides equally). You can reduce the amount you pull on the bars by keeping your hands loose, ie don’t grip the extensions tightly.
You’re getting some good advice . Here’s a few other things to try.
Set up pylons in a parking lot lot and ride around them
Ride circles. Go to an empty parking lot and ride progressively smaller circles, as small as you can go.
Ride with some friends slowly around a grass field and deliberately touch wheels. Gives you an idea of what an accidental touch of wheels feels like and how to control it. If you fall at first it’s slow and on grass.
Practice looking over your shoulder will still riding a straight line. It helps at first to ride with one hand on the bar and look over the opposite shoulder. If that is uncomfortable, try moving that hand toward the center of the bar toward the stem.
Practice cornering and get used to having the inside pedal up and outside pedal down. This prevents scraping your pedal on the pavement in corners.
Emergency braking. First practice riding with your butt way back on the saddle or even behind the saddle if flexible enough. Then pick up some speed, slid your butt way back and hit the brakes hard. This is the fastest way to stop without an endo. Let go of the rear brake if you feel it lock up and start to slide.
jaretj, negative on the hills, this is farmland, I visit my folks place in Traverse city to do hills. As for races I will do Grosse Ill,probably Seahorse and Steelhead, but I am looking at two out of state races also. So far the only thing I have actually entered for this year is a marathon (1st one for me) in Northville at the end of March.
There is much great advice from other posters here. The riding on grass is really helpful. Let’s you work on things in slow-motion and you don’t have to worry about hurting yourself when you fall.
Also, find a cycling club that is friendly to newcomers and triathletes - they are out there. Many on this page are quick to paint ALL roadies as these selfish arrogant assholes. I don’t deny thet these type are out there. I ran into one yesterday on my ride. I pulled up along side the guy, started to chat with him, he looked over gave me a look and then dropped me! Big deal.
There are clubs or loose knit groups that will help you learn the ropes of group riding and training. They are very friendly and accomodating. However, don’t go out for these rides with your tri-bike or dressed up like a tri-geek(half naked). Ride a road bike and wear “normal” cycling clothes.
You mention some great drills but you have the last part wrong. You state to let off the rear brake if the rear wheel slides. Braking shifts your weight forward. Actually you let off the “front” brake and you’ll stop the rear wheel from skidding. Letting off the front brake will automatically shift your weight to the rear wheel, making the rear wheel have more weight over it and therefore stopping the skidding. If you let off the rear brake the front may lock and you have an endo written all over your face!
Just so you know, I’ve been a mountain bike instructor for many years from IPMBA. I’ve taught many of the police mountain bike patrols in Virginia.
As someone else said, and most closely related to tri, practice getting and replacing your water bottles while maintaining a straight line. Practice looking over both shoulders without weaving. Basically you should be able to do anything you need to do on the bike without leaving the aerobars and without weaving or even slowing down.
Practice giving someone a helpful push on the back, hand water bottles back and forth, etc. You should be able to gently bump shoulders or handlebars while riding without freaking out. As much as I hate riding in groups, you’ve got to be able to handle close quarters safely.
This is such a good thread. I went to a bike handling class just about a year ago, right after I got my clipless pedals. We did the pick up the water bottle, the bumping wheels, the touching while riding. I could only to the touching while riding one, never did get that damn waterbottle and you can forget about the cirlce thing.
Fast forward to a year later, I think I can do everything but the circle thingie.
More time on the bike. I practiced all summer (3x a week) reaching into my back pocket, getting out a cliff bar opening it, biting it and then putting it back. I slow down a little, but when you’re slow to begin with it doesn’t much matter. I did the same thing with the water bottle, although I still drop it.
When I race, I use a camelbak. It’s just safer for me and everyone around me. I usually get passed like I’m standing still!
I can rember when I made the switch to a tri-bike (from a poor fitting road bike.) It felt squirley, cornering was questionable, and riding in the aerobars felt a little funny. But now I wouldn’t trade it for the world (well, okay, maybe the world, or a girl, or maybe even a nice rolex) but the point is, if you put some more miles on it you’ll come to love it.
After about 200-400 miles I really started to feel at home on it. I am confident it is a lot faster and more comfortable than a road bike with aerobars slapped on it.
-It’s not how fast you are, it’s how fast you look
OK, so you’ve got the “bottle on the ground” drills, but do you really honestly think that you’ll do that? That is ridiculous. I’m not knocking the advice that the forum gives you as this is a wealth of information, but seriously Jim…just ride.
thanks to everyone for the great info, I had not thought about doing drills on grass, great idea. I sold the road bike to pay for the tribike so that is out. But do know some area roadies who will not look down their nose at me, I also know some who did last year just because I mentioned The T word while out on a ride. Takes all kinds