On the 1st of January 2014 my new year resolution was to do more cardio. Before then I played golf most of the time and while most golfers can argue that golf is exercise, one thing we can’t deny is that… it’s not cardio.
And cardio is what we need. So I decided to throw myself into the world of cycling and buy myself my first road bike. Looking back it’s been almost 10 months now that I’ve been cycling and the past 10 months have been an adventure for me. I’ve never done more exercise before in my life or felt more fit. I’ve had so many experiences and great memories just from cycling. I’m so glad I picked up cycling.
Cycling really has become a bit of a trend now with many people picking it up so I decided to write an article with some tips and about the mistakes I made so that anyone new could avoid the same mistakes.
1) Buy the best bike you can afford. Not the cheapest bike.
This is how most beginners start and it’s the exact way I started:
I was interested in cycling but not sure enough to buy an expensive bicycle. So I decided to buy the cheapest entry level road bike I could find- An aluminium Taiwanese made Merida. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t afford a more expensive bike. It was more that I wanted to try and see if this was a sport I would stick to before I committed to a more expensive bike. Besides… a bicycle is a bicycle. How much better could one perform on a RM10K bike vs an RM2k one?
To answer that question let me just say: A LOT. It’s hard to explain when you haven’t cycled yet but when you do and you’ve tried the more expensive bikes you’ll learn there is a huge difference between the cheaper bikes and the more expensive bikes in terms of riding experience and performance (far beyond the brand name). Carbon frames are far superior to aluminium frames not just because they’re lighter but because they’re stiffer and so are more energy efficient. I could go on and on and on but that’s something that could take up a whole new article on its own.
So what happened to me (and what happens to a lot of riders) is that we start with the cheap bikes first only to find ourselves upgrading to a better bike along the way and selling the old bike for half price. It becomes much more expensive for us. It’s far cheaper and cost efficient for us to decide that we want to commit to cycling and then just buy the most expensive bike we can afford.
But how do you really know if you’re going to keep cycling? This is going to be my next point.
2) Cycling is more fun with friends. Lots of friends.
Like most people I started cycling with a few friends who egged me to join it. Cycling like most sports is more fun when you have a group of friends who are really into it. So if you do have an enthusiastic bunch of friends then you can be pretty confident that cycling is something that would stick.
Don’t just stick to your friends though. The great thing about cycling is that everyone is really friendly and I’ve made many many friends just from cycling. In fact half the group I cycle regularly with now are people I’ve never known before cycling.
The important thing about cycling with friends though is being able to keep up with the group.
3) Keep up with your minimum standard of fitness
When I first started cycling the first 3 months was just really me cycling once a week and maybe 30-40KM each time. In hindsight, that wasn’t enough. I very quickly hit a plateau of how fast and far I could perform. It’s only when I started riding at least twice a week that I could see my fitness level really go up and I could keep up with most of the cycling groups I joined.
Keeping up with a group of cyclist friends on the road is super important. It’s not just because groups of cyclists are more visible to the motorist than a single rider but it’s because of this thing called “drafting”.
Riding in a group allows you to have the people in front of you block the wind resistance and that (believe it or not) makes a huge difference on how hard you need to ride and how fast you become tired. The stronger riders in the group will “pull” the group more and the weaker ones just draft behind more. Riding in groups allow even the weaker riders to ride consistently with the stronger ones… with the stronger ones doing more work and blocking the wind.
If you drop out of a group and have to take all the wind resistance on your own, it gets really really hard. So in order to keep in a group, you’ve gotta make sure your fitness level is always maintained at a minimum. That means never let weeks go by without a ride and try to ride twice a week.
4) Don’t save on a good saddle
This is one mistake I made. For too long did I stick to the basic entry level saddle that every bike comes with. Why? Because well… it didn’t really bother me unless I was on the really long rides.
Saddles make a big difference to your comfort and to your… well… balls. Most good saddles have a gap in the middle of it to allow space for one particular vein that goes around your crotch area. So it allows you better blood flow. On shorter rides it may not matter as much but on longer ones it totally does. Also cycling is sometimes linked to erectile dysfunction and other problem (though most research have actually suggested otherwise). A good saddle significantly reduces that.
5) Give your body the fuel it needs to perform
This is especially so for long rides. Cycling is one of the most intense form of exercise I know. Sometimes we push ourselves to the limits and when we do that, lots of things happen in our body and we need lots of things to keep it going. For example some of us drink Accelerade, an energy drink with natural ingredients that helps with replacing electrolytes that you body loses when you workout and also helps with muscle recovery. Some just drink Gatorade and some bring lots of bananas with them for the ride.
You learn about what to use and consume from researching online or talking to friends and then you kinda just find what you’re comfortable with.
6) Don’t be afraid to use clipless pedals
Clipless pedals are basically pedals that clip on to your cycling shoes so when you cycle it provides a very smooth circular momentum throughout. As opposed to a normal bicycle pedal where sometimes when riding your feet could move away from the pedal or when your foot moves up it doesn’t help with spinning the wheel.
I was afraid to use clipless at first. The thought of having my foot attached to the pedals made me wonder… “what if I fell down?” and am still stuck to the bike. Well in most cases clipless pedals are made to detach once you fall off the bike.
The truth is I fell down a few times when I first started using clips because it took some getting used to. But most of the falls are from a stationary position so it’s okay. Once you get used to the clipless though, you never want to cycle without them anymore. You just ride so much better.
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So these are the tips I have from my 10 months and 2,700 KM of cycling. When you get into it, cycling is one of the most fun things you can do. I look forward to it every week!
Good luck and ride safe!
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space